1937 Ontario General Election

The 1937 Ontario general election was held on October 6, 1937, to elect the 90 Members of the 20th Legislative Assembly of Ontario ("MLAs"). It was the 20th general election held in the province of Ontario.

Campaign

The Ontario Liberal Party, led by Mitchell Hepburn, was re-elected for a second term in government, with a slightly reduced majority in the Legislature.

The Ontario Conservative Party, led by William Earl Rowe, was able to win six additional seats, and continued to form the official opposition.

Meanwhile, the fledgling democratic socialist Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) ran 37 candidates out of a possible 90, led by party president John Mitchell running in Waterloo South, who also campaigned throughout the province on the party's behalf. The election, however, resulted in a modest decline in popular vote and the loss of the party's sole MLA, Sam Lawrence in Hamilton East.

Incumbent MLA Farquhar Oliver was the last remaining United Farmers of Ontario MLA and ran as the party's sole candidate in the election. In practice, however, he had been a supporter of the Liberal government and would join Hepburn's cabinet in 1940, formally joining the Liberal Party.

Outcome

In 1938, MLAs voted to adopt the title " Member of Provincial Parliament", and became known as "MPPs".

This Ontario election was the last to date in which the winning party (together with effective support from the Liberal-Progressives and UFO, against which they did not field opposing candidates) has won an absolute majority of the popular vote.

Results

Supplementary correction for T.A. Blakelock ( Halton) - he was nominated, and campaigned, as a Liberal-Progressive):
, -
! colspan=2 rowspan=2 , Political party
! rowspan=2 , Party leader
! colspan=5 , MPPs
! colspan=3 , Votes
, -
! Candidates
!1934
! Dissol.
!1937
!±
!#
!%
! ± (pp)

, style="text-align:left;", Mitchell Hepburn
, 85 , , 64 , , 66 , , 62 , , 2 , , 769,747 , , 48.99 , , 2.43

, style="text-align:left;", William Earl Rowe
, 89 , , 17 , , 17 , , 23 , , 6 , , 619,610 , , 39.44 , , 0.34

, style="text-align:left;",
, 4 , , 5 , , 4 , , 3 , , 2 , , 24,752 , , 1.58 , , 1.31

, style="text-align:left;",
, 8 , , – , , 1 , , 1 , , 1 , , 20,776 , , 1.32 , , 0.53

, style="text-align:left;", Farquhar Oliver
, 1 , , 1 , , 1 , , 1 , , , , 7,296 , , 0.46 , , 0.09

, style="text-align:left;", John Mitchellparty president
, 37 , , 1 , , 1 , , – , , 1 , , 77,833 , , 4.95 , , rowspan="2", 1.66

, style="text-align:left;", CCF-Labour
, style="text-align:left;",
, 2 , , – , , – , , – , , – , , 5,746 , , 0.37

, style="text-align:left;",
, 7 , , 1 , , 1 , , – , , 1 , , 4,039 , , 0.26 , , 0.96

, style="text-align:left;",
, – , , 1 , , – , , – , , 1 , , colspan="3", ''Did not campaign''

, style="text-align:left;",
, 6 , , – , , – , , – , , – , , 14,675 , , 0.93 , , 0.89

, style="text-align:left;",
, 7 , , – , , – , , – , , – , , 11,807 , , 0.75 , , 0.74

, style="text-align:left;",
, 5 , , – , , – , , – , , – , , 8,270 , , 0.53 , , 0.50

, style="text-align:left;",
, 1 , , – , , – , , – , , – , , 3,343 , , 0.21 , , rowspan="2", 0.37%

, style="text-align:left;",
, 1 , , – , , – , , – , , – , , 408 , , 0.03

, style="text-align:left;",
, 11 , , – , , – , , – , , – , , 2,199 , , 0.14 , , 0.04

, style="text-align:left;",
, 1 , , – , , – , , – , , – , , 538 , , 0.03 , , ''New''

, style="text-align:left;",
, 1 , , – , , – , , – , , – , , 94 , , 0.01 , , 0.02
, -style="background:#E9E9E9;"
, colspan="3" style="text-align:left;", Total
, 266
, 90
, 90
, 90
,
, 1,571,133
, 100.00%
,
, -
, colspan="8" style="text-align:left;", Blank and invalid ballots
, align="right", 17,271
, style="background:#E9E9E9;" colspan="2",
, -style="background:#E9E9E9;"
, colspan="8" style="text-align:left;", Registered voters / turnout
, 2,238,230
, 71.29%
, 2.32

Synopsis of results

: = open seat
: = turnout is above provincial average
: = winning candidate was in previous Legislature
: = incumbent switched allegiance for the election
: = incumbency arose from byelection gain
: = other incumbents renominated
: = previously an MP in the House of Commons of Canada
: = multiple candidates
: = campaigned as CCF-Labour candidates

Analysis

Seats that changed hands

There were 17 seats that changed allegiance in the election.

Liberal to Conservative
* Dufferin—Simcoe
* Fort William
* Hastings West
*Leeds
* Peel
* Prince Edward—Lennox
* Riverdale
* Simcoe East
* Victoria

Conservative to Liberal
* Bracondale
*Peterborough
* St. David

Liberal-Progressive to Liberal
* Brant
* Muskoka—Ontario

CCF to Liberal
* Hamilton East

Liberal-Labour to Liberal
*Kenora

Independent to Independent-Liberal
*Brantford

See also

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

Notes

References

Further reading

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ontario General Election, 1937
1937 elections in Canada
1937
1937 in Ontario
November 1937 in Canada