Ontario general election, 1943

Ontario general election, 1943

August 4, 1943

90 seats in the 21st Legislative Assembly of Ontario 46 seats were needed for a majority   First party Second party Third party   Leader George Drew Ted Jolliffe Harry Nixon Party Progressive Conservative Co-operative Commonwealth Liberal Leader since December 9, 1938 April 3, 1942 April 30, 1943 Leader's seat High Park York South Brant Last election 23 0 63 Seats won 38 34 15 Seat change +15 +34 -48 Percentage 35.7% 31.7% 31.2% Swing -4.3pp +26.1pp -20.4pp

Premier before election Harry Nixon Liberal Premier-designate George Drew Progressive Conservative

The Ontario general election of 1943 was held on August 4, 1943, to elect the 90 Members of the 21st Legislative Assembly of Ontario (Members of Provincial Parliament, or "MPPs") of the Province of Ontario, Canada.

The Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, led by George Drew, defeated the Ontario Liberal Party government. The Liberal government had disintegrated over the previous two years because of a conflict between Mitchell Hepburn, the Ontario caucus and the federal Liberal Party of Canada.

Hepburn resigned and was eventually succeeded by Harry Nixon in early 1943. The change in leadership was not enough to save the government. The election held later that year resulted in the Conservative Party, recently renamed the "Progressive Conservative Party", winning a minority government. This began forty-two uninterrupted years of government by the Tories who combined moderate progressive policies with pragmatism and caution.

The Liberals fell to third place behind a new force, the socialist Ontario Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), led by Ted Jolliffe, went from obscurity to form the Official Opposition, winning 32% of the vote and 34 seats in the legislature, just four short of Drew's Tories. The Liberals and their Liberal-Progressive allies fell from 66 seats to a mere 15.

Two members of the banned Communist Party of Ontario running as "Labour" candidates won seats in the Legislature for the first time in this election: A.A. MacLeod in the Toronto riding of Bellwoods, and J.B. Salsberg in the Toronto riding of St. Andrews. Several days following the election the Labor-Progressive Party was officially formed and Salsberg and MacLeod agreed to sit in the legislature as the party's representatives.

Results

Note:

¹ The Conservative Party renamed itself the "Progressive Conservative Party" in 1943.

²Salsberg and MacLeod, members of the banned Communist Party, ran and were elected as "Labour" candidates. The Labor-Progressive Party was formally founded several days after the election and Salsberg and Macleod agreed to sit in the legislature as LPP representatives.

³In 1940, United Farmers of Ontario MLA Farquhar Oliver formally joined the Liberal Party when he entered Hepburn's Cabinet after having supported the Hepburn government from outside the Liberal caucus for several years. Oliver was re-elected as a Liberal in the 1943 election.

⁴ The Liberal-Progressive MLAs supported the Liberal government of Mitchell Hepburn since it took office in 1934. Liberal-Progressive leader Harry Nixon formally joined the Liberal Party in 1937 and was elected its leader in 1943. Two remaining Liberal-Progressives were elected in 1937, Liberal-Progressive MLA Roland Patterson was re-elected as a Liberal in 1943 while the other Liberal-Progressive, Douglas Campbell of Kent East left the legislature.

See also

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

Elections and referendums in Ontario
General elections	1867 1871 1875 1879 1883 1886 1890 1894 1898 1902 1905 1908 1911 1914 1919 1923 1926 1929 1934 1937 1943 1945 1948 1951 1955 1959 1963 1967 1971 1975 1977 1981 1985 1987 1990 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2014 next
By-elections	List of Ontario by-elections
Referendums	1894 1902 1919 1921 1924 2007