The 1948 Ontario general election was held on June 7, 1948, to elect the 90 members of the 23rd Legislative Assembly of Ontario (Members of Provincial Parliament, or "MPPs") of 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 ...

. The Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, led by George Drew, won a third consecutive term in office, winning a solid majority of seats in the legislature—53, down from 66 in the previous election. Drew unexpectedly lost his seat, and thereafter announced that rather than return to the legislature, he would seek the leadership of the federal

Progressive Conservative Party of Canada The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada (PC; ) was a Centrism, centre to centre-right List of federal political parties in Canada, federal political party in Canada that existed from 1942 to 2003. From Canadian Confederation in 1867 unti ...

Campaign

The majority of races were three-way contests:

Opinion Polls

Outcome

Despite winning a majority, Drew lost his own seat to temperance crusader Bill Temple. Instead of seeking a seat in a

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 ...

, Drew left provincial politics to run for, and win, the leadership of the federal Progressive Conservative Party. Drew was replaced as Ontario PC leader and premier by Thomas Kennedy on an interim basis, and then by Leslie Frost. 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 Farquhar Oliver, increased its caucus from 11 to 14, but lost the role of

official opposition Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. This article uses the term ''government'' as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning ''t ...

. Only one of the three Liberal-Labour MPPs sitting with the Liberal caucus, James Newman, was re-elected. The

social democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (Ontario Section), led by Ted Jolliffe, formed the official opposition by increasing its caucus from 8 to 21 seats. Two

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 ...

seats were won by Labor-Progressive Party MPPs J. B. Salsberg and A.A. MacLeod. The LPP was the official name of the Communist Party of Ontario. The LPP only ran two candidates, Salsberg and MacLeod, in 1948 down from 31 candidates in 1945.

Results

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

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II, the fall of Nazi Germany, and the Empire of Japan. It is also the year concentration camps were liberated and the only year in which atomic weapons have been used in combat. Events World War II will be ...

! Dissol. !1948 !± !# !% ! ± (pp) , style="text-align:left;", George Drew , 90 , 66 , 66 , 53 , 13 , 725,799 , 41.28% , 2.97 , style="text-align:left;", Ted Jolliffe , 81 , 8 , 8 , 21 , 13 , 466,274 , 26.52% , 4.11 , style="text-align:left;", Farquhar Oliver , 88 , 11 , 11 , 13 , rowspan="2", , 515,795 , 29.34% , rowspan="2", 0.66 , style="text-align:left;", , 2 , 3 , 3 , 1 , 7,682 , 0.44% , style="text-align:left;", A.A. MacLeod , 2 , 2 , 2 , 2 , , 17,654 , 1.00% , 1.63 , style="text-align:left;", Ron Gostick , 13 , – , – , – , rowspan="2", – , 9,214 , 0.52% , rowspan="2", 0.51 , style="text-align:left;", , 2 , – , – , – , 734 , 0.04% , style="text-align:left;", , 1 , – , – , – , , 8,613 , 0.49% , , style="text-align:left;", , 3 , – , – , – , , 3,340 , 0.19% , 0.17 , style="text-align:left;", , 1 , – , – , – , , 1,766 , 0.10% , 0.30 , style="text-align:left;", , 5 , – , – , – , , 913 , 0.05% , – , , 1 , – , – , – , , 253 , 0.01% , 0.60 , colspan="3", , , colspan="5", , -style="background:#E9E9E9;" , colspan="3" style="text-align:left;", Total , 289 , 90 , 90 , 90 , , 1,758,037 , 100.00% , , - , colspan="8" style="text-align:left;", Blank and invalid ballots , align="right", 16,935 , style="background:#E9E9E9;" colspan="2", , -style="background:#E9E9E9;" , colspan="8" style="text-align:left;", Registered voters / turnout , 2,623,281 , 67.66% , 5.12

Synopsis of results

: = open seat : = turnout is above provincial average : = winning candidate was in previous Legislature : = incumbent had switched allegiance : = other incumbents renominated : = campaigned as a Liberal-Labour candidate : = campaigned as a Social Credit candidate

Analysis

Seats that changed hands

There were 34 seats that changed allegiance in the election. ; PC to CCF *

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 ...

* Bracondale * Dovercourt * Hamilton Centre * Hamilton East *

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 ...

* Parkdale * Riverdale * St. David * Waterloo South * Woodbine * York East * York South * York West ; PC to Liberal *

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 * Kent East *

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 ...

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 ...

* Prince Edward—Lennox * Welland ; CCF to PC *

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 ...

* Sudbury ; CCF to Liberal * Fort William ; Liberal to PC * Cochrane North * Glengarry * Nipissing * Parry Sound * Prescott * Russell * Stormont ; Liberal-Labour to CCF * Essex North ; Liberal-Labour to Liberal *

Waterloo North Waterloo North was a federal electoral district (Canada), electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1867 to 1968. It was located in the provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. It was created by the ...

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ontario General Election, 1948 1948 elections in Canada

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...

General election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

June 1948 in North America