The House of Commons after the 1974 election

The 1974 Canadian federal election was held on July 8. The governing Liberal Party won its first majority government since 1968, and gave Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau his third term. The Progressive Conservatives, led by Robert Stanfield, did well in the Atlantic provinces, and in the West, but the Liberal support in Ontario and Quebec ensured a majority Liberal government.

A key issue in the election was controlling spiralling inflation. Stanfield had proposed a "90-day wage and price freeze" to break the momentum of inflation. Trudeau had ridiculed this policy as an intrusion on the rights of businesses and employees to set or negotiate their own prices and wages with the catch-phrase, "Zap! You're frozen!" In 1975, Trudeau introduced his own wage and price control system under the auspices of the "Anti-Inflation Board".

The New Democratic Party, led by David Lewis, lost less than two-and-a-half percentage points in popular vote, but almost half of their seats in the House of Commons.

The Social Credit Party of Canada, led by Real Caouette, continued to lose ground, and fell to 11 seats, one short of the number required to be recognized as a party in the House of Commons (and therefore qualify for research funds and parliamentary committee memberships). This status was nonetheless extended to the party by the governing Liberals.

National results

Notes:

"Previous" refers to the results of the previous election, not the party standings in the House of Commons prior to dissolution.

n.a. = not applicable - the party was not recognized in the previous election.

Results by province

xx - less than 0.05% of the popular vote.

Notes

• Number of Parties: 6
  • First appearance: Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada
  • Final appearance: none

See: 30th Canadian parliament for a full list of MPs elected in this election.