1969 Manitoba general election

1969 Manitoba general election

← 1966 June 25, 1969 1973 →
57 seats of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba 29 seats were needed for a majority
First party Second party   PC Leader Edward Schreyer Walter Weir Party New Democratic Progressive Conservative Leader since June 7, 1969 November 25, 1967 Leader's seat Rossmere Minnedosa Last election 11 31 Seats won 28 22 Seat change 17 9 Popular vote 128,080 119,021 Percentage 38.27% 35.56% Swing 15.13pp 4.40pp   Third party Fourth party   LIB SC Leader Robert Bend Jacob Froese Party Liberal Social Credit Leader since May 10, 1969 Leader's seat Ran in Lakeside (lost) Rhineland Last election 14 1 Seats won 5 1 Seat change 9 0 Popular vote 80,288 4,535 Percentage 23.99% 1.36% Swing 9.14pp 2.18pp
Map of Election Results
Premier before election Walter Weir Progressive Conservative Premier after election Edward Schreyer New Democratic

The 1969 Manitoba general election was held on June 25, 1969 to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) of the Canadian province of Manitoba. It was a watershed moment in the province's political history. The social-democratic New Democratic Party emerged for the first time as the largest party in the legislature, winning 28 out of 57 seats. The governing Progressive Conservative Party fell to 22, and the once-dominant Liberal Party fell to an historical low of five. The Social Credit Party won one seat, and there was also one Independent elected.

Although the NDP had risen from third place to only one seat short of a majority, it was not clear what form the government would take in the days immediately following the election. There were negotiations among the Liberals and Progressive Conservatives to form a minority coalition government, supported by the Social Credit and Independent members; under this scenario, former Liberal leader Gildas Molgat would have become Premier. These plans came to nothing when Liberal MLA Laurent Desjardins announced that he would sit as a "Liberal Democrat" supporting the NDP, allowing the NDP to form government by one seat. Edward Schreyer became the province's first social democratic Premier shortly thereafter.

The Manitoba NDP had a total election budget of $45,000. Although very small by modern standards, this was the most the party had ever spent up to this time.^[1]

The Liberals had managed to remain as the Official Opposition for a decade after losing power in 1959. However, this would be the start of almost 20 years in the political wilderness; the party would not come close to governing again until winning opposition status in 1988.