1908 Prince Edward Island general election

1908 Prince Edward Island general election

November 18, 1908 (1908-11-18)
All 30 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island 16 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader Francis Haszard John A. Mathieson Party Liberal Conservative Leader since 1908 1903 Leader's seat 4th Queens 5th Kings Last election 22 seats, 54.1% 8 seats, 45.9% Seats won 17 13 Seat change 5 5 Popular vote 15,488 14,541 Percentage 51.6% 48.4% Swing 2.5pp 2.5pp
Premier before election Francis Haszard Liberal Premier after election Francis Haszard Liberal

The 1908 Prince Edward Island general election was held in the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island on November 18, 1908.

The election was won by the governing Liberals, led by incumbent Premier Francis Haszard. Haszard had taken over from his predecessor, Arthur Peters, following his death in January 1908.

Haszard resigned as Premier in 1911 following appointment to the province's Supreme Court, and he was succeeded as Premier by H. James Palmer. Due to his designation as Premier, Palmer ran in a by-election in his district of 3rd Queens; traditionally, the Opposition does not run a candidate in these triggered by-elections, but the Conservatives did in the December, 1911 by-election and defeated Palmer in his own district.

The opposition Conservatives, led by John A. Mathieson, gained five seats in this election.

Party Standings

Party		Party Leader	Seats		Popular Vote
			1904	Elected	#	%
	Liberal	Francis Haszard	22	17	15,488	51.6%
	Conservative	John A. Mathieson	8	13	14,541	48.4%

Members Elected

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 all eligible voters of within a district, while Councillors were only elected by landowners within a district.

Kings

District	Assemblyman		Party	Councillor		Party
1st Kings		John McLean	Conservative		Lauchlin MacDonald	Liberal
2nd Kings		Robert Cox	Liberal		James McInnis	Liberal
3rd Kings		Walter A. O. Morson	Conservative		John A. MacDonald	Conservative
4th Kings		Albert P. Prowse	Conservative		Murdock MacKinnon	Conservative
5th Kings		Archibald J. MacDonald	Conservative		John Alexander Mathieson	Conservative

Prince

District	Assemblyman		Party	Councillor		Party
1st Prince		Benjamin Gallant	Liberal		John Agnew	Liberal
2nd Prince		John Richards	Liberal		Alfred McWilliams	Liberal
3rd Prince		Aubin Edmond Arsenault	Conservative		Hector Dobie	Conservative
4th Prince		James Kennedy	Conservative		Joseph Read	Liberal
5th Prince		James A. MacNeill	Conservative		J. Edward Wyatt	Conservative

Queens

District	Assemblyman		Party	Councillor		Party
1st Queens		Matthew Smith	Liberal		Murdock Kennedy	Conservative
2nd Queens		William Laird	Liberal		John McMillan	Liberal
3rd Queens		Herbert James Palmer	Liberal		James H. Cummiskey	Liberal
4th Queens		David P. Irving	Liberal		Francis L. Haszard	Liberal
5th Queens		James Warburton	Liberal		George E. Hughes	Liberal

Further reading

• Hopkins, J. Castell (1909). The Canadian Annual Review of Public Affairs, 1908. Toronto: The Annual Review Publishing Company.