Can someone lose an election by acclamation?

by Maurice Y. Michaud (he/him)

John L. McDougall (1838–1909)
© Photo — Public domain

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 is the handful of men who would fit the bill.

1. John L. McDougall (1838–1909)
   Level: Federal (Ontario)
   Election: 24 October 1874 (By-Election)
   Election cancelled/Unseated: 21 January 1875
    
2. Louis David Riel (1844–1885)
   Level: Federal (Manitoba)
   Election: 3 September 1874 (By-Election)
   Election cancelled/Unseated: 25 February 1875
    
3. James W. Bain (1838–1909)
   Level: Federal (Québec)
   Election: 27 December 1883 (By-Election)
   Election cancelled/Unseated: 15 January 1884
    
4. Hugh McMillan (1839–1895)
   Level: Federal (Québec)
   Election: 29 February 1892 (By-Election)
   Election cancelled/Unseated: 1 March 1893
    
5. Archibald McDonald (1849–1933)
   Level: Provincial (British Columbia)
   Election: 5 September 1903 (General Election)
   Election cancelled/Unseated: 10 February 1904
    
6. Andrew S. Shandro (1886–1942)
   Level: Provincial (Alberta)
   Election: 18 July 1921 (General Election)
   Election cancelled/Unseated: 2 December 1921
    
7. Norman L. McLeod (1892–1949)
   Level: Provincial (Saskatchewan)
   Election: 9 February 1931 (By-Election)
   Election cancelled/Unseated: 7 November 1932
    

Of course, in the case of Louis Riel, his unpopularity was with the government, not the people who supported him.