Joseph Royal was a Canadian journalist, lawyer, politician, businessman, and Lieutenant Governor of the Northwest Territories.

The 1870 Manitoba general election held on December 27, 1870, resulted in a victory for Lieutenant Governor Adams George Archibald's governing coalition. Archibald had previously been appointed as the province's Lieutenant Governor by George-Étienne Cartier, and promoted a model of "consensus government," which included members of the province's different ethnic, religious, and linguistic groups.