How well do you know your federal election history?

John Napier Turner. Sworn-in as the 17th prime minister on June 30, 1984, Turner made a 24-hour whirlwind visit to England a week later to ask Her Majesty the Queen personally to delay her tour of Canada, set to begin September 20, so he could seek a mandate from Canadians.

Sir John Abbott. He chalked up this impressive string of victories while serving as prime minister between June of 1891 and his resignation in November of 1892.

Leonard Marchand. This British Columbia Liberal, a member of the Okanagan Indian Band, was elected to the House in 1968. He also made history when he was appointed by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau to the federal cabinet. Marchand was appointed to the Senate in 1984.

Jimmy Carter. On January 31, 1980, Carter telephoned Prime Minister Joe Clark to thank Canada for sheltering six American diplomats and then helping spirit them to safety and out of revolutionary Iran.

William Lyon Mackenzie King and John Diefenbaker. In 1926 they ran against each other in the Saskatchewan riding of Prince Albert, with King the eventual victor.

Brian Mulroney. His 1984 and 1988 election victories earned him this proud bragging right.

Stephen Harper and R.B. Bennett. Harper held a Calgary seat from 1993 to 1997, and then again from 2002 until his retirement from elected politics in 2016. Previously, R.B. Bennett had represented the city in the Commons from 1911 to 1917, and then again from 1925 until he retired from Canadian politics in 1939.

Lincoln Alexander. Elected as a Tory in 1968, he made history again when he was appointed to Prime Minister Joe Clark’s cabinet in 1979, becoming the first Black cabinet minister.

Sir John A. Macdonald. Enraged at being called a liar by his Liberal opponent in his Kingston constituency in the 1872 election, Macdonald physically attacked candidate John Carruthers. The incident became famous, and British Foreign Secretary Lord Kimberly even called the story “delicious” in a private letter to Governor General Lord Dufferin.

Svend Robinson. A British Columbia New Democrat, Robinson was elected to the House in 1979 and served there until 2004. He came out in 1988.

Paul Martin. Then a University of Toronto student, he was jailed after protesting outside a John Diefenbaker rally at Massey Hall in the midst of the 1958 election. The next day, Martin’s very angry (and embarrassed) MP father, Paul Martin Sr., bailed his son out.

Sir Wilfrid Laurier. Canadians elected Canada’s first French-Canadian prime minister and his Liberals in 1896, 1900, 1904, and 1908.

William Lyon Mackenzie King. Even though he and his party only won 101 seats to Tory Arthur Meighen’s 116 in the 1925 election, King exercised his constitutional right to meet the House. He governed with the support of the Progressive party before his government fell, precipitating the King-Byng constitutional crisis.

2015. It lasted 78 days and saw Justin Trudeau earn a majority mandate from Canadians.

Alexander Mackenzie. He took office upon Macdonald’s resignation due to the infamous Pacific Scandal in early November of 1873 and won the 1874 election.

Sir Charles Tupper was the shortest-serving, at 69 days, prime minister in Canadian history. Who was the second shortest-serving prime minister?

Canada’s 7th Parliament, which lasted from 1891 to 1896, was very unique for this reason.

Ethel Blondin-Andrew. Northwest Territories voters elected her in the 1988 general election. She later served in the cabinets of Jean Chretien and Paul Martin.

It was the shortest election campaign in Canadian history.

These prime ministers returned to power after being defeated.

Edward Blake and R.B. Bennett. Blake, a past Liberal leader, served in the British House of Commons from 1892 to 1907. Bennett, a former prime minister, was appointed to the House of Lords in 1941.

This prime minister, widely considered one of the greatest 20th-century Canadian leaders, never earned a majority mandate from Canadians.

This pair of prime ministers led Canada from the Senate.

Maureen McTeer. Wife of Joe Clark, she ran for office in 1988 but was defeated.

Both these prime ministers represented ridings from three different provinces during their political careers.

This veteran retiring MP, respected on all sides of the Commons, was made an Honorary Table Officer of the House, entitling him to watch debates from the Clerk’s table the rest of his life.

Sir John A. Macdonald. His 1885 Franchise Bill extended voting rights, though later governments reversed this. Full Indigenous voting rights were secured in 1960 under John Diefenbaker.

This future MP was so confident they’d be defeated in a general election that they spent part of the campaign in Las Vegas.

Ed Schreyer. After serving as Governor General from 1979 to 1984, he ran for a seat in the House in 2006 but was defeated.

This national party leader’s grandfather served in the Quebec cabinet of Maurice Duplessis.

Sir Wilfrid Laurier. He served 44 years, 11 months, and five days in the House of Commons.

This prime minister’s grandfather was an MP under prime ministers William Lyon Mackenzie King and Louis St.-Laurent.

Leona Aglukkaq. She made history in 2008 as Minister of Health under Stephen Harper.

Quebec East. Wilfrid Laurier held the riding from 1877 to 1919; Louis St.-Laurent from 1942 to 1958.

Wilfrid Laurier. In 1896, Ontario’s Sir Oliver Mowat, New Brunswick’s Andrew Blair, and Nova Scotia’s William Fielding joined his cabinet.

Both these prime ministers made their first foreign trips to Japan within days of taking office.

Roland Michener. He served as Speaker from 1957 to 1962 before becoming Governor General in 1967.

This general election was the first to feature a nationally televised leaders’ debate.

Douglas Jung. He represented a Vancouver riding from 1957 to 1962.

Martha Black. She was elected to represent Yukon in the House in 1935.

Thomas D’Arcy McGee in 1868.

Which general election had the highest voter turnout?

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