Ballots and Brawls: The 1867 Canadian General Election

The first book on the volatile election of 1867 in newly founded Canada.

In September 1867, months after the formation of the Dominion of Canada, voters went to the polls for the inaugural election that would affirm that the new government was answerable to the people. No one could have foreseen the outcome, let alone the chaos that led up to the event. In Ballots and Brawls, the first book dedicated solely to the 1867 election, Patrice Dutil offers readers a region-by-region look at the summer of that year, concluding with a close examination of the election results.

Citizens battled over issues of economic progress, taxation, and defense, while fights at the local level pitted English against French, Protestants against Catholics, and regionalists against nationalists. Dutil’s account captures the drama and outright violence at the polls and provides an engrossing introduction to the shared ideals, disparate interests, and big personalities involved.

Drawing together archival research, newspaper accounts, and a thorough review of the results at the polls, Dutil delivers an engaging and detailed look at the election that started the country.

Patrice Dutil is professor in the Department of Politics and Public Administration at Toronto Metropolitan University, a senior fellow of the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History at the University of Toronto, and a senior fellow of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. He is the author of Prime Ministerial Power in Canada: Its Origins under Macdonald, Laurier, and Borden and Devil’s Advocate: Godfroy Langlois and the Politics of Liberal Progressivism in Laurier’s Quebec.