1945_Ontario_general_election

1945 Ontario general election

1945 Ontario general election

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The 1945 Ontario general election was held on June 4, 1945, to elect the 90 members of the 22nd Legislative Assembly of Ontario (Members of Provincial Parliament, or "MPPs") of the province of Ontario.[1]

Quick Facts 90 seats in the 22nd Legislative Assembly of Ontario 46 seats were needed for a majority, First party ...

Background

The Legislature was dissolved on March 24, 1945, upon the government's failure to defeat a non-confidence motion. The election call was delayed in order to implement new legislation relating to the collection of votes from servicemen and women overseas,[2] but the date was later fixed for June 11. When the 1945 Canadian federal election was set for the same date, the Ontario date was accelerated by one week to June 4,[3] in order to separate the two campaigns.

The Drew government called the election in an attempt to get a majority government. By exploiting increasing Cold War tensions, the PC Party was able to defeat Jolliffe's CCF by stoking fears about communism. Jolliffe replied by giving a radio speech (written by Lister Sinclair) that accused Drew of running a political gestapo in Ontario, alleging that a secret department of the Ontario Provincial Police was acting as a political police spying on the opposition and the media. This accusation led to a backlash, and loss of support for the CCF, including the loss of Jolliffe's own seat of York South. This probably helped Drew win his majority, although in the 1970s, archival evidence was discovered proving the charge.[4]

Campaign

Of the 90 ridings, only 8 had two-way races; 47 were three-way contests, and the Labor-Progressives forced 30 four way races:

More information Candidates, Total ...

Outcome

The Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, led by George Drew, won a second consecutive term in office, winning a solid majority of seats in the legislature—66, up from 38 in the previous election.

The Ontario Liberal Party, led by former premier Mitchell Hepburn, was returned to the role of official opposition with 11 seats, plus 3 Liberal-Labour seats that it won, out of 6 contested, in coalition with the Labor-Progressive Party (which was, in fact, the Communist Party), in an effort to marginalize the CCF. The three new Liberal-Labour MPPs were James Newman of Rainy River, Joseph Meinzinger of Waterloo North and Alexander Parent of Essex North.

The social democratic Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), led by Ted Jolliffe, was reduced from 34 seats to 8.

Two seats were won by the Labor-Progressive Party on its own with the re-election of A.A. MacLeod and J.B. Salsberg. The LPP contested a total of 31 ridings under the leadership of Leslie Morris who was defeated in the Toronto riding of Bracondale.

Results

[1][5][6]

More information Political party, Party leader ...
  1. A. A. MacLeod (Bellwoods) and J. B. Salsberg (St. Andrew) were the only candidates nominated and elected under the Labour ticket in 1943, but switched to the new Labor-Progressive Party on its formation shortly after the election.
  2. Mitchell Hepburn (Elgin) opted not to run as a Liberal candidate in 1943, and returned to the Liberals to once again become their leader.
  3. compared with Independent Labour 1943 results
  4. George Barker (York East) was an Independent-Soldier candidate, and John Beauchamp (Ottawa East) ran under the Veterans' Reform ticket.
More information Party, Seats ...

Synopsis of results

More information Riding, Winning party ...
  1. including spoilt ballots
  2. order is as given in EO reports
  = open seat
  = turnout is above provincial average
  = winning candidate was in previous Legislature
  = incumbent had switched allegiance
  = incumbency arose from byelection gain
  = previously incumbent in another riding
  = other incumbents renominated
  = not incumbent; was previously elected to the Legislature
  = previously an MP in the House of Commons of Canada
  = multiple candidates

Analysis

More information Party in 1st place, Party in 2nd place ...
More information Parties, 1st ...
More information Source, Party ...

Seats that changed hands

More information Party, Gain from (loss to) ...
  1. Mitchell Hepburn (Elgin) campaigned as a Liberal and lost.

There were 36 seats that changed allegiance in the election.

Notable group of candidates

Ten candidates who were not incumbents had served as MPPs prior to 1943:

See also


References

  1. "1945 General Election". Elections Ontario. Retrieved August 29, 2023.
  2. The Active Service Election Act, 1945, S.O. 1945 (1st sess.), c. 1
  3. "Returns by Ridings". Ottawa Journal. June 5, 1945. p. 11. Party affiliation for Robert Shantz (Waterloo South) corrected - he was a Liberal candidate: "South Waterloo Liberals Name Candidate For Federal Election". Waterloo Chronicle. p. 1.

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