The 1926 Ontario general election was the 17th 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 December 1, 1926, to elect the 112 Members of the

17th Legislative Assembly of Ontario The 17th Legislative Assembly of Ontario was in session from December 1, 1926, until September 17, 1929, just prior to the 1929 Ontario general election, 1929 general election. The majority party was the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, ...

("MLAs").

Campaign

The

United Farmers of Ontario The United Farmers of Ontario (UFO) was an agrarian and populist provincial political party in Ontario, Canada. It was the Ontario provincial branch of the United Farmers movement of the early part of the 20th century. History Foundation and r ...

decided to withdraw from electoral politics after having been defeated in the 1923 election, and most of its MPPs redesignated themselves as

Progressives Progressivism is a left-leaning political philosophy and reform movement that seeks to advance the human condition through social reform. Adherents hold that progressivism has universal application and endeavor to spread this idea to human so ...

with former UFO

Attorney-General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

William Edgar Raney becoming party leader. Nevertheless, several MPPs, including Raney himself, continued to run as candidates endorsed by local UFO associations. Leslie Oke and Beniah Bowman were opposed to Raney's leadership as he was not a farmer. They were also opposed to the creation of a new Progressive Party which would not focus exclusively on farmers' issues, so they chose to remain as UFO MPPs. Bowman later resigned from the legislature before the election. The Ontario Conservative Party, led by

Howard Ferguson George Howard Ferguson (June 18, 1870 – February 21, 1946) was the ninth premier of Ontario, from 1923 to 1930. He was a Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1905 to ...

, was re-elected for a second term in government. There were several disputes in the selection of candidates: in Port Arthur, Donald Hogarth was one of two Conservative candidatesthe other being the incumbent Francis Keeferwho were selected in parallel meetings arising from a dispute over the validity of the list of delegates. The principal issue of the campaign was the government's proposal to repeal the ''

Ontario Temperance Act The ''Ontario Temperance Act'' was a law passed in 1916 that led to the prohibition of alcohol in Ontario, Canada. When the Act was first enacted, the sale of alcohol was prohibited, but liquor could still be manufactured in the province or import ...

'', replacing

prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...

with government control of liquor sales. The '' Daily British Whig'' described it as "the greatest issue that has ever been placed before

he voters He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter ca ...

. The Liberal and Progressive parties both campaigned against repeal, and one of Ferguson's ministers,

William Folger Nickle William Folger Nickle King's Counsel, KC (December 31, 1869 - November 15, 1957) was a Canadians, Canadian politician who served both as a member of the House of Commons of Canada and in the Ontario legislature where he rose to the position o ...

, resigned from the cabinet and ran for re-election against the government as a Prohibitionist candidate. Raney proposed that the Progressives and Liberals work in concert to support a single dry ticket in certain ridings, which led to the nomination of 27 Prohibitionist candidates. In other ridings, the two parties tended to avoid campaigning against each other, in order to minimize the split of the temperance vote. The Conservatives fielded candidates in all but two ridings, and three of them were 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 ...

. In 54 two-way contests, the Liberals declined to field a candidate in favour of an ally considered more likely to gain votes. There were only 15 three-cornered races, one four-way and one five-way battles. Several Liberals, protesting their party's temperance stand, chose to stand as Independent-Liberals.

Outcome

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 W.E.N. Sinclair, obtained 13 seats, while the Progressives won 10. Five

Liberal-Progressive Liberal-Progressive was a label used by a number of candidates in Canadian elections between 1925 and 1953. In federal and Ontario politics there was no Liberal-Progressive Party, as such. The term generally referred to candidates endorsed by Lib ...

candidates were also elected, along with several independents. The selection of Liberal-Progressive candidates was complex in some cases: in Victoria North, William Newman was selected by the Progressives, while W.G. Carley was the Liberal nominee. Newman was named as the L-P candidate in a joint meeting of the local parties. Oke was the only UFO MPP who was re-elected as such, and he was joined by Thomas Farquhar from Manitoulin and

Farquhar Oliver Farquhar Robert Oliver (March 6, 1904 – January 22, 1989) was a politician in Ontario, Canada. Oliver was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as a United Farmers of Ontario Member of the Legislative Assembly in the 1926 provin ...

from Grey South. The latter won with the assistance of federal MP

Agnes MacPhail Agnes Campbell Macphail (March 24, 1890 – February 13, 1954) was a Canadian politician and the first woman elected to Canada's House of Commons. She served as a Member of Parliament (Canada), Member of Parliament (MP) from 1921 to 1940; from 1 ...

. Karl Homuth of Waterloo South was the only Labour MPP returned. His support of the government (and eventual admission to the Conservative caucus after the election) led to Labour's collapse as a party. The fracture of the UFO, together with a large number of resignations from MPPs (of which five chose to run federally in

1925 Events January * January 1 – The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria (1925–1930), State of Syria. * January 3 – Benito Mussolini m ...

, and two more in

1926 In Turkey, the year technically contained only 352 days. As Friday, December 18, 1926 ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Saturday, January 1, 1927 '' (Gregorian Calendar)''. 13 days were dropped to make the switch. Turkey thus became the ...

) significantly changed the composition of the Assembly.

Post-election scandals

After the election, the ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

'' reported accusations of corrupt payments during the campaign: :* In Bruce South, the Liberal candidate (and former MLA in 1911-1914) J.G. Anderson consented to withdraw his nomination upon being paid $1,250 by the Prohibition Union to cover expenses related to the election. :* In Kent East, the former Progressive Candidate W.J.Cryderman stated that an unnamed Liberal had offered him $500 cash plus a Dominion government position if he withdrew his nomination. :* In Perth South, the Progressive candidate W.A. McKenzie was twice offered payments by the Prohibition Union if he withdrew his nomination. He did withdraw, but returned both cheques because of their blatant illegality. The election in Bruce South was later declared void in June 1927.

Pre-election timeline

Redistribution of seats

A 1925 Act provided for the redistribution of the Legislative Assembly into 112 ridings for the election. The dual-member ridings in the City of Toronto, in effect since the 1914 election, were abolished and replaced by single-member seats:

Beaches A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from Rock (geology), rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle beach, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological s ...

was drawn out from York East, and

High Park High Park is a municipal park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. High Park is a mixed recreational and natural park, with sporting facilities, cultural facilities, educational facilities, gardens, playgrounds and a zoo. One-third of the park remains ...

from

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 ...

. There were other changes made to ridings elsewhere in the Province: :* Brant and Brant South were reorganized into Brant County and

Brantford Brantford ( 2021 population: 104,688) is a city in Ontario, Canada, founded on the Grand River in Southwestern Ontario. It is surrounded by Brant County but is politically separate with a municipal government of its own that is fully indep ...

:* Bruce West was divided between Bruce North and Bruce South :* Durham East and Durham West were combined to form Durham :* Frontenac and Lennox became Frontenac—Lennox :* Grey Centre was divided between Grey North and Grey South :* Hamilton Centre was created from parts of Hamilton East and Hamilton West :*

Huron Centre Huron Centre was a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1872 to 1882. This riding was created from parts of Huron North and Huron South ridings. The Centre riding consist ...

was split between Huron North and

Huron South Huron South was a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1867 to 1935. It was created by the British North America Act 1867 which divided the County of Huron into two ridin ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

was split into

London North London North was a provincial electoral district in Ontario, Canada. It was first created for the 1926 provincial election when the London riding was divided in two sections, and then eliminated prior to the 1934 provincial election when the ci ...

and

London South London South was an electoral riding in Ontario, Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward ...

:* Middlesex East was split between Middlesex North and Middlesex West :* Norfolk North and Norfolk South merged to form

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

:* Northumberland East and

Northumberland West Northumberland West was a federal electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1867 to 1917. It was located in the province of Ontario. It was created by the British North America Act 1867. The original definition of ...

became

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

:* Ottawa West was divided to form Ottawa North and Ottawa South :* Peterborough East and Peterborough West were reorganized to form Peterborough City and

Peterborough County Peterborough County is a county and census division located in Southern Ontario, Canada. The county seat is the City of Peterborough, which is independent of the county. The southern section of the county is mix of agriculture, urban and lakef ...

:* Wellington East and Wellington West merged to form Wellington Northeast :* Windsor was divided to form Windsor East and Windsor West :* York South was carved out from

A further Act in 1926 merged Simcoe South and Simcoe West into Simcoe Southwest, and divided Cochrane into Cochrane North and Cochrane South. Raney complained that the net effect of the redistribution was to transfer up to 11 seats from rural to urban voters, and thus "to secure the re-election of the Ferguson Government".

Results

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

1923 In Greece, this year contained only 352 days as 13 days was skipped to achieve the calendrical switch from Julian to Gregorian Calendar. It happened there that Wednesday, 15 February ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Thursday, 1 March ' ...

! Dissol. !1926 !± !# !% ! ± (pp) , style="text-align:left;",

, 112 , 75 , 74 , 73 , 2 , 640,515 , 55.87% , 6.10 , style="text-align:left;", W.E.N. Sinclair , 48 , 14 , 11 , 13 , 1 , 196,813 , 17.17% , 4.16 , style="text-align:left;", William Raney , 16 , – , 11 , 10 , 10 , 72,277 , 6.30% , , , 10 , – , – , 5 , 5 , 48,619 , 4.24% , , style="text-align:left;", Leslie Oke , 3 , 17 , 1 , 3 , 14 , 15,417 , 1.34% , 19.60 , , 3 , 4 , 3 , 1 , 3 , 14,794 , 1.29% , 3.46 , , 1 , 1 , – , – , 1 , colspan="3" style="text-align:center;", ''Did not campaign'' , style="text-align:left;", , 7 , – , 1 , 4 , 4 , 21,002 , 1.83% , , style="text-align:left;", , 7 , – , – , 1 , 1 , 20,144 , 1.76% , , style="text-align:left;", Liberal-Prohibitionist , style="text-align:left;", , 3 , – , – , 1 , 1 , 11,526 , 1.01% , , style="text-align:left;", , 2 , – , – , 1 , 1 , 6,029 , 0.51% , , style="text-align:left;", , 27 , – , – , – , – , 92,435 , 8.06% , , style="text-align:left;", Liberal-Labour , style="text-align:left;", , 2 , – , – , – , – , 4,633 , 0.40% , , style="text-align:left;", Liberal-Labour-Prohibitionist , style="text-align:left;", , 1 , – , – , – , – , 2,298 , 0.20% , , colspan="3", , 10 , colspan="5", , -style="background:#E9E9E9;" , colspan="3" style="text-align:left;", Total , 241 , 111 , 111 , 112 , , 1,146,502 , 100.00% , , - , colspan="8" style="text-align:left;", Blank and invalid ballots , align="right", 6,785 , style="background:#E9E9E9;" colspan="2", , -style="background:#E9E9E9;" , colspan="8" style="text-align:left;", Registered voters / turnout , 1,792,757 , 63.95% , 5.61

Synopsis of results

: = turnout is above provincial average : = incumbent switched allegiance for the election : = not incumbent; previously elected as a UFO MLA : = not incumbent; previously elected as a Labour MLA : = not incumbent; previously elected as a Liberal-Temperance MLA : = petition against election withdrawn : = petition against election dismissed : = election declared void

Campaign

Outcome

Post-election scandals

Pre-election timeline

Redistribution of seats

Results

Synopsis of results

Notable groups of candidates

See also

Notes and references

Notes

References

Further reading