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22 unusual facts about Ontario general election


Big Thunder Ski Jumping Center

During the campaigning for the 1995 Ontario provincial election, Conservative Party leader Mike Harris deemed Big Thunder a "cash cow" as part of his Common Sense Revolution.

Bruce McLeod

In the 1981 provincial election, McLeod was the Ontario Liberal Party's candidate in the Toronto riding of St. George finishing second behind Susan Fish.

CIGL-FM

During the 2007 provincial election morning show host Sean Kelly was absent from the air pending the results of the vote on election day.

Dropping the writ

However, there is a more recent counter-example in the 1985 election in Ontario.

Edgar Breau

Breau campaigned for the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the 1999 Ontario provincial election, as a candidate for the right-wing, socially conservative Family Coalition Party.

Edmund Burke Society

In 1971, three of five Ontario Social Credit candidates in the 1971 provincial election were identified as EBS members.

Election promise

In the 2003 provincial election in Ontario, Canada, the Liberal Party also made all three promises and raised taxes once it found itself in government with an unbalanced budget.

Embrun, Ontario

In the 2011 provincial election, the riding stayed Liberal (albeit by a narrow margin) despite the retirement of popular Liberal incumbent Jean Marc Lalonde, and despite the fact that the Liberals lost nearly twenty seats across Ontario.

Greg Joy

In 1995, he ran as a Progressive Conservative candidate in the riding of Ottawa West, in the 1995 provincial election, finishing second to Bob Chiarelli by 1,618 votes.

John Yakabuski

Yakabuski was elected to the Ontario legislature in the 2003 provincial election, defeating Liberal Derek Nighbor by 595 votes.

Justin Trottier

In 2011, he became the Green Party of Ontario candidate for the Parkdale-High Park riding in the 2011 Ontario general election.

Mario Racco

During the provincial election of 2007, Racco was defeated by Progressive Conservative candidate Peter Shurman.

Ontario general election, 1937

Meanwhile, the fledgling democratic socialist Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) lost its sole MLA, Sam Lawrence.

Ontario prohibition referendum, 1902

Though the referendum passed, a majority of half of the voters in the 1898 election did not support the motion and prohibition was not introduced.

Part II of the Liquor Act required a majority exceeding half of the votes in the 1898 election to pass the legislation; this requirement was not met.

Paramount Canadians Party

In the 2011 Ontario general election, the Paramount Canadians Party fielded four candidates for the Legislative Assembly of Ontario

Pat Hoy

Hoy was elected for a fourth term in the provincial election of 2007.

Paul McKeever

In the 2003 provincial in the riding of Oshawa, he came in fifth out of six candidates with 518 votes or 1.3% of all votes cast.

During the 2007 provincial election McKeever ran in London West where he received 234 votes, 0.47% of all ballots cast.

Under McKeever's leadership, the Freedom Party of Ontario nominated 24 candidates in the 2003 provincial election and 15 candidates in the 2007 provincial election.

Sylvia Jones

She was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the 2007 provincial election, representing the riding of Dufferin—Caledon.

The Big Move

As part of the Ontario general election, 2011, Premier Dalton McGuinty also made a campaign pledge to provide two-way, full-day train service on all corridors, which was subsequently confirmed in the Phase 2 announcement.


1902 in Canada

Margaret Haile runs as a candidate of the Canadian Socialist League in Toronto North for the Ontario provincial election, becoming the first woman ever to stand in a provincial election.

Bart Maves

Maves was elected to the Ontario legislature in the provincial election of 1995, defeating Liberal Marg Germano and incumbent New Democrat Margaret Harrington in the riding of Niagara Falls.

Bernt Gilbertson

On October 5, in one of the first sessions of the legislature following the 1995 provincial election, tributes to Gilbertson were delivered in the Assembly by Bud Wildman, Norm Sterling and Mike Brown.

Bill Vrebosch

He was the provincial Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario candidate in the riding of Nipissing in the 2007 Ontario election, losing to incumbent MPP Monique Smith.

Blair McCreadie

Leading up to the 2003 Ontario general election, McCreadie defended a party organizing session that included a prominent British Conservative MP Andrew Rosindell as key note speaker in Vaughan.

Bob Morrow

In 1981, he unsuccessfully ran as a Progressive Conservative candidate in the 1981 provincial election in Hamilton West, losing to provincial Liberal leader Stuart Smith.

Brad Nixon

He was elected to the Ontario legislature in the 1987 provincial election, defeating Progressive Conservative Gordon Chong by over 3,000 votes in the Toronto riding of York Mills.

Brad Ward

Ward was elected to the Ontario legislature in the 1990 provincial election, defeating Liberal incumbent Dave Neumann in the Brantford division.

Chaviva Hošek

In the 1987 Ontario election, Hošek sought and won a seat in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as the Liberal Member of Provincial Parliament for the Toronto constituency of Oakwood, defeating Ontario New Democratic Party incumbent Tony Grande by 1,331 votes.

Dan Waters

For the 2003 provincial election, he won the Parry Sound–Muskoka Liberal nomination over Evelyn Brown and challenged Progressive Conservative incumbent Norm Miller, who had succeeded Eves in a by-election.

David Boushy

Boushy was elected to the Ontario legislature in the 1995 provincial election, defeating Liberal Joan Link by 634 votes in the riding of Sarnia (incumbent New Democrat Bob Huget was third).

Edelgard Mahant

She formerly taught at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, where she was also the Ontario Liberal Party candidate in the electoral district of Sudbury East in the 1985 provincial election.

Elmer Buchanan

The NDP won a majority government under Bob Rae in the provincial election of 1990, and Buchanan defeated Jim Pollock by 896 votes.

Ernie Parsons

His victory in the 1999 provincial election was unexpected, as he defeated incumbent Progressive Conservative Gary Fox by 56 votes in Prince Edward—Hastings, which most considered to be a safe Tory seat.

Frank Sheehan

Sheehan was elected to the legislature in the 1995 provincial election, defeating Liberal Harry Pelissero by about 8,000 votes in the southern Ontario riding of Lincoln (NDP incumbent Ron Hansen was third).

George William Taylor

He was first elected to the Ontario legislature in the 1977 provincial election, defeating New Democratic Party candidate Paul Wessenger by 5,434 votes in Simcoe Centre.

Harry Danford

Danford defeated fellow Tory MPP Bill Vankoughnet to win the Progressive Conservative nomination for the 1999 provincial election in Hastings—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, but lost to Liberal Leona Dombrowsky by almost 2,000 votes.

James Snow

Snow was elected to the Ontario legislature in the 1967 provincial election, defeating Liberal candidate Robin Skuce by 164 votes in Halton East.

Jim Wiseman

In the 1995 provincial election, Wiseman finished third in Durham West, falling almost 20,000 votes behind Progressive Conservative Janet Ecker.

Joan Fawcett

The Progressive Conservatives won a majority government in the 1995 provincial election, and Fawcett lost the Northumberland riding to Progressive Conservative candidate Doug Galt by over 6,000 votes.

John O'Toole

O'Toole scored a significant victory over incumbent New Democrat Gord Mills in the provincial election of 1995, scoring 62% of the popular vote (this was part of a provincial trend in which a number of working-class ridings shifted from the NDP to the Tories).

Joseph McNamara

A quarter-century later, he attempted to return to politics by contesting Riverdale in the 1948 provincial election as a Liberal but placed third behind the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and Progressive Conservative candidates.

Laureano Leone

He first ran for the Ontario legislature in the 1981 provincial election, but finished third against New Democrat Ed Philip in the riding of Etobicoke.

Leslie Warner Oke

After the departure of Bowman and the election of two new UFO MLAs, Farquhar Oliver and Thomas Farquhar, in the 1926 provincial election, Oke led a rump of three UFO MLAs until he lost his seat in the 1929 election to Thomas Howard Fraleigh.

Marcel Beaubien

The Progressive Conservatives were defeated in the provincial election of 2003, and Beaubien lost his seat to Liberal Maria Van Bommel by over 3,500 votes.

Margaret Harrington

The NDP were defeated in the 1995 provincial election, and Harrington finished third against Progressive Conservative Bart Maves in her bid for re-election.

Mary Anne Chambers

Chambers was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the provincial election of 2003, as a Liberal in the riding of Scarborough East, defeating incumbent Progressive Conservative Steve Gilchrist by over 7000 votes.

Mickey Hennessy

He was first elected to the Ontario legislature in the 1977 provincial election, defeating New Democratic Party candidate Iain Angus by 2,256 votes in Fort William.

Norm Jamison

The NDP were defeated in the 1995 provincial election, and Jamison finished third against Progressive Conservative Toby Barrett in his bid for re-election.

Patrick Michael Hayes

The NDP were defeated in the 1995 provincial election, and Hayes finished third in Essex-Kent, finishing 2,293 votes behind the winning candidate, Liberal Pat Hoy.

Paul Klopp

He first ran for the Ontario Legislature in the provincial election of 1985, but finished a distant third against Liberal Jack Riddell in the riding of Huron—Middlesex.

Pauline Browes

During the 1995 Ontario provincial election, she served as a special advisor to Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario election campaign won by Mike Harris, who became Premier of Ontario.

Philip Andrewes

He lost the Lincoln constituency by 1,036 votes to Liberal Harry Pelissero by in the 1987 election, amid a Liberal sweep of the province.

Sam Cureatz

He was first elected to the Ontario legislature in the 1977 provincial election, defeating Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP) incumbent Doug Moffatt by 122 votes in the riding of Durham East.

Stuart Lyon Smith

Smith was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario for the Ontario Liberal Party in the 1975 provincial election, defeating Progressive Conservative candidate and future mayor Bob Morrow by 542 votes in Hamilton West.

Susan Fish

She ran for Bill Davis' Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario in the 1981 Ontario election and was elected as Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for the St. George constituency in downtown Toronto.

Ted W. Kulp

He campaigned for the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the 1971 election as a candidate of the New Democratic Party in York West and finished third against Progressive Conservative John MacBeth.

Thomas Leonard Wells

He was re-elected with a reduced majority in the 1967 election, defeating New Democratic Party candidate John Brewin by 1,527 votes.