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;",
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 ...
, 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;",
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 ...
, 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
See also
*
Politics of Ontario
The Province of Ontario is governed by a unicameral legislature, the Parliament of Ontario, composed of the Lieutenant Governor and the Legislative Assembly, which operates in the Westminster system of government. The political party that wins ...
*
List of Ontario political parties
*
Premier of Ontario
The premier of Ontario () is the head of government of Ontario. Under the Westminster system, the premier governs with the confidence of a majority the elected Legislative Assembly; as such, the premier typically sits as a member of Provincia ...
*
Leader of the Opposition (Ontario)
The leader of the Official Opposition () is the leader of the largest political party in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario that is not in government and is typically the second-largest party. The position is formally titled the leader of His ...
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 ...
1971 in Ontario
October 1971 in Canada