Ontario general election, 1995

Ontario general election, 1995

June 8, 1995

130 seats in the 36th Legislative Assembly of Ontario 66 seats needed for a majority   First party Second party Third party   LIB 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

Premier before election Bob Rae New Democratic Premier-designate Mike Harris Progressive Conservative

Map of the 1995 election

The Ontario Legislature after the 1995 election.

The Ontario general election of 1995 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.

The governing New Democratic Party, led by Premier Bob Rae, was defeated by voters, who were angry at the mistakes made by the inexperienced NDP and frustrated by the recession, rising taxes, and unemployment. The NDP had lost much of their base in organized labour, due to the unpopularity of its Social Contract legislation in 1993.

Lyn McLeod's Liberals 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 Bill 167, a same-sex benefits package for civil unions, when it was introduced by the NDP government in 1994. 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 party a reputation for "flip-flopping" and inconsistency while offending its socially progressive supporters.

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.

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.

Due to the above factors, voters gave the Tories a majority while the Liberals finished with less support than they had in the 1990 election. The NDP, despite improving their standing in some Northern Ontario ridings, were heavily defeated and reduced to third party status from which they have not yet recovered. McLeod and Rae resigned their party leadership posts not long after the campaign.

One independent candidate was elected: Peter North in the riding of Elgin. North had been elected in 1990 as a New Democrat, but left the NDP and declared his intention to run as a Progressive Conservative. The PC Party did not accept him as a candidate, however.

Results

Notes:

At least five unregistered parties fielded candidates in this election.

• The Reform Association of Ontario ran fifteen candidates. Their leader was Kimble Ainslie. A Globe and Mail article from August 19, 1995 indicates that the party won 6,400 votes.

• John Steele campaigned as a candidate of the Communist League.

• The Ontario Renewal Party ran a number of candidates under the leadership of Diane Johnston. This was the Marxist-Leninist party under a different name.

• Amani Oakley and Joe Flexer ran as "Independent Labour" candidates in Toronto with the support of dissident or former members of the Ontario New Democratic Party and with the support of OPSEU in the case of Oakley and the Canadian Auto Workers in the case of Flexer .

• John Turmel's Abolitionist Party ran at least two candidates.

Candidates from the aforementioned parties appeared on the ballot as independents. It is possible that some candidates listed below as independents actually belonged to these or other parties.

Riding results

Ottawa-Carleton

Eastern Ontario

Central Ontario

Durham & York Region

Scarborough

North York & East York

Toronto

Etobicoke & York

Brampton, Mississauga & Halton

Hamilton-Wentworth & Niagara

Midwestern Ontario

Southwestern Ontario

Northeastern Ontario

Northwestern Ontario

Byelections

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

See also

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

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