The 1914 Ontario general election was the 14th general election held in the province of

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada. It was held on June 29, 1914, to elect the 111 Members of the 14th Legislative Assembly of Ontario (MLAs). The Ontario Conservative Party, led by Sir James P. Whitney, won a fourth consecutive term in government. Whitney died three months after the election and was succeeded by

William Howard Hearst Sir William Howard Hearst, (February 15, 1864 – September 29, 1941) was the seventh premier of Ontario from 1914 to 1919. Hearst was born in Bruce County, Canada West. He practiced law in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario before being voted to p ...

. The Conservatives contested 109 of the 111 ridings, deciding not to have candidates stand in

Glengarry The Glengarry bonnet is a traditional Scots cap made of thick-milled woollen material, decorated with a toorie on top, frequently a rosette cockade on the left side, and ribbons hanging behind. It is normally worn as part of Scottish military ...

(where the Liberal

Hugh Munro Sir Hugh Thomas Munro, 4th Baronet (16 October 1856 – 19 March 1919), was a British mountaineer best known for his list of mountains in Scotland over 3,000 feet (914.4 m), known as Munros. Born in London, Munro was the fifth child of ...

was acclaimed) and

Norfolk North Norfolk North was a federal electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1867 to 1904. It was located in the province of Ontario. It was created by the British North America Act 1867, which divided the county of Norfolk ...

(where the Liberal incumbent Thomas Robert Atkinson was up against a Liberal anti-Temperance candidate). However, dissension within the Tory ranks resulted in a significant number of them campaigning as either independent or temperance candidates. The

Ontario Liberal Party The Ontario Liberal Party (OLP; , PLO) is a political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. The party has been led by Bonnie Crombie since December 2023. The party espouses the principles of liberalism, with their rival the Progressive Co ...

, led by

Newton Rowell Newton Wesley Rowell, (November 1, 1867 – November 22, 1941) was a Canadian lawyer, politician, judge, and lay leader in the Methodist Church. Rowell led the Ontario Liberal Party from 1911 to 1917 and put forward a platform advocating ...

, formed the official opposition.

Independent Labour The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse working-class candidate ...

MLA

Allan Studholme Allan Studholme (8 December 1846 – 28 July 1919) was a Canadian trade unionist and Ontario politician. He served as Labour MLA from 1906 to 1919. Born in England near Birmingham, Studholme worked from his childhood. He moved to Canada in ...

was re-elected in Hamilton East. He had held the seat since a 1906

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

. The campaign was seen to turn more significantly on the matter of

Regulation 17 Regulation 17 () was a regulation of the Government of Ontario, Canada, designed to limit instruction in French-language Catholic separate schools. The regulation was written by the Ministry of Education and was issued in July 1912 by the Progr ...

(which limited instruction in French-language Catholic

separate schools In Canada, a separate school is a type of school that has constitutional status in three provinces (Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan) and statutory status in the three territories (Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut). In these Canadian ...

), in comparison to temperance issues, and that worked against the Liberals, who placed Prohibition of sales in bars and clubs as a main plank in their platform.

Expansion of the Legislative Assembly

An Act passed prior to the election expanded the number of members from 106 to 111, and the number of ridings from 103 to 107. The following changes were made: :*

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places *Detroit–Windsor, Michigan-Ontario, USA-Canada, North America; a cross-border metropolitan region Australia New South Wales *Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area Queen ...

was spun off from Essex North :* Monck was merged with

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the 16th president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln (na ...

, and

St. Catharines St. Catharines is the most populous city in Canada's Niagara Region, the eighth largest urban area in the province of Ontario. As of 2021, St. Catharines has an area of and 136,803 residents. It lies in Southern Ontario, south of Toronto ac ...

was withdrawn :*

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the Canada–United States border, border between the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York (s ...

was withdrawn from

Welland Welland is a city in the Regional Municipality of Niagara in Southern Ontario, Canada. As of 2021, it had a population of 55,750. The city is in the centre of Niagara and located within a half-hour driving distance to Niagara Falls, Niagara-on ...

:* Cochrane was carved out from Timiskaming :* In

Bruce County Bruce County is a county in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. It has eight lower-tier municipalities with a total 2021 population of 73,396. It is named for James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin and 12th Earl of Kincardine, the sixth Governor General of t ...

, the three ridings were reorganized: ::* The Township of Kinloss was withdrawn from

Bruce South Bruce South could refer to: * Bruce South (federal electoral district) *Bruce South (provincial electoral district) Bruce South was an electoral riding in Ontario, Canada. It was created in 1867 at the time of confederation A confederatio ...

::* Bruce North gained the Township of Elderslie, while those of Bruce and Saugeen were withdrawn ::* As a consequence, Bruce Centre was reconstituted as Bruce West :* In Victoria County, Victoria East and

Victoria West Victoria West is a town in the central Karoo region of South Africa's Northern Cape province. It is situated on the main N12 route, at an elevation of . It is the seat of the Ubuntu Local Municipality within the Pixley ka Seme District Municip ...

were reorganized into Victoria North and Victoria South :* In

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, the ridings of Toronto East, Toronto North,

Toronto South Toronto South was a federal electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1904 to 1935. It was located in the city of Toronto in the province of Ontario. This riding was first created in 1903 from parts of Toronto Cent ...

and Toronto West were replaced: ::* Toronto Northeast, Toronto Northwest, Toronto Southeast and Toronto Southwest were constituted as two-member constituencies ::* Parkdale and Riverdale were created as single-member constituencies The Patricia Portion acquired in 1912 was divided between Cochrane and

Kenora Kenora (), previously named Rat Portage (), is a city situated on the Lake of the Woods in Ontario, Canada, close to the Manitoba boundary, and about east of Winnipeg by road. It is the seat of Kenora District. The history of the name exten ...

Results

, - ! colspan=2 rowspan=2 , Political party ! rowspan=2 , Party leader ! colspan=5 , MPPs ! colspan=3 , Votes , - ! Candidates !

1911 Events January * January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory are added to the Commonwealth of Australia. * January 3 ** 1911 Kebin earthquake: An earthquake of 7.7 m ...

! Dissol. !1914 !± !# !% ! ± (pp) , style="text-align:left;", James P. Whitney , 109 , 82 , , 84 , 2 , 268,548 , 54.02% , 1.57 , style="text-align:left;",

, 90 , 22 , , 24 , 2 , 186,168 , 37.45% , 1.06 , style="text-align:left;", , 4 , 1 , , 1 , , 6,535 , 1.31% , 1.12 , style="text-align:left;", , 2 , – , – , 1 , 1 , 2,236 , 0.45% , , - , style="background:#FF00FF;" rowspan="4", , style="text-align:left;", Temperance , style="text-align:left;", , 9 , – , – , – , , 13,064 , 2.63% , , - , style="text-align:left;", Liberal-Temperance , style="text-align:left;", , 1 , – , – , 1 , 1 , 2,733 , 0.55% , , - , style="text-align:left;", Conservative-Temperance , style="text-align:left;", , 2 , – , – , – , , 2,222 , 0.45% , 0.02 , - , style="text-align:left;", Prohibitionist , style="text-align:left;", , 1 , – , – , – , , 1,302 , 0.26% , , style="text-align:left;", , , 1 , , – , 1 , colspan="3", ''Did not campaign'' , style="text-align:left;", , 5 , – , – , – , , 4,837 , 0.97% , 0.07 , style="text-align:left;", , 12 , – , – , – , , 4,532 , 0.91% , 0.04 , style="text-align:left;", , 4 , – , – , – , , 4,270 , 0.86% , 0.11 , style="text-align:left;", , 1 , – , – , – , , 691 , 0.14% , , colspan="3", , , colspan="5", , -style="background:#E9E9E9;" , colspan="3" style="text-align:left;", Total , 240 , 106 , 106 , 111 , , 497,138 , 100.00% , , - , colspan="8" style="text-align:left;", Blank and invalid ballots , align="right", 7,304 , style="background:#E9E9E9;" colspan="2", , -style="background:#E9E9E9;" , colspan="8" style="text-align:left;", Registered voters / turnout , 697,935 , 72.28% , 8.02

Synopsis of results

: = open seat : = turnout is above provincial average : = winning candidate was in previous Legislature : = incumbent had switched allegiance : = previously incumbent in another riding : = not incumbent; was previously elected to the Legislature : = incumbency arose from byelection gain : = incumbency arose from prior election result being overturned by the court : = other incumbents renominated : = joint Conservative candidate : = Prohibition candidate : = joint Liberal candidate : = previously an MP in the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada () is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of Ca ...

: = multiple candidates

Analysis

Results summary by region

MLAs elected by region and riding

Party designations are as follows: Italicized names indicate members returned by

acclamation An acclamation is a form of election that does not use a ballot. It derives from the ancient Roman word ''acclamatio'', a kind of ritual greeting and expression of approval towards imperial officials in certain social contexts. Voting Voice vot ...

. Northern Ontario
Ottawa Valley
Saint Lawrence Valley
Georgian Bay
Central Ontario
Wentworth/Halton/Niagara
Midwestern Ontario
Southwestern Ontario
Peel/York/Ontario
Toronto

Reorganization of ridings

The newly created ridings returned the following MLAs:

Seats that changed hands

There were 20 seats that changed allegiance in the election: Liberal to Conservative *

Grey North Grey North was a federal electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1867 to 1968. It was located in the province of Ontario. It was created by the British North America Act 1867, which divided the County of Grey into ...

* Haldimand * Lambton East * Middlesex East *

Ontario South Ontario South was a federal electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1867 to 1925. It was located in the province of Ontario. It was created by the British North America Act 1867. The South riding consisted initia ...

* Oxford South * Wentworth North * Liberal to Independent-Liberal *

Prescott Prescott may refer to: People Given name * Prescott E. Bloom, American lawyer and politician * Prescott Bush, American banker and politician * Samuel Prescott Bush, American industrialist * Prescott F. Hall, American lawyer, author and eugenicist ...

Liberal-Conservative to Conservative * Rainy River Conservative to Liberal * Brant *

Brant South Brant South was a federal and provincial electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1867 to 1904, and in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1867 to 1923. It was also called the Sou ...

* Essex South *

Middlesex North Middlesex North could refer to * Middlesex North (federal electoral district) *Middlesex North (provincial electoral district) Middlesex North was an electoral riding in Ontario, Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Pro ...

* Ottawa East * Ottawa West *

Peterborough West Peterborough West was a federal electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1867 to 1953. It was located in the province of Ontario. It was created by the British North America Act 1867 which divided the County of Pet ...

* Prince Edward Conservative to Liberal-Temperance *

Wellington South Wellington South was a Canadian federal electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1867 to 1968. It was located in the province of Ontario. It was created by the British North America Act 1867 as the "South Riding of ...

Acclamations

When nominations closed, three candidates were acclaimed. A later withdrawal in

enabled the acclamation of Harold Arthur Clement Machin.

Forbes Godfrey Forbes Elliott Godfrey (March 31, 1867 – January 6, 1932) was an Ontario physician and political figure. He represented York West (provincial electoral district), York West in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as a Progressive Conservative ...

(

York West York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

) was acclaimed because the Liberal candidate was held to have missed the deadline by one minute. In Wellington East, the Liberals opted not to press a similar case against the Conservative candidate, whose nomination papers were filed 90 minutes after the deadline.

Expansion of the Legislative Assembly

Results

Synopsis of results

Analysis

Results summary by region

MLAs elected by region and riding

Reorganization of ridings

Seats that changed hands

Acclamations

See also

Notes and references

Notes

References

Further reading