| Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leadership election, 1990 | |
| Date | May 12, 1990 |
| Convention | CNE Coliseum, Toronto, Ontario |
| Campaign to replace |
Larry Grossman |
| Won by | Mike Harris |
| Ballots | 1 |
| Candidates | 2 |
| Entrance Fee | ? |
| Spending limit | ? |
|
Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership conventions 1920, 1936, 1938, 1949, 1961, 1971, 1985, 1990, 2002, 2004, 2009 |
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The 1990 Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership election was a leadership election held in May 1990 to elect a permanent leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party to succeed Larry Grossman who the night of the 1987 provincial election in which he lost his seat and saw his party, which had ruled the province for 42 years until 1985, fall to third place. Andy Brandt served as interim leader during a period of rebuilding leading to the 1990 convention.
The 1990 leadership vote was the first in which the Tories used a One Member One Vote system instead of the traditional delegated leadership convention. In the modified OMOV system all members were allowed to vote in their ridings and each riding was given 100 points which would be assessed according to proportional representation. The candidate with the most points province wide would be the winner.
The Conservatives had been led by Red Tories William G. Davis from 1971 until 1985 and conservative elements in the party, particularly in the youth, believed that the moderate positions of the party leadership had led to its 1985 defeat. Their third place finish in 1987 under Grossman, also a Red Tory, buttressed the argument that the party needed to move to the right. Conversely, the leader of the Conservatives during their fatal 1985 provincial election was Frank Miller, perceived as a right wing conservative who eschewed the Red Toryism of Davis and Grossman.
Mike Harris represented the right wing position in the 1990 race and called for the scrapping of pay equity and the introduction of user fees for health care while his rival in the leadership race, Dianne Cunningham, was seen as on the progressive wing of the party and was supported by Red Tory stalwarts such as Hugh Segal and John Tory.
Both candidates were considered low-profile. Harris had briefly been a junior cabinet minister in Miller's short lived 1985 government while Cunningham was a rookie MPP who was elected in a 1988 by-election. Better known potential candidates such as Dennis Timbrell, Barbara McDougall, David Crombie and John Tory all turned down the chance to run.[1]
(the non-weighted vote totals were: Harris 8661, Cunningham 7189) using a preferential ballot, in which they ranked the candidates by preference, rather than vote in separate rounds.