The 1995 Ontario general election was held on June 8, 1995, to elect members of the 36th Legislative Assembly of the province of Ontario, Canada. The writs for the election were dropped on April 28, 1995.

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Quick Facts 130 seats in the 36th Legislative Assembly of Ontario 66 seats needed for a majority, Turnout ...

1995 Ontario general election

← 1990 June 8, 1995 1999 →
130 seats in the 36th Legislative Assembly of Ontario 66 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	63.00% (1.45pp)[1]
First party Second party Third party   OLP Leader Mike Harris Lyn McLeod Bob Rae Party Progressive Conservative Liberal New Democratic Leader since May 12, 1990 February 9, 1992 February 7, 1982 Leader's seat Nipissing Fort William York South Last election 20 36 74 Seats won 82 30 17 Seat change 62 6 57 Popular vote 1,870,110 1,291,326 854,163 Percentage 44.8% 31.1% 20.6% Swing 21.3pp 1.3pp 17.0pp
Popular vote by riding. As this is an FPTP election, seat totals are not determined by popular vote, but instead via results by each riding. Click the map for more details.
Premier before election Bob Rae New Democratic Premier after election Mike Harris Progressive Conservative

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The governing New Democratic Party, led by Premier Bob Rae, was defeated by voters, who were angry with the actions of the Rae government, such as its unpopular hiring quotas and the Social Contract legislation in 1993.^[2] These policies caused the NDP to lose much of its base in organized labour, further reducing support for the party. At the 1993 federal election, the NDP tumbled to less than seven percent support, and lost all 11 of its federal seats in Ontario. By the time the writs were dropped for the 1995 provincial election, it was obvious that the NDP would not be reelected.

Acts were passed in 1991 and 1993, providing for the following name changes to ridings:

• Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry to S-D-G & East Grenville.^[3]
• Grey to Grey—Owen Sound.^[4]
• York North to York—Mackenzie.^[5]

The Liberal Party under Lyn McLeod had been leading in the polls for most of the period from 1992 to 1995, and were generally favoured to benefit from the swing in support away from the NDP. However, the party hurt its credibility through a series of high-profile policy reversals in the period leading up to the election. The most notable of these occurred when McLeod withdrew Liberal support from the Equality Rights Statute Amendment Act (Bill 167) introduced by the NDP government in 1994, which would have provided same-sex couples with rights and obligations mostly equal to those of opposite-sex common law couples and introduced a form of civil unions. Her decision was seen as cynical and opportunistic in light of the Liberals' earlier rural by-election loss in the socially conservative riding of Victoria—Haliburton. This gave the McLeod Liberals a reputation for "flip-flopping" and inconsistency while offending its socially progressive supporters.

The Progressive Conservative Party, led by Mike Harris, found success with its Common Sense Revolution campaign to cut personal income taxes, social assistance (welfare) rates, and government spending dramatically. Roughly half of his party's seats came from the more affluent regions of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), especially the suburban belt surrounding Metro Toronto, often called the '905' for its telephone area code.

In addition, by presenting himself as a populist, representing "ordinary Ontarians" over "special interests", Harris was able to build Tory support among working-class voters. Although there were regional variations, many working-class voters shifted directly from the NDP to the Tories during the election, enabling the latter to win formerly NDP ridings such as Cambridge and Oshawa.

The televised party leaders' debate is often regarded as the turning point of the campaign. During the event, McLeod further alienated many voters with an overly aggressive performance. Harris used his time to speak directly to the camera to convey his party's Common Sense Revolution platform, virtually ignoring all questions asked of him by Rae and McLeod and avoiding getting caught up in their debate. Since Liberal support was regarded by many political insiders as soft and unsteady, many voters who were previously leaning to the Liberals shifted to the Progressive Conservatives after the debate.

Due to resignations, five by-elections were held between the 1995 and 1999 elections.

• Politics of Ontario
• List of Ontario political parties
• Premier of Ontario
• Leader of the Opposition (Ontario)