Canadian federal election, 1972

The Canadian federal election of 1972 was held on October 30, 1972 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons. It resulted in a slim victory for the governing Liberal Party, which won 109 seats, compared to 107 seats for the opposition Progressive Conservatives. A further 48 seats were won by other parties and independents. On election night, the results appeared to give 109 seats to the Tories, however once the counting had finished the next day, the final results gave the Liberals a minority government and left the New Democratic Party led by David Lewis holding the balance of power. See 29th Canadian parliament for a full list of MPs elected.

Party platforms

Liberal Party:

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• increase bilingualism in the civil service;
• re-introduce a bill controlling foreign take-overs of Canadian businesses;
• specialized programs to reduce unemployment;
• a program to expand and create new parks across canada, including Toronto's "Harbourfront" and Mount Ste.-Anne Park near Quebec City;
• make-work programs to create jobs;
• reduce abuse of Unemployment Insurance; and
• incentives to reduce pollution.

Progressive Conservative Party:

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• increase the discipline in government spending, and increase the power of the Auditor General to fight waste and inefficiency in government;
• ban strikes in essential services;
• introduce price and wage controls if necessary to control inflation;
• require foreign-owned companies operating in Canada to have a majority of canadians on their boards of directors;
• introduce an incentive to encourage Canadians to invest in small businesses;
• develop a national economic strategy in co-operation with the provincial governments;
• expand re-training opportunities for unemployed workers;
• adjust tariffs to encourage secondary processing in Canada of Canada's natural resources;
• eliminate the 11% sales tax on building materials;
• eliminate 3% increase in personal income tax rates scheduled for January 1, 1973, and reduce rates by 4% on July 1, 1973;
• adjust old age security payments regularly to reflect changes in the cost of living;
• index tax brackets to inflation so that taxes do not rise as the cost of living rises;
• provide assistance to set up residential land banks to reduce the cost of housing.

New Democratic Party:

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• eliminate 3% increase in personal income tax rates scheduled for January 1, 1973, and reduce rates by 8% for ordinary Canadians;
• introduce controls on prices and rents, but not on wages;
• create a 4300 millino program to funds public works durin winter months to reduce unemployment;
• increase old age security payments, but eliminate them for wealthy senior citizens;
• legislate greater autonomy for Canadian trade unions that are branches of international unions;
• tough tax laws for corporations;
• eliminate "corporate welfare", i.e., grants and subsidies for corporations, and use this money to build housing and transportation infrastructure, and fund municipal services to create jobs.

Social Credit Party:

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• reform the monetary system in line with social credit theories;
• increase old age security payments to $200 per month beginning at age 60, and to $150 per month for spouses of seniors regardless of age.