As West Middlesex Goes

Today's Graphical History Tour checks in on the Canadian political situation a century ago.

"So Long As All Hands Keep Their Party Oars Going..." by Arthur G. Racey in Maclean's, Toronto, March 1, 1926

You will, of course, recall that the parliamentary election of November, 1925, left no party with a majority. The incumbent Liberal Party and its partner Progressive Party both lost seats to the Conservative Party. 

Of the 245 seats in Parliament, Arthur Meighen's Conservatives won 115; William Mackenzie King's Liberals hung onto 100 (King losing his own riding but then getting elected to a vacated seat elsewhere), and Robert Forke's Progressives held 22. The number of seats needed to achieve a majority, however, was 123, just out of reach of the three major parties.

"Pretty Polly" by A.M. Barstad in Toronto Globe, March 29, 1926

King and Meighen both courted Forke's Progressives; Meighen needed to persuade only eight of them, whereas King needed all of them plus any of the eight minor party members. But on one of the Conservatives' major issues of the day, higher tariffs against U.S. goods, the agrarian Progressives stood with the Liberals. Most of the splinter parties were to the left of the larger three parties, further handicapping Meighen's chances.

"After Monday's Vote" by D.H. Russell in Daily Province, Vancouver BC, March 30, 1926

Premier King's appointment of John C. Elliot to be Minister of Labour required Mr. Elliot to run in a by-election for his parliamentary seat representing West Middlesex, Ontario. The riding was a reliable Liberal stronghold, where Elliot had been in elective office since 1908.

"Slipped Again" by Sam Hunter in Toronto Daily Star, March 30, 1926

Perhaps the Conservative Party hoped to confuse voters by selecting Thomas E. Elliot as their champion to challenge John C. Elliot. If so, it didn't work; the Liberal Elliot outpolled the Conservative Elliot in every district.

"On the Way to Political Red Lake" by Sam Hunter in Toronto Daily Star, April 3, 1926

To explain the reference in Sam Hunter's cartoon, Red Lake in northern Ontario was anticipating a rush of gold prospectors as the ice broke. From later headlines, I take it that prospectors ended up being as disappointed as Hunter predicted Mr. Meighen would be. 

"Taking Willy for an Airing" by Arthur G. Racey in Macleans, Toronto, April 1, 1926

Blaming a lethargic voting public for Canada's political predicament, Conservative cartoonist Arthur Racey portrayed the Progressives' Forke at the wheel of Government, with a diminutive Premier King in his lap. "Willy, you sit still and stop trying steer," Forke says, "or I'll throw you out!"