by Maurice Y. Michaud (he/him)
Everyone here has heard of “geek humour,” right? I mean, I certainly own up to the fact that, when it comes to elections in Canada and Québec, I’m a total geek. And geeks often develop their own inside jokes or think up silly puns as they lumber away at their passion. (Please tell me I’m not the only geek who does that, right? Right?!)
A silly comment-to-self would come to me as I would be entering a candidate’s spectacularly bad result. I would say to myself, “He was such an unpopular candidate that he could have lost an election by acclamation!” Which, of course, is impossible. If no one decides to run against you in an election, you’re in, buddy!
But you would have been well advised not to make such a snide comment to John McDougall, pictured here. After having lost his seat of Renfrew South in the 1872 federal election, the Ontario Liberal won it back in the January 1874 election with 52.5% of the votes in a two-way race against William Bannerman, a Conservative. Unseated in September, he won the seat back again — this time by acclamation in a by-election in October. But he was unseated again in January, which in my mind makes him someone who lost an election by acclamation. Thankfully for him, he won the seat back in another by-election the following month (again against Bannerman, this time winning with 51.8% of the votes).
Using this quirky and creative definition of “losing an election by acclamation”...
here are the 7 men who would fit the bill.
| Who | Details | |
|---|---|---|
John McDougall (1838–1909)  |
Federal riding
Renfrew South, Ontario (By-Election) Party
Liberal Party of Canada Side
Government Election date
24 October 1874 Election cancelled/Unseated
21 January 1875 (2 months 28 days) |
|
 Louis Riel (1844–1885) ☆   ∞1 |
Federal riding
Provencher, Manitoba (By-Election) Party
Independent Side
Opposition Election date
3 September 1874 Election cancelled/Unseated
25 February 1875 (5 months 22 days) |
|
 James Bain (1838–1909) |
Federal riding
Soulanges, Québec (By-Election) Party
Conservative Party of Canada Side
Government Election date
27 December 1883 Election cancelled/Unseated
15 January 1884 (19 days) |
|
 Hugh McMillan (1839–1895) ∞2 |
Federal riding
Vaudreuil, Québec (By-Election) Party
Conservative Party of Canada Side
Government Election date
29 February 1892 Election cancelled/Unseated
1 March 1893 (1 year) |
|
 Archibald McDonald (1849–1933) |
Provincial riding (British Columbia)
Lillooet (General) Party
Liberal-Conservative Party of British Columbia Side
Government Election date
5 September 1903 Election cancelled/Unseated
10 February 1904 (5 months 5 days) |
|
 Andrew Shandro (1886–1942)   ∞1 |
Provincial riding (Alberta)
Whitford (General) Party
Liberal Party of Alberta Side
Opposition Election date
18 July 1921 Election cancelled/Unseated
2 December 1921 (4 months 14 days) |
|
 Norman McLeod (1892–1949)  |
Provincial riding (Saskatchewan)
Estevan (By-Election) Party
Liberal Party of Saskatchewan Side
Opposition Election date
9 February 1931 Election cancelled/Unseated
7 November 1932 (1 year 8 months 29 days) |
|
Of course, in the case of Louis Riel, his unpopularity was with the government, not the people who supported him.
