The Canadian federal election of 1878 resulted in the end of Alexander Mackenzie's Liberal government after only one term in office. Canada suffered an economic depression during Mackenzie's term, and his party was pounished by the voters for it. The Liberals' policy of free trade also hurt their support with the business establishment in Toronto and Montreal.

Sir John A. Macdonald and his Conservative/Liberal-Conservative party was returned to office after having been defeated five years before amidst scandals over the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway.

National results

Party		Party Leader	# of candidates	Seats			Popular Vote
				Before	After	Change	#	%	Change	Conservative	John A. Macdonald	101	38	83	+118.4%	143,192	26.28%	+7.80%
	Liberal-Conservative	60	26	46	+76.9%	85,999	15.78%	+3.50%	Liberal	Alexander Mackenzie		121	126	57	-54.8%	180,074	33.05%	-7.74%	Independent		11	4	5	+25%	14,783	2.71%	-0.48%
	Independent Conservative		2	2	2	-	1,001	0.18%	-0.76%
	Unknown		117	0	9		114,043	20.93%	-1.93%
	Independent Liberal		4	1	2	+100%	5,388	0.99%	-
	Nationalist Conservative		1	0	0		401	0.07%	+0.07%
Total			417	197	206	+3.6%		100.0%	-
Sources: http://www.elections.ca -- History of Federal Ridings since 1867

Note:

"Before" refers to standings in the House of Commons at the last election, and not standings at dissolution.

Acclamations The following Members of Parliament were elected by acclamation;

• British Columbia: 1 Conservative, 1 Liberal-Conservative
• Manitoba: 2 Conservatives, 1 Liberal-Conservative
• Quebec: 1 Conservative, 2 Liberal-Conservatives, 1 Liberal
• New Brunswick: 1 Liberal, 1 Independent

Results by province

Party Name			BC	MB	ON	QC	NB	NS	PE	Total
	Conservative	Seats:	1	2	37	33	1	8	3	83
		Popular Vote (%):	-	49.6	25.5	35.0	5.9	21.7	31.6	26.3
	Liberal-Conservative	Seats:	3	1	20	13	3	6	2	46
		Vote (%):	39.6	-	15.8	13.2	14.3	22.7	12.0	15.8
	Liberal	Seats:	1		28	15	9	7	1	57
		Vote (%):	-		36.3	21.7	48.2	34.9	37.2	33.1
	Independent	Seats:	1		1	1	2	-		5
		Vote (%):	12.2		1.5	1.6	13.1	4.3		2.7
	Independent Conservative	Seats:		1		2				3
		Vote (%):		50.4		0.7				0.2
	Unknown	Seats:
		Vote (%):	48.2		19.9	27.4	14.8	14.7	19.3	20.9
	Independent Liberal	Seats:			2		1	-		2
		Vote (%):			1.0		3.7	1.7		1.0
Total Seats			7	4	90	65	16	21	6	206
Parties that won no seats:
	Nationalist Conservative	Vote (%):				0.3				0.1