The 1908 Ontario general election was the 12th general election held in the Province of Ontario, Canada. It was held on June 8, 1908, to elect the 106 Members of the 12th Legislative Assembly of Ontario ("MLAs"). The Ontario Conservative Party, led by Sir James P. Whitney, was elected for a second term in government, increasing its majority in the Legislature significantly. The Ontario Liberal Party, led by Alexander Grant MacKay, continued to lose seats. Allan Studholme became the province's first Labour MLA as the result of a 1906 Hamilton East by-election. He was re-elected in the 1908 general election and would remain in the legislature until his death in 1919. The four Toronto districts each elected two members in this election. Each seat was contested separately, with each voter in the district allowed to vote for a candidate in each contest.

Expansion of the Legislative Assembly

The number of electoral districts was increased from 97 to 102, under an Act passed in 1902, returning a total of 106 MLAs. The following electoral changes were made:

Electoral system

The eight Toronto MPPs were elected in two-seat districts. Plurality block voting was used in these districts. The other 94 MPPs were elected through First-past-the-post voting in single-member districts.

Results

! colspan=2 rowspan=2 | Political party ! rowspan=2 | Party leader ! colspan=4 | MLAs ! colspan=4 | Votes ! Candidates !1908 !± !# ! ± !% ! ± (pp) ! colspan="3" style="text-align:left;" | Total ! " colspan="2"|106 ! " colspan="2"|450,469 ! " colspan="2"| 100.00%

Synopsis of results

Analysis

MLAs elected by region and riding

Party designations are as follows: {{legend|#9999FF|Conservative}} {{legend|#EA6D6A|Liberal}} {{legend|#EEBBBB|Labour}}

Division and reorganization of ridings

The newly created ridings returned the following MLAs:

Seats that changed hands

Of the unaltered seats, there were 24 that changed allegiance in the election:

Notes and references