The 1971 Ontario general election was held on October 21, 1971, to elect the 117 members of the

29th Legislative Assembly of Ontario The 29th Legislative Assembly of Ontario was in session from October 21, 1971, until August 11, 1975, just prior to the 1975 general election. The majority party was the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party led by Bill Davis William Grenv ...

(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

Bill Davis William Grenville Davis, (July 30, 1929 – August 8, 2021) was a Canadian politician who served as the 18th premier of Ontario from 1971 to 1985. Behind Oliver Mowat, Davis was the List of premiers of Ontario by time in office, second-longes ...

, who had replaced

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 ...

as PC leader and premier earlier in the year, won a ninth consecutive term in office, and maintained its majority in the legislature, increasing its caucus in the legislature by eight seats from its result 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 Robert Nixon, lost seven seats, but 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 ...

. 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 ...

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 ...

, led by

Stephen Lewis Stephen Henry Lewis (born November 11, 1937) is a Canadian politician, public speaker, broadcaster, and diplomat. He was the Canadian ambassador to the United Nations in the 1980s and was the leader of the social democratic Ontario New Democr ...

, lost one seat. This election marked the first time that the provincial election was held on a Thursday. Subsequently, every provincial election has also been held on a Thursday, with the exception of the

2007 Ontario general election The 2007 Ontario general election was held on October 10, 2007, to elect members ( MPPs) of the 39th Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, Canada. The Liberals under Premier Dalton McGuinty won the election with a majority government ...

, which was held on a Wednesday. The electoral franchise was significantly expanded upon the reduction of the voting age from 21 to 18.

Results

Summary

, - ! colspan=2 rowspan=2 , Political party ! rowspan=2 , Party leader ! colspan=4 , MPPs ! colspan=4 , Votes , - ! Candidates !

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

!1971 !± !# ! ± !% ! ± (pp) , style="text-align:left;",

, 117 , , 69 , , 78 , , 9 , , 1,465,313 , , 446,558 , , 44.50% , , 2.40 includes Liberal-Labour in 1967 totals , style="text-align:left;", Robert Nixon , 117 , , 28 , , 20 , , 8 , , 913,742 , , 146,351 , , 27.75% , , 3.97 , style="text-align:left;",

, 117 , , 20 , , 19 , , 1 , , 893,879 , , 265,482 , , 27.15% , , 1.18 , , , 23 , , – , , – , , – , , 16,959 , , 14,577 , , 0.52% , , 0.42 , style="text-align:left;", William Stewart , 5 , , – , , – , , – , , 1,620 , , 558 , , 0.05% , , 0.03 , , , 5 , , – , , – , , – , , 1,204 , , 702 , , 0.04% , , 0.04 , - ! colspan="3" style="text-align:left;" , Total , 384, , 117 ! " colspan="2", 117 ! " colspan="2", 3,292,717 ! " colspan="2", 100.00% , - , colspan="7" style="text-align:left;" , Rejected ballots , 18,059 , 1,469 , colspan="2", , - , colspan="7" style="text-align:left;" , Voter turnout , 3,310,776 , 871,538 , 73.52 , 7.34 , - , colspan="7" style="text-align:left;" , Registered electors , 4,503,142 , 817,387 , colspan="2",

Synopsis of results

: = open seat : = turnout is above provincial average : = winning candidate was in previous Legislature : = not incumbent; was previously elected to the Legislature : = incumbent had switched allegiance : = incumbency arose from byelection gain : = previously incumbent in another riding : = other incumbents renominated

Analysis

Seats changing hands

Of the 117 seats, 22 were open because of MPPs who chose not to stand for reelection, and voters in only 19 seats changed allegiance from the previous election in 2018. Tom Reid ( Rainy River) had previously campaigned on the Liberal-Labour ticket, but sat with the Liberal caucus. In 1971, he opted to stand as a Liberal instead. There were 19 seats that changed allegiance in the election: ; PC to Liberal * Ottawa East * York-Forest Hill ; PC to NDP * Nickel Belt ; Liberal to PC * Algoma—Manitoulin *

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 ...

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 ...

Dovercourt Dovercourt is a seaside town and former civil parish, now in the parish of Harwich, in the Tendring district, in the county of Essex, England. It is older than its smaller but better-known neighbour, the port of Harwich. The name is common B ...

Humber The Humber is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Trent, Trent. From there to the North Sea, it forms ...

Scarborough East Scarborough East was a Canadian electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1968 to 2003. It initially consisted the eastern part of the Borough of Scarborough, Toronto, Scarborough, although its boundaries were adju ...

; Liberal to NDP *

Ottawa Centre Ottawa Centre may refer to: *Ottawa Centre (federal electoral district) *Ottawa Centre (provincial electoral district) Ottawa Centre is an urban provincial electoral district (Canada), electoral district in Ontario, Canada that has been represen ...

* Port Arthur *

Sudbury Sudbury may refer to: Places Australia * Sudbury Reef, Queensland Canada * Greater Sudbury, Ontario ** Sudbury (federal electoral district) ** Sudbury (provincial electoral district) ** Sudbury Airport ** Sudbury Basin, a meteorite impact cra ...

* Parkdale ; NDP to PC *

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 ...

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 ...

Peterborough Peterborough ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in the City of Peterborough district in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. The city is north of London, on the River Nene. A ...

* Temiskaming * Beaches—Woodbine * Scarborough Centre

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ontario General Election, 1971 1971 elections in Canada

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...