1885 North-West Territories election

Northwest Territories election, 1885

15 September 1885 (1885-09-15)
11 members to the Council of the Northwest Territories

The Northwest Territories election of 1885 was the first major election in the history of the territory. The election took place on 15 September 1885.

The election was held to elect members to new districts to cope with the rapid growth of settlers in the territories at the time. Elections were also held in established electoral districts to renew members terms at the end of 3 years as per Northwest Territories law at the time. The election would see 11 members acclaimed and elected to various electoral districts to the 1st Council of the Northwest Territories.

The election was not considered a general election, since it did not involve every electoral district, and was not caused by the dissolution of the council. It was also held in the wake of the Saskatchewan Rebellion of spring, 1885.

The election would be followed by the 1st Northwest Territories general election in 1888 at the completion of the 3-year term. The election conducted without political parties.

Summary

Election summary	# of candidates		Popular vote
	Incumbent	New	#	%
Elected candidates	2	7	2,056	61.54%
Acclaimed candidates	-	2	-	-
Defeated candidates	1	8	1,285	38.46%
Total	20		3,341	100%

Members elected

	District	Name	Broadview	Charles Marshallsay	Edmonton	Herbert Charles Wilson	Lorne	Owen Edward Hughes	Macleod	Richard Henry Boyle	Moose Jaw	James Hamilton Ross	Moosomin	Spencer Bedford	Qu’Appelle	Thomas Wesley Jackson	William Dell Perley	Regina	David Jelly	John Secord	St. Albert	Samuel Cunningham

Calgary and Moose Mountain did not participate in the 1885 election having elected members to a three-year term in 1884. Moosomin and St. Albert electoral districts were won by acclamation.

External links

• Elections NWT