The 1963 Ontario general election was held on September 25, 1963, to elect the 108 members of the

27th Legislative Assembly of Ontario The 27th Legislative Assembly of Ontario was in session from September 25, 1963, until September 5, 1967, just prior to the 1967 Ontario general election, 1967 general election. The majority party was the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party led ...

(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

John Robarts John Parmenter Robarts (January 11, 1917 – October 18, 1982) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 17th premier of Ontario from 1961 to 1971. He was a member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario. Early life Roba ...

, who had replaced

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 ...

as PC leader and premier in 1961, won a seventh consecutive term in office, and maintained its majority in the legislature, increasing its caucus from the 71 members elected in the previous election to 77 members in an enlarged legislature. 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 John Joseph Wintermeyer (December 4, 1916 – December 20, 1993) was a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1955 to 1963 who represented the riding of Waterloo North. From 1958 to ...

, increased its caucus from 22 to 24 members, although Wintermeyer lost his seat of Waterloo North. He resigned as party leader but the Liberals continued in their 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 ...

. Robert Gibson of

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 ...

was re-elected as a Liberal-Labour MPP sitting with the Liberal caucus. 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 ...

was formally dissolved and succeeded by the

Ontario New Democratic Party The Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP; , NPD) is a social democratic political party in Ontario, Canada. The party sits on the centre-left of the political spectrum. It is Ontario’s provincial section of the federal New Democratic Party. The ...

in 1961. The newly conglomerated party was still led by

Donald C. MacDonald Donald Cameron MacDonald (December 7, 1913 – March 8, 2008) was a Canadians, Canadian politician. Referred to in the media as the "best Premier of Ontario, premier Ontario never had," he represented the provincial riding of York South ( ...

, and won two additional seats, for a total of seven. The

Social Credit Party of Ontario The Social Credit Party of Ontario (SCPO) (also known as the Ontario Social Credit League, Social Credit Association of Ontario and the Union of Electors) was a minor political party at the provincial level in the Canadian province of Ontario from ...

split into two factions mirroring the split in the federal party. The official Social Credit party ran candidates in three rural ridings while the more radical Social Credit Action faction ran candidates in six ridings in Toronto.

Expansion of Legislative Assembly

The size of the Legislative Assembly was increased from 98 to 108 members, through the reorganization of Toronto's suburban ridings:

Results

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

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 ...

! Dissol. !1963 !± !# !% ! ± (pp) , style="text-align:left;",

, 108 , 71 , , 77 , 6 , 1,052,740 , 48.61% , 2.46 , style="text-align:left;",

, 107 , 21 , , 23 , 2 , 754,032 , 34.82% , 1.44 Successor to the CCF , style="text-align:left;",

, 97 , 5 , , 7 , 2 , 340,208 , 15.71% , 0.96 , style="text-align:left;", , 1 , 1 , , 1 , , 6,774 , 0.31% , 0.04 , style="text-align:left;", , 1 , – , – , – , , 5,190 , 0.24% , 0.13 , style="text-align:left;", , 7 , – , – , – , , 2,759 , 0.13% , 0.09 , style="text-align:left;", , 9 , – , – , – , , 2,313 , 0.11% , 0.02 Successor to Labor-Progressive , style="text-align:left;",

Bruce Magnuson Bruce Adolf H. Magnuson (February 21, 1909 – June 24, 1995) was a Canadian trade unionist and Communist leader. Magnuson was born in the Swedish province of Värmland and grew up on his parents' farm. He immigrated to Canada in the spring of ...

, 6 , – , – , – , , 1,654 , 0.08% , 0.15 , style="text-align:left;", , 1 , – , – , – , , 103 , – , , style="text-align:left;", , , – , – , – , , colspan="3", ''did not campaign'' , style="text-align:left;", , , – , – , – , , colspan="3", ''did not campaign'' , colspan="3", , , colspan="5", , -style="background:#E9E9E9;" , colspan="3" style="text-align:left;", Total , 337 , 98 , 98 , 108 , , 2,165,773 , 100.00% , , - , colspan="8" style="text-align:left;", Blank and invalid ballots , align="right", 18,028 , style="background:#E9E9E9;" colspan="2", , -style="background:#E9E9E9;" , colspan="8" style="text-align:left;", Registered voters / turnout , 3,435,745 , 59.72% , 3.84

Synopsis of results

: = open seat : = turnout is above provincial average : = winning candidate was in previous Legislature : = incumbent had switched allegiance : = incumbency arose from byelection gain : = previously incumbent in another riding : = other incumbents renominated : = Liberal-Labour candidate : = multiple candidates

Analysis

Reorganization of ridings

The reorganized ridings returned the following MPPs:

Seats that changed hands

There were 12 seats that changed allegiance in the election. ; PC to Liberal * Algoma—Manitoulin * Essex South *

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 ...

* Huron—Bruce * Ottawa East * Timiskaming ; Liberal to PC *

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

* Stormont *

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 ...

* Wentworth ; Liberal to NDP * Fort William ; NDP to PC *

Oshawa Oshawa is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the Lake Ontario shoreline. It lies in Southern Ontario, approximately east of downtown Toronto. It is commonly viewed as the eastern anchor of the Greater Toronto Area and of the Golden Horseshoe. It ...

Expansion of Legislative Assembly

Results

Synopsis of results

Analysis

Reorganization of ridings

Seats that changed hands

See also

References

Further reading