1926 Ontario general election

December 1, 1926

112 seats in the 17th Legislative Assembly of Ontario
57 seats were needed for a majority
  First party Second party
  LIB
Leader George Howard Ferguson W.E.N. Sinclair
Party Conservative Liberal
Leader since December 2, 1920 1923
Leader's seat Grenville Ontario South
Last election 75 14
Seats won 72 14
Seat change Decrease3 Steady
Percentage 57.6% 17.2%
Swing Increase7.8pp Decrease4.1pp

  Third party Fourth party
  UFO
Leader William Raney Leslie Oke
Party Progressive United Farmers
Leader since January 1925 -
Leader's seat Prince Edward Lambton East
Last election split from UFO 17
Seats won 10 3
Seat change Increase10 Decrease14
Percentage 6.3% 1.3%
Swing Decrease19.8pp

Premier before election

G. Howard Ferguson
Conservative

Premier after election

G. Howard Ferguson
Conservative

The 1926 Ontario general election was the 17th general election held in the Province of Ontario, Canada. It was held on December 1, 1926, to elect the 112 Members of the 17th Legislative Assembly of Ontario ("MLAs").[1]

Campaign

The United Farmers of Ontario decided to withdraw from electoral politics after having been defeated in the 1923 election, and most of its MPPs redesignated themselves as Progressives with former UFO Attorney-General William Edgar Raney becoming party leader. Nevertheless, several MPPs, including Raney himself, continued to run as candidates endorsed by local UFO associations.

Leslie Oke and Beniah Bowman were opposed to Raney's leadership as he was not a farmer. They were also opposed to the creation of a new Progressive Party which would not focus exclusively on farmers' issues, so they chose to remain as UFO MPPs. Bowman later resigned from the legislature before the election.

The Ontario Conservative Party, led by Howard Ferguson, was re-elected for a second term in government. There were several disputes in the selection of candidates: in Port Arthur, Donald Hogarth was one of two Conservative candidatesthe other being the incumbent Francis Keeferwho were selected in parallel meetings arising from a dispute over the validity of the list of delegates.[2]

The principal issue of the campaign was the government's proposal to repeal the Ontario Temperance Act, replacing prohibition with government control of liquor sales. The Daily British Whig described it as "the greatest issue that has ever been placed before [the voters]".[3] The Liberal and Progressive parties both campaigned against repeal, and one of Ferguson's ministers, William Folger Nickle, resigned from the cabinet and ran for re-election against the government as a Prohibitionist candidate. Raney proposed that the Progressives and Liberals work in concert to support a single dry ticket in certain ridings, which led to the nomination of 27 Prohibitionist candidates.[3] In other ridings, the two parties tended to avoid campaigning against each other, in order to minimize the split of the temperance vote.[4]

The Conservatives fielded candidates in all but two ridings, and three of them were returned by acclamation. In 54 two-way contests, the Liberals declined to field a candidate in favour of an ally considered more likely to gain votes. There were only 15 three-cornered races, one four-way and one five-way battles.

Riding contests, by number of candidates (1926)
Candidates Con Lib Prog L-P UFO Lab I-Con I-Lib Ind-Prog Proh LL L-Proh LLP Total
1 33
2 903813103211120131184
3 178313615145
4 11114
5 11215
Total 1124816104377227231241

Several Liberals, protesting their party's temperance stand, chose to stand as Independent-Liberals.[3]

Outcome

The Ontario Liberal Party, led by W.E.N. Sinclair, obtained 13 seats, while the Progressives won 10. Five Liberal-Progressive candidates were also elected, along with several independents. The selection of Liberal-Progressive candidates was complex in some cases: in Victoria North, William Newman was selected by the Progressives, while W.G. Carley was the Liberal nominee. Newman was named as the L-P candidate in a joint meeting of the local parties.[5][lower-alpha 1]

Oke was the only UFO MPP who was re-elected as such, and he was joined by Thomas Farquhar from Manitoulin and Farquhar Oliver from Grey South. The latter won with the assistance of federal MP Agnes MacPhail.

Karl Homuth of Waterloo South was the only Labour MPP returned. His support of the government (and eventual admission to the Conservative caucus after the election) led to Labour's collapse as a party.[4]

The fracture of the UFO, together with a large number of resignations from MPPs (of which five chose to run federally in 1925, and two more in 1926) significantly changed the composition of the Assembly.

Post-election scandals

After the election, the Toronto Star reported accusations of corrupt payments during the campaign:[7]

  • In Bruce South, the Liberal candidate (and former MLA in 1911-1914) J.G. Anderson consented to withdraw his nomination upon being paid $1,250 by the Prohibition Union to cover expenses related to the election.
  • In Kent East, the former Progressive Candidate W.J.Cryderman stated that an unnamed Liberal had offered him $500 cash plus a Dominion government position if he withdrew his nomination.
  • In Perth South, the Progressive candidate W.A. McKenzie was twice offered payments by the Prohibition Union if he withdrew his nomination. He did withdraw, but returned both cheques because of their blatant illegality.

The election in Bruce South was later declared void in June 1927.[8]

Pre-election timeline

Changes in seats held (1923–1926)
Seat Before Change
Date Member Party Reason Date Member Party
Lennox August 23, 1923 John Perry Vrooman  Liberal Died in office October 22, 1923 Charles Wesley Hambly  Conservative
Toronto Northwest - A May 15, 1924 Thomas Crawford  Conservative Accepted provincial appointment July 7, 1924 William Henry Edwards  Conservative
Simcoe South April 14, 1925 William Earl Rowe  Conservative Resigned to run in 1925 federal election  Vacant
Kenora April 14, 1925 Peter Heenan  Labour Resigned to run in 1925 federal election  Vacant
Cochrane April 14, 1925 Malcolm Lang  Liberal Resigned to run in 1925 federal election  Vacant
Norfolk North April 14, 1925 George David Sewell  Progressive Resigned to run in 1925 federal election  Vacant
Grey Centre April 14, 1925 Dougall Carmichael  Progressive Resigned to run in 1925 federal election  Vacant
Kent East April 14, 1925 Manning William Doherty  Progressive Resigned seat to promote cooperative movement  Vacant
London August 15, 1925 Adam Beck  Conservative Died in office  Vacant
Middlesex East April 8, 1926 John Willard Freeborn  Progressive Resigned to run in 1926 federal election  Vacant
Manitoulin April 8, 1926 Beniah Bowman  United Farmers Resigned to run in 1926 federal election  Vacant
Kent West October 11, 1926 Robert Livingstone Brackin  Liberal Died in office  Vacant

Redistribution of seats

Toronto ridings, as constituted in 1914
Toronto ridings as reconstituted in 1926

A 1925 Act provided for the redistribution of the Legislative Assembly into 112 ridings for the election.[9]

The dual-member ridings in the City of Toronto, in effect since the 1914 election, were abolished and replaced by single-member seats:

Abolished ridingsNew ridings
Split between St. David, St. George and Riverdale
  1. Also absorbed parts of York East and York West.
  2. Originally named Sherbourne in the 1925 Act; subsequently renamed in the 1926 Act.

Beaches was drawn out from York East, and High Park from York West.

There were other changes made to ridings elsewhere in the Province:

A further Act in 1926 merged Simcoe South and Simcoe West into Simcoe Southwest, and divided Cochrane into Cochrane North and Cochrane South.[10]

Raney complained that the net effect of the redistribution was to transfer up to 11 seats from rural to urban voters, and thus "to secure the re-election of the Ferguson Government".[11]

Results

Elections to the 17th Parliament of Ontario (1926)
Political party Party leader MPPs Votes
Candidates 1923 Dissol. 1926 ± # % ± (pp)
Conservative Howard Ferguson 112 75 74 73 2Decrease 640,515 55.87% 6.10Increase
Liberal W.E.N. Sinclair 48 14 11 13 1Decrease 196,813 17.17% 4.16Decrease
Progressive William Raney 16 11 10 10Increase 72,277 6.30% Split from UFO
Liberal–Progressive 10 5 5Increase 48,619 4.24% New
United Farmers Leslie Oke 3 17 1 3 14Decrease 15,417 1.34% 19.60Decrease
Labour 3 4 3 1 3Decrease 14,794 1.29% 3.46Decrease
Independent 1 1 1Decrease Did not campaign
Independent Liberal 7 1 4 4Increase 21,002 1.83% New
Independent Conservative 7 1 1Increase 20,144 1.76% New
  Liberal-Prohibitionist 3 1 1Increase 11,526 1.01% New
Independent Progressive 2 1 1Increase 6,029 0.51% New
Prohibitionist 27 92,435 8.06% New
  Liberal-Labour 2 4,633 0.40% New
  Liberal-Labour-Prohibitionist 1 2,298 0.20% New
Vacant 10
Total 241 111 111 112 1,146,502 100.00%
Blank and invalid ballots 6,785
Registered voters / turnout 1,792,757 63.95% 5.61Increase
Seats and popular vote by party
PartySeatsVotesChange (pp)
 Conservative
73 / 112
55.87%
6.10 6.1
 
 Liberal
13 / 112
17.17%
-4.16
 
 Progressive
10 / 112
6.30%
6.30 6.3
 
 Liberal–Progressive
5 / 112
4.24%
4.24 4.24
 
 United Farmers
3 / 112
1.34%
-19.60
 
 Labour
1 / 112
1.29%
-3.47
 
 Other
7 / 112
5.73%
2.53 2.53
 
 Prohibitionist
0 / 112
8.06%
8.06 8.06
 

Synopsis of results

Results by riding - 1926 Ontario general election[12][a 1][a 2]
Riding Winning party Turnout
[a 3]
Votes
# Name Party Votes Share Margin
#
Margin
%
Con Lib Proh Prog L-Prog UFO Labour I-Lib I-Con I-Prog L-Proh LL LLP Total
 
001Addington Con acclaimed
002Algoma Con 3,55461.50%1,32923.00%54.94%3,5542,2255,779
003Brant County Prog 4,11455.70%84211.40%70.74%3,2724,1147,386
004Brantford Con 7,75155.73%1,59511.47%71.11%7,7516,15613,907
005Brockville Con 4,88160.69%1,72021.39%71.92%4,8813,1618,042
006Bruce North Lib 3,60138.39%6637.07%69.63%2,9383,6012,8409,379
007Bruce South Prog 4,92250.66%1281.32%72.30%4,7944,9229,716
008Carleton Con 4,53060.18%1,53320.37%61.02%4,5302,9977,527
009Cochrane North Con 2,88654.35%4628.70%56.22%2,8862,4245,310
010Cochrane South Con 5,12468.17%2,73236.35%38.49%5,1242,3927,516
011Dufferin Prog 4,47858.87%1,34917.73%73.73%3,1294,4787,607
012Dundas L-Proh 4,40755.22%83310.44%76.76%3,5744,4077,981
013Durham Lib 6,63955.27%1,26710.55%73.87%5,3726,63912,011
014Elgin East Lib 4,12255.51%81811.02%71.48%3,3044,1227,426
015Elgin West Con 6,81852.52%6555.05%65.80%6,8186,16312,981
016Essex North Con acclaimed
017Essex South Lib 4,56051.20%2132.39%65.34%4,3474,5608,907
018Fort William Con 5,28676.10%3,62652.20%50.56%5,2861,6606,946
019Frontenac—Lennox Lib 4,62553.24%5636.48%66.49%4,0624,6258,687
020Glengarry Con 4,44263.17%1,85226.34%63.81%4,4422,5907,032
021Grenville Con 4,61758.02%1,27716.05%75.71%4,6173,3407,957
022Grey North Prog 8,42363.95%3,67427.89%67.85%4,7498,42313,172
023Grey South UFO 7,10054.45%1,1608.90%72.16%5,9407,10013,040
024Haldimand Lib 5,21253.97%7677.94%73.29%4,4455,2129,657
025Halton Con 6,16451.53%3653.05%73.34%6,1645,79911,963
026Hamilton Centre Con 9,78475.90%7,09455.03%62.30%9,7842,69041612,890
027Hamilton East Con 10,17469.07%5,61738.13%64.76%10,1744,55714,731
028Hamilton West Con 8,43673.48%5,39246.97%65.73%8,4363,04411,480
029Hastings East Con 3,98362.68%1,61225.37%67.43%3,9832,3716,354
030Hastings North Con 4,00867.23%2,05434.45%60.92%4,0081,9545,962
031Hastings West Con 6,27361.96%2,42123.91%70.54%6,2733,85210,125
032Huron North Lib 6,38658.97%1,94217.93%73.57%4,4446,38610,830
033Huron South Prog 6,00357.93%1,64415.87%72.86%4,3596,00310,362
034Kent East Prog 4,56251.67%1,25214.18%73.73%3,3109574,5628,829
035Kent West Con 8,44357.24%2,13514.47%64.22%8,4436,30814,751
036Kenora Con 2,64152.30%4007.92%52.13%2,6411682,2415,050
037Kingston Con 6,70560.45%2,31920.91%76.05%6,7054,38611,091
038Lambton East UFO 6,07557.88%1,65415.76%68.57%4,4216,07510,496
039Lambton West Con 7,09260.72%2,50421.44%68.73%7,0924,58811,680
040Lanark North Con 3,58951.70%2363.40%70.61%3,5893,3536,942
041Lanark South Con 3,87056.77%92313.54%62.49%3,8702,9476,817
042Leeds Con 3,70251.48%2132.96%69.36%3,7023,4897,191
043Lincoln Prog 4,34856.37%98312.74%65.45%3,3654,3487,713
044London North Con 7,76361.83%2,97023.65%60.55%7,7634,79312,556
045London South Con 9,06463.17%3,77926.34%69.15%9,0645,28514,349
046Manitoulin UFO 2,24251.13%992.26%65.26%2,1432,2424,385
047Middlesex North I-Prog 5,86156.04%1,26412.09%73.06%4,5975,86110,458
048Middlesex West Prog 5,72363.36%2,41326.71%66.94%3,3105,7239,033
049Muskoka Con 4,20657.83%1,13915.66%65.47%4,2063,0677,273
050Niagara Falls Con 7,90068.58%4,28137.16%52.80%7,9003,61911,519
051Nipissing Con 5,21561.09%3,41439.99%55.81%5,2151,5211,8018,537
052Norfolk Con 7,42154.64%1,2609.28%79.24%7,4216,16113,582
053Northumberland Lib 7,61253.46%9856.92%72.27%6,6277,61214,239
054Ontario North Prog 3,87855.58%77911.17%75.02%3,0993,8786,977
055Ontario South Lib 8,90157.30%2,26814.60%72.73%6,6338,90115,534
056Ottawa East I-Lib 5,19543.86%4183.53%53.60%4,7775,1951,87211,844
057Ottawa North Con 9,04267.59%4,70735.19%43.91%9,0424,33513,377
058Ottawa South Con 9,17162.27%3,61524.55%56.95%9,1715,55614,727
059Oxford North L-Prog 6,01258.88%1,81317.76%68.51%4,1996,01210,211
060Oxford South L-Prog 5,79356.97%1,41813.95%73.59%4,3755,79310,168
061Parry Sound Con 4,62860.85%1,65021.69%57.33%4,6282,9787,606
062Peel Con 6,19351.50%3613.00%68.46%6,1935,83212,025
063Perth North Con 7,35055.97%1,56811.94%61.23%7,3505,78213,132
064Perth South Lib 4,17653.14%4946.29%70.66%3,6824,1767,858
065Peterborough City Con 6,39657.33%1,63614.66%72.87%6,3964,76011,156
066Peterborough County Lib 3,26154.57%5469.14%67.35%2,7153,2615,976
067Port Arthur Con 2,68338.31%1722.46%60.40%5,194[a 4]1,8107,004
068Prescott I-Lib 2,85535.56%240.30%66.17%5,173[a 4]2,8558,028
069Prince Edward Prog 4,37850.28%490.56%80.46%4,3294,3788,707
070Rainy River Con 2,23048.18%77716.79%55.89%2,2301,4539454,628
071Renfrew North Con 5,00059.74%1,63019.47%58.40%5,0003,3708,370
072Renfrew South Con 5,20856.92%1,26713.85%63.27%5,2083,9419,149
073Russell I-Lib 5,23142.86%9838.05%66.40%4,2482,7255,23112,204
074St. Catharines I-Con 8,66972.91%5,44845.82%60.51%3,2218,66911,890
075Sault Ste. Marie Con 5,49777.38%3,89054.76%38.96%5,4971,6077,104
076Simcoe Centre Con 5,31550.93%1951.87%70.47%5,3155,12010,435
077Simcoe East Con 7,31255.84%1,53011.68%71.09%7,3125,78213,094
078Simcoe Southwest L-Prog 5,77952.03%4524.07%68.41%5,3275,77911,106
079Stormont Con 7,10165.97%3,43831.94%66.98%7,1013,66310,764
080Sturgeon Falls I-Lib 2,04349.26%1032.48%50.97%1,9401642,0434,147
081Sudbury Con acclaimed
082Temiskaming Con 4,04863.79%1,75027.58%45.36%4,0482,2986,346
083Victoria North L-Prog 3,20752.26%2774.51%70.03%2,9303,2076,137
084Victoria South L-Prog 4,63253.38%5876.77%74.48%4,0454,6328,677
085Waterloo North Con 9,50069.03%5,23838.06%49.84%9,5004,26213,762
086Waterloo South Lab 9,09362.01%3,52324.03%67.91%5,5709,09314,663
087Welland Con 7,69769.54%4,32539.07%56.34%7,6973,37211,069
088Wellington Northeast Lib 6,60162.24%2,59624.48%71.26%4,0056,60110,606
089Wellington South Con 8,04453.04%9216.07%74.20%8,0447,12315,167
090Wentworth North Con 4,81754.55%8039.09%69.76%4,8174,0148,831
091Wentworth South Con 8,38367.38%4,32434.75%62.85%8,3834,05912,442
092Windsor East Con 9,75083.70%7,85167.40%48.24%9,7501,89911,649
093Windsor West Con 8,74177.79%6,24555.58%47.95%8,7412,49611,237
094Beaches Con 9,59073.08%6,05846.17%64.83%9,5903,53213,122
095Woodbine Con 9,57878.28%6,92056.55%60.61%9,5782,65812,236
096Greenwood Con 9,10178.64%6,62957.28%58.23%9,1012,47211,573
097Riverdale Con 8,83269.12%4,88638.24%61.96%8,8323,94612,778
098Eglinton Con 10,23061.73%3,88723.45%78.03%10,2306,34316,573
099St. David Con 10,94877.68%7,80355.37%62.81%10,9483,14514,093
100St. George Con 7,86556.34%4,88134.97%66.62%7,8657292,9842,381[a 4]13,959
101St. Patrick Con 6,33969.64%4,14545.53%65.48%6,3395702,1949,103
102St. Andrews Con 4,53644.00%1,17111.36%67.37%4,5363112,0973,36510,309
103Bellwoods Con 9,45276.79%6,59553.58%62.09%9,4522,85712,309
104Bracondale Con 10,56369.41%7,56049.67%70.33%10,5631,6533,00315,219
105Dovercourt Con 6,23966.93%3,15633.86%62.07%6,2393,0839,322
106Brockton Con 11,24557.40%5,81029.65%61.72%11,2455,4352,91219,592
107Parkdale Con 8,91565.44%4,20730.88%66.23%8,9154,70813,623
108High Park Con 10,46661.13%3,81022.25%76.55%10,4666,65617,122
109York East Con 11,08566.02%5,37932.04%58.74%11,0855,70616,791
110York North Lib 6,00957.49%1,56514.97%75.01%4,4446,00910,453
111York South Con 10,24266.49%5,08032.98%55.36%10,2425,16215,404
112York West Con 9,92762.20%6,81342.69%63.04%9,9272,9193,11415,960
  1. "1926 General Election". elections.on.ca. Elections Ontario. Retrieved August 3, 2023. EO data errors on political affiliations adjusted to conform with Canadian Annual Review listing
  2. Journals of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario. Vol. 62. 1928. pp. 6–10.
  3. including spoilt ballots
  4. 1 2 3 two candidates nominated
  = turnout is above provincial average
  = incumbent switched allegiance for the election
  = not incumbent; previously elected as a UFO MLA
  = not incumbent; previously elected as a Labour MLA
  = not incumbent; previously elected as a Liberal-Temperance MLA
  = petition against election withdrawn
  = petition against election dismissed
  = election declared void

Notable groups of candidates

Candidates returned by acclamation[13]
RidingPartyCandidateReason
Addington  Conservative William David Black Nomination of F.A. Anglin (Prohibitionist) ruled invalid
Essex North  Conservative Paul Poisson E.P. Tellier (Liberal and incumbent MLA) withdrew his nomination
Sudbury  Conservative Charles McCrea Sole nominee
Dual nominations in the 1923 election[12]
RidingCandidateVotesPlaced
Port Arthur ConservativeDonald McDonald Hogarth2,6831st
Francis Henry Keefer2,5112nd
Prescott ConservativeEdmund Mooney2,8312nd
Louis Beaudoin2,3423rd
St. George Independent-ConservativeCecil Armstrong1,6643rd
Edward Owens7175th

See also

Notes and references

Notes

  1. Newman would later join the Liberal caucus in January 1927, upon being instructed by the Clerk of the Legislature to make a choice as to which leader to sit behind. He had wanted to remain a member of the Liberal-Progressive group. J.H. Mitchell (Simcoe Southwest) joined him in the move, saying that he "has always been a Liberal".[6]

References

  1. "1926 General Election". Elections Ontario. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
  2. "Two Conservatives Run Same Riding". Oshawa Daily Reformer. November 11, 1926. p. 2.
  3. 1 2 3 Bradburn, Jamie (May 9, 2018). "Booze, bullying, and moral panic: The temperance election of 1926". tvo.org. TV Ontario.
  4. 1 2 Canadian Annual Review 1927, p. 309.
  5. "Fusionist Chosen". Oshawa Daily Reformer. November 1, 1926. p. 8.
  6. "Simcoe Member to back Sinclair". Oshawa Daily Reformer. January 14, 1927. p. 1.
  7. "Election Scandals". The Canadian Champion. Milton. December 9, 1926. p. 2.
  8. Journals of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario. Vol. 62. 1928. pp. 9–10.
  9. The Representation Act, 1925, S.O. 1925, c. 7
  10. The Representation Act, 1926, S.O. 1926, c. 2
  11. Canadian Annual Review 1927, p. 306.
  12. 1 2 Canadian Annual Review 1927, pp. 309–312.
  13. Canadian Annual Review 1927, pp. 308–309.

Further reading

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