Ontario general election, 1985

Ontario general election, 1985

1981 ← May 2, 1985 → 1987

125 seats in the 33rd Legislative Assembly of Ontario 63 seats needed for a majority   First party Second party Third party   Leader Frank Miller David Peterson Bob Rae Party Progressive Conservative Liberal New Democratic Leader since January 26, 1985 February 21, 1982 February 7, 1982 Leader's seat Muskoka London Centre York South Last election 70 34 21 Seats won 52 48 25 Seat change 18 14 4 Popular vote 1,343,044 1,377,965 865,507 Percentage 37.0% 37.9% 23.8% Swing 7.4pp 5.2pp 2.6pp

Premier before election Frank Miller Progressive Conservative Premier-designate Frank Miller Progressive Conservative

Frank Miller
Progressive Conservative

Frank Miller
Progressive Conservative

The Ontario general election of 1985 was held on May 2, 1985, to elect members of the 33rd Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, Canada. This election ended 42 years of Progressive Conservative Party rule in Ontario with David Peterson's Liberals eventually forming a government with the support of Bob Rae's NDP.

Near Thanksgiving of 1984, longstanding Premier Bill Davis announced that he would be stepping down as Premier and leader of the Ontario PCs. Davis, in office since 1971, had rung up a string of electoral victories by pursuing a moderate agenda and relying on the skill of the Big Blue Machine team of advisors. Davis, who remained generally popular throughout his term in office, would unveil a surprise legacy project: Full funding for Ontario's separate Catholic school system, which would become known as Bill 30. This decision was supported by both other parties, but was generally unpopular, especially amongst the Tory base.

The subsequent leadership race saw the PC party divide into two rough camps. The moderate and mainly urban wing was represented by second-place finisher Larry Grossman. The more strongly conservative rural faction backed eventual victor Frank Miller. After Miller's victory at the convention the party factions failed to reconcile; especially important was that a number of the mainly moderate members of the Big Blue Machine were pushed aside.

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