The 1959 Ontario general election was held on June 11, 1959, to elect the 98 members of the 26th 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 The Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC; ), often shortened to the Ontario PC Party, or simply the PCs, colloquially known as the Tories, is a centre-right political party in Ontario, Canada. During its uninterrupted governance from 1 ...

, led by

Leslie Frost Leslie Miscampbell Frost (September 20, 1895 – May 4, 1973) was a politician in Ontario, Canada, who served as the province's 16th premier from May 4, 1949, to November 8, 1961. Due to his lengthy tenure, he gained the nickname "Old Man O ...

, won a sixth consecutive term in office, and maintained its majority in the legislature, although it lost 12 of the 83 seats it had won in the previous election. 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 John Wintermeyer, increased its caucus from 11 to 22 members, and continued in 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 ...

. Liberal-Labour MPP Albert Wren was re-elected and continued to sit with the Liberal

caucus A caucus is a group or meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries and political cultures. The term originated in the United States, where it can refer to ...

. Wren died in 1961 and was succeeded in a by-election by Robert Gibson. 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 The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF; , FCC) was a federal democratic socialism, democratic socialistThe following sources describe the CCF as a democratic socialist political party: * * * * * * and social democracy, social-democ ...

(CCF), led by Donald C. MacDonald, won two additional seats, for a total of five.

Campaign

Results

, - ! colspan=2 rowspan=2 , Political party ! rowspan=2 , Party leader ! colspan=5 , MPPs ! colspan=3 , Votes , - ! Candidates ! 1955 ! Dissol. !1959 !± !# !% ! ± (pp) , style="text-align:left;",

, 98 , 83 , , 71 , 12 , 868,815 , 46.15% , 1.91 , style="text-align:left;", John Wintermeyer , 97 , 10 , , 21 , 11 , 682,589 , 36.26% , 3.46 , style="text-align:left;", Donald C. MacDonald , 80 , 3 , , 5 , 2 , 313,834 , 16.67% , 0.13 , style="text-align:left;", , 1 , 1 , , 1 , , 6,559 , 0.35% , 0.06 , style="text-align:left;", , 2 , 1 , , – , 1 , 2,119 , 0.11% , 0.29 , style="text-align:left;", Bruce Magnuson , 9 , – , – , – , , 4,304 , 0.23% , 0.96 , style="text-align:left;", Edgar Shipley Birrell , 5 , – , – , – , , 1,740 , 0.09% , , style="text-align:left;", , 1 , – , – , – , , 1,512 , 0.08% , , style="text-align:left;", , 2 , – , – , – , , 832 , 0.04% , 0.48 , style="text-align:left;", , 1 , – , – , – , , 268 , 0.01% , , style="text-align:left;", , , – , – , – , , colspan="3", ''Did not campaign'' , style="text-align:left;", , , – , – , – , , colspan="3", ''Did not campaign'' , style="text-align:left;", Socialist-Labour , style="text-align:left;", , , – , – , – , , colspan="3", ''Did not campaign'' , colspan="3", , , colspan="5", , -style="background:#E9E9E9;" , colspan="3" style="text-align:left;", Total , 296 , 98 , 98 , 98 , , 1,882,572 , 100.00% , , - , colspan="8" style="text-align:left;", Blank and invalid ballots , align="right", 21,272 , style="background:#E9E9E9;" colspan="2", , -style="background:#E9E9E9;" , colspan="8" style="text-align:left;", Registered voters / turnout , 3,187,801 , 59.72% , 1.68

Synopsis of results

: = open seat : = turnout is above provincial average : = incumbency arose from byelection gain : = other incumbents renominated : = Liberal-Labour candidate : = Labour-CCF candidate

Analysis

Seats that changed hands

There were 14 seats that changed allegiance in the election. ; PC to Liberal * Bracondale * Dovercourt * Fort William *

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 ...

* Nipissing * Parkdale * Sudbury * Wentworth * Windsor—Sandwich * Windsor—Walkerville * York Centre ; PC to CCF * Hamilton East * Woodbine ; Independent-PC to PC * Renfrew South

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ontario General Election, 1959 1959 elections in Canada

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...