Ontario general election, 1943

Ontario general election, 1943

1937 ← August 4, 1943 → 1945

90 seats in the 21st Legislative Assembly of Ontario 46 seats were needed for a majority   First party Second party Third party   Leader George Drew Ted Jolliffe Harry Nixon Party Progressive Conservative Co-operative Commonwealth Liberal Leader since December 9, 1938 April 3, 1942 April 30, 1943 Leader's seat High Park York South Brant Last election 23 0 63 Seats won 38 34 15 Seat change +15 +34 -48 Percentage 35.7% 31.7% 31.2% Swing -4.3pp +26.1pp -20.4pp

Premier before election Harry Nixon Liberal Premier-designate George Drew Progressive Conservative

Harry Nixon
Liberal

George Drew
Progressive Conservative

The Ontario general election of 1943 was held on August 4, 1943, to elect the 90 Members of the 21st Legislative Assembly of Ontario (Members of Provincial Parliament, or "MPPs") of the Province of Ontario, Canada.

The Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, led by George Drew, defeated the Ontario Liberal Party government. The Liberal government had disintegrated over the previous two years because of a conflict between Mitchell Hepburn, the Ontario caucus and the federal Liberal Party of Canada.

Hepburn resigned and was eventually succeeded by Harry Nixon in early 1943. The change in leadership was not enough to save the government. The election held later that year resulted in the Conservative Party, recently renamed the "Progressive Conservative Party", winning a minority government. This began forty-two uninterrupted years of government by the Tories who combined moderate progressive policies with pragmatism and caution.

The Liberals fell to third place behind a new force, the socialist Ontario Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), led by Ted Jolliffe, went from obscurity to form the Official Opposition, winning 32% of the vote and 34 seats in the legislature, just four short of Drew's Tories. The Liberals and their Liberal-Progressive allies fell from 66 seats to a mere 15.

...
Wikipedia