1919 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election

1919 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election

August 7, 1919 1948 →

Candidate W.L. Mackenzie King William S. Fielding Fifth ballot delegate count 476 (52.1%) 438 (47.9%) Fourth ballot delegate count[1] Cancelled Cancelled Third ballot delegate count[1] Cancelled Cancelled Second ballot delegate count 411 (43.8%) 344 (36.6%) First ballot delegate count 344 (36.3%) 297 (31.3%)   Candidate George P. Graham Daniel D. McKenzie Fifth ballot delegate count Withdrew Withdrew Fourth ballot delegate count[1] Withdrew Withdrew Third ballot delegate count[1] Withdrew Cancelled Second ballot delegate count 124 (13.2%) 60 (6.4%) First ballot delegate count 153 (16.2%) 153 (16.2%)

Leader before election Daniel Duncan McKenzie (interim) Elected Leader William Lyon Mackenzie King

The 1919 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election was the first leadership convention held by a federal political party in Canada. It was originally called by the Liberal leader, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, as a national policy convention with the intention of reinvigorating the Liberal Party after eight years of being in opposition.^[2] The convention was also intended to re-unite the party, which had split as a result of the Conscription Crisis of 1917. The party had divided into Laurier Liberals, who remained in opposition, and a Liberal–Unionist faction which joined the wartime Union government of Sir Robert Borden in support of conscription. Laurier's death on February 17, 1919 resulted in the meeting being reconfigured as a leadership convention. Previous party leaders in Canada had been chosen by the parliamentary caucus or the outgoing leader. However, the Liberal caucus no longer felt that it was representative of Canada's linguistic and religious diversity and that allowing the entire party to select the leader would result in a more representative choice.^[3]