The 1966 Prince Edward Island general election was held on May 30, 1966.
The election in the riding of 1st Kings was delayed until July 11, 1966 due to the death of Liberal Assemblyman and candidate William Acorn. As it turned out, other ridings elected a total of 15 Liberals and 15 Progressive Conservatives, and the riding of 1st Kings would by itself decide the general election.
The Progressive Conservative government of 1958-1962 had attempted to ensure its re-election by rejigging the electoral map in the Queen's County and also working to win 1st Kings by unusual methods such as naming one of the PC candidates (Keith Mackenzie) as Minister of Transports, and paving 45 kilometres of road in the district.Political historian Wayne MacKinnon, as quoted on http://fruitsandvotes.com/?p=250 At the time, a reporter from the Charlottetown Guardian commented on how "the riding may well sink under the weight of the [paving] machines". The strategy failed as both Liberal candidates in 1st Kings ultimately won.
The Progressive Conservative government also split the 5th Queens district into two districts. The government broke with the tradition of each county having five ridings and ten members. By splitting 5th Queens, it gave the city of Charlottetown two ridings and therefore four members and gave Queen's County a sixth district and 12 members. This was the single biggest change to the map since 1893 when the ridings were devised. In that time population shifts had made some changes needed, as Charlottetown's population was more than five times that of some of the more rural ridings. The Progressive Conservatives had hoped that traditionally Progressive Conservative Charlottetown would vote in two additional Progressive Conservative members to the legislature; on election day the new riding elected two Progressive Conservatives, but the now modified old riding (Fifth Queen's) elected two Liberals.
The government's twin defeats in 1st Kings and 5th Queen's gave the Liberals a 17 to 15 majority and enabled Liberal leader Alex Campbell to become Premier.
Party Standings
+ ↓ 17 15 Liberal PC
PartyParty LeaderSeatsPopular Vote1962ElectedChange#%ChangeLiberalAlex Campbell1117+647,06550.5%+1.1%Walter R. Shaw1915-446,11849.5%-1.1%
Electoral reform The Legislature of Prince Edward Island had two levels of membership from 1893 to 1996 - Assemblymen and Councillors. This was a holdover from when the Island had a bicameral legislature, the General Assembly and the Legislative Council.
In 1893, the Legislative Council was abolished and had its membership merged with the Assembly, though the two titles remained separate and were elected by different electoral franchises. Assembleymen were elected by eligible voters within a district. Up until past the 1962 election, Councillors were only elected by landowners within a district.
The Shaw government passed an Act in 1963, eliminating this requirement.
Henceforth, until multi-member seats were abolished (1996), the Assemblyman and the Councillor in each district would be elected by universal adult suffrage identically. But each seat would be filled in separate contest, through First past the post. The separate contests were held that way despite the fact that the members would sit in the same chamber. They ensured that in each contest a party would run just one candidate so no candidate had to run against others of the same party as would have happened in a one-ballot, multi-member district. It also allowed one contest to be between Catholics of various parties and the other contest to be between Protestants of various parties.Bolger, Canada's Smallest Province, p. 294-5; 308-316
As well the ability of a voter to cast multiple votes in a contest was discontinued. Henceforth the rule would be "one man, one vote" or actually "one man, two votes".Bolger, Canada's Smallest Province, p. 316
Members Elected
Kings
District Assemblyman Party Councillor Party 1st Kings Bruce L. Stewart Liberal Daniel J. MacDonald Liberal 2nd Kings Walter Dingwell Progressive Conservative Leo Rossiter Progressive Conservative 3rd Kings Thomas A. Curran Progressive Conservative Preston MacLure Progressive Conservative 4th Kings Lorne Bonnell Liberal Keir Clark Liberal 5th Kings Cyril Sinnott Progressive Conservative George J. Ferguson Liberal
Prince
District Assemblyman Party Councillor Party 1st Prince Prosper Arsenault Liberal Robert E. Campbell Liberal 2nd Prince George Dewar Progressive Conservative Robert Grindlay Progressive Conservative 3rd Prince Henry Wedge Progressive Conservative Keith Harrington Progressive Conservative 4th Prince Max Thompson Liberal Frank Jardine Liberal 5th Prince Earle Hickey Liberal Alexander B. Campbell Liberal
Queens
District Assemblyman Party Councillor Party 1st Queens Frank Myers Progressive Conservative Walter Russell Shaw Progressive Conservative 2nd Queens Sinclair Cutcliffe Liberal Lloyd MacPhail Progressive Conservative 3rd Queens Cecil A. Miller Liberal J. Russell Driscoll Progressive Conservative 4th Queens J. Stewart Ross Liberal Harold P. Smith Liberal 5th Queens Gordon L. Bennett Liberal Elmer Blanchard Liberal 6th Queensnew riding J. David Stewart Progressive Conservative Alban Farmer Progressive Conservative
References
Further reading