1894 Ontario general election

1894 Ontario general election

← 1890 June 26, 1894 1898 →
← outgoing members
94 seats in the 8th Legislative Assembly of Ontario 48 seats were needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader Oliver Mowat William Ralph Meredith Party Liberal Conservative Leader since 1872 1879 Leader's seat Oxford North London Last election 53 34 Seats won 45 23 Seat change 8 9
Premier before election Oliver Mowat Liberal Premier after election Oliver Mowat Liberal

The 1894 Ontario general election was the eighth general election held in the Province of Ontario, Canada. It was held on June 26, 1894, to elect the 94 Members of the 8th Legislative Assembly of Ontario ("MLAs").^[1]

The main issues were the Liberals' "Ontario System", as well as French language schools, farmer interests, support for Toronto business, woman suffrage, the temperance movement, and the demands of labour unions.^[2]

The Ontario Liberal Party, led by Oliver Mowat, formed the government for the seventh consecutive parliament, even though some of its members were elected under joint banners: either with the Patrons of Industry or the Protestant Protective Association.

The Ontario Conservative Party, led by William Ralph Meredith, formed the official opposition.

The Patrons of Industry, a farmers' organization formed in 1890, cooperated with the urban labour movement to address the political frustrations of both groups with big business. Sixteen members of the Legislative Assembly were elected with Patrons of Industry support—12 Liberals, one Conservative, and three who ran only under the "Patrons of Industry" banner.

The Protestant Protective Association (PPA) was an anti-Catholic group, associated with the Orange Order. It campaigned against the rights of Catholics and French-Canadians, and argued that Roman Catholics were attempting to take over Ontario. Nine candidates were elected with PPA support, 6 Conservatives, 1 Liberal and 2 who ran only under the PPA banner. The PPA worked most closely with the Conservative opposition.

Unlike the previous two elections, this election strictly used First past the post to elect the members. The Toronto district was divided into separate single member districts, as part of the expansion of the Assembly.

Expansion of the Legislative Assembly[]

An Act passed just prior to the election^[3] increased the size of the Assembly from 91 to 94 seats:

• Toronto, a riding that returned three MLAs, was divided into Toronto East, Toronto North, Toronto South and Toronto West.
• Hamilton, a single-member constituency, was divided into Hamilton East and Hamilton West.
• Ottawa became a two-member riding.

Results[]

Elections to the 8th Parliament of Ontario (1894)

Political party		Party leader	MPPs					Votes
			Candidates	1890	Dissol.	1894	±	#	%	± (pp)
	Liberal	Oliver Mowat	80	53		45	8	153,826	40.99%	8.64
	Conservative	William Ralph Meredith	56	34		23	11	104,369	27.81%	12.07
	Liberal-Patrons		26	–	–	12	12	44,029	11.73%	New
	Conservative–P.P.A.		13	–	–	5	5	24,616	6.56%	New
	Patrons of Industry	Joseph Longford Haycock	7	–	–	3	3	10,465	2.79%	New
	Conservative-Patrons		7	–	–	2	2	11,608	3.09%	New
	Liberal-P.P.A.		2	–	–	2	2	3,649	0.97%	New
	Protestant Protective Association		8	–	–	1	1	11,015	2.94%	New
	Independent-Conservative-PPA		1	–	–	1	1	2,326	0.62%	New
	Independent		9	–	–	–		9,374	2.50%	New
	Liberal-Equal Rights			2	–	–	2	Did not campaign
	Conservative-Equal Rights			2	–	–	2	Did not campaign
	Vacant
Total			209	91	91	94		375,277	100.00%
Blank and invalid ballots								3,886
Registered voters / turnout								539,358	70.30%	0.70

Before the Legislature's first session opened, four by-elections were called. William Ralph Meredith (London) resigned to accept appointment as a judge, while the elections of (Algoma West), (Haldimand) and (Kingston) were overturned on appeal. The Liberals won all four Conservative seats, thus securing a majority in the Assembly. That, together with the inability of the Patrons of Industry and the Conservatives to combine on any issue, ensured the Liberals' hold on power.^[4]

Division of ridings[]

The newly created ridings returned the following MLAs:

Seats that changed hands[]

Of the constituencies that were not altered, there were 38 seats that changed allegiance in the election:

See also[]

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

References[]