The 1980 Canadian federal election was held on February 18, 1980, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 32nd Parliament of Canada. It was called when the minority Progressive Conservative government led by Prime Minister Joe Clark was defeated in the Commons over the budget it had presented.

Former Liberal Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, who had served since 1968, had announced his resignation as leader of the Liberal Party following its defeat in 1979. However, no leadership convention had been held when Clark's Progressive Conservative government fell. Taking into consideration the forthcoming 1980 Quebec referendum (and correctly presuming that he would be seen as a more effective spokesman for the federal case), Trudeau quickly rescinded his resignation and led the party to victory, winning 33 more seats than in 1979 and obtaining a majority of the seats available in the Maritimes and Ontario. Together with its dominance in Quebec (taking 74 of the 75 seats), that enabled the Liberals to form a majority government. They were shut out of seats west of Manitoba.

The Tories lost one of their two Quebec seats: Roch La Salle held on in Joliette, while Heward Grafftey was defeated in Missisquoi. Pat Carney would register the only gain for the party, winning in Vancouver Centre. The PCs would retain 103 MPs, but all but 14 of them were elected in ridings west of Quebec.

The NDP received a small gain in seats, from the Prairies and BC.

In 1980 Social Credit saw its fortunes drop dramatically:

+ Social Credit presence in elections (1980 vs 1979)Province Candidates Votes 1980 1979 +/- 1980 1979 +/- Alberta 15 9 6 8,158 8,164 (6) BC 5 3 2 1,763 1,885 (122) Manitoba 4 (4) 1,044 (1,044) Ontario 5 5 – 804 1,002 (198) Quebec 55 74 (19) 174,583 512,995 (338,412) Saskatchewan 1 8 (7) 178 2,514 (2,336) Total 81 103 (22) 185,486 527,604 (342,118)% change -21.36%   -64.84%

For the first time since 1958, it had no representation in the House. Richard Janelle (Lotbinière) attempted (but failed) to salvage his fortunes by crossing the floor to the PCs. Social Credit would never win seats again, and was deregistered in 1993.

Swings tended to point in favour of the Liberals nationwide, with the exception of notable strength for the NDP in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and BC.

Results analysis

Detailed analysis + Change in popular vote by party (1980 vs 1979) Party 1980 1979 Change (pp)

+ Party candidates in 2nd place Party in 1st place 1980 1979Party in 2nd placeLiberals and PCs tied for second place in Beaches. Total Party in 2nd place TotalLib PC NDP SC Rhino Lib PC NDP SC Ind 77 60 8 2 147 56 20 37 1 11481 22 103 104 31 1 13610 23 33 10 16 26 – 6 6 Total91 100 82 8 2 283 120 72 51 37 2 282

+ Principal races, according to 1st and 2nd-place results Parties Seats 158704582 Total283

+ Party rankings (1st to 5th place) Party 1984 19801st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th147 91 44 114 120 48 103 100 74 5 136 72 66 8 32 82 157 6 3 26 51 145 49 10 8 5 35 51 6 37 20 35 5 2 1 82 30 1 7 49 14 16 6 21 23 8 37 17 48 3 33 24 2 2 29 15 27 52 15 44 6 5 14

Seats that changed hands + Elections to the 32nd Parliament of Canada – seats won/lost by party, 1979–1980Party1979Gain from (loss to)1980LibPCNDPSC114 23 (1) 5 6 147136 1 (23) (11) 10326 (5) 11 326 (6) –Total282 1 (34) 34 (1) 5 (11) 6 – 282

Synopsis of results