1955 Ontario general election

1955 Ontario general election

← 1951 June 9, 1955 1959 →
98 seats in the 25th Legislative Assembly of Ontario 50 seats were needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader Leslie Frost Farquhar Oliver Party Progressive Conservative Liberal Leader since April 27, 1949 April 9, 1954 Leader's seat Victoria Grey South Last election 79 8 Seats won 83 11 Seat change 4 3 Percentage 48.5% 33.3% Swing ±0.0pp 1.8pp   Third party   Leader Donald C. MacDonald Party Co-operative Commonwealth Leader since November 21, 1953 Leader's seat York South Last election 2 Seats won 3 Seat change 1 Percentage 16.5% Swing 2.6pp
Premier before election Leslie Frost Progressive Conservative Premier after election Leslie Frost Progressive Conservative

The 1955 Ontario general election was held on June 9, 1955, to elect the 98 members of the 25th Legislative Assembly of Ontario (Members of Provincial Parliament, or "MPPs") of the Province of Ontario.^[1]

The Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, led by Leslie Frost, won a fifth consecutive term in office, increasing its caucus in the legislature from 79 in the previous election to 83.

The Ontario Liberal Party, again led by Farquhar Oliver, won three additional seats in the enlarged legislature, increasing its caucus from 8 to 11, and continuing in the role of official opposition. Liberal-Labour MPP Albert Wren was re-elected and continued to sit with the Liberal caucus.

The social democratic Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), led by Donald C. MacDonald, won one additional seat, for a total of three.

The Labor-Progressive Party (which was the Communist Party) lost its last remaining seat with the defeat of J.B. Salsberg.

James Shannon Dempsey (Renfrew South) had his endorsement as a PC candidate withdrawn because of controversy over a political gift,^[2] but he was reelected as an Independent PC.

Pre-election developments

Franchise reform

The Election Act, 1951^[3] was significantly amended in 1954,^[4] providing for the following changes to the right to vote in Ontario:

• removal of the disqualification from voting for having been paid to act on behalf of a candidate^[5]
• removal of the disqualification from voting for being an inmate maintained in a home for the aged or a house of industry^[6]
• extension of the franchise to all Indians living in the province, whether enfranchised or not under the Indian Act^[7]
• removal from the voters' list for temporary absence because of being a student, a mariner, or a member of the Canadian, Commonwealth or allied forces^[8]

Expansion of Legislative Assembly

For the first time since the 1934 election, the number of seats in the Legislature was adjusted, rising from 90 to 98.^[9] The following changes were made:

• Addington became Frontenac—Addington
• London was divided into London North and London South
• Muskoka—Ontario was reduced to Muskoka, ceding its part of Ontario County to Ontario
• Nickel Belt was separated from Sudbury
• Oshawa was separated from Ontario
• Ottawa West was carved out from Carleton
• Wellington North became Wellington—Dufferin
• Part of Wentworth became Wentworth East
• York Centre was carved out from York North
• York—Humber was separated from York West
• York—Scarborough was ceded from York East

Campaign

Results

Elections to the 25th Parliament of Ontario (1955)^[10]

Political party		Party leader	MPPs					Votes
			Candidates	1951	Dissol.	1955	±	#	%	± (pp)
	Progressive Conservative	Leslie Frost	97	79		83	4	846,592	48.06%	0.40
	Liberal	Farquhar Oliver	94	7		10	3	577,774	32.80%	1.74
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Donald C. MacDonald	81	2		3	1	291,410	16.54%	2.56
	Labor–Progressive	Stewart Smith	31	1		–	1	20,875	1.19%	0.52
	Liberal–Labour		2	1		1		7,305	0.41%	0.04
	Independent PC		1	–	–	1	1	7,033	0.40%	0.34
	Independent		5	–	–	–		9,169	0.52%	0.41
	Independent Liberal		1	–	–	–		641	0.04%	New
	Independent Social Credit		1	–	–	–		602	0.03%	New
	Socialist Labour		1	–	–	–		124	0.01%
	Independent Labour		–	–	–	–		Did not campaign
	Vacant
Total			314	90	90	98		1,761,525	100.00%
Blank and invalid ballots								22,622
Registered voters / turnout								2,905,760	61.40%	4.17

Synopsis of results

  = open seat

  = turnout is above provincial average

  = winning candidate was in previous Legislature

  = previously incumbent in another riding

  = incumbency arose from byelection gain

  = incumbent had switched allegiance

  = other incumbents renominated

  = unendorsed PC candidate

  = Liberal-Labour candidate

Analysis

Reorganization of ridings

The reorganized ridings returned the following MLAs:

See also

• Politics of Ontario
• List of Ontario political parties
• Premier of Ontario
• Leader of the Opposition (Ontario)

References

This page was last edited on 17 January 2024, at 13:56