The 1919 Ontario general election, held on October 20, 1919, elected 111 Members of the 15th Legislative Assembly of Ontario ("MLAs"). The United Farmers of Ontario captured the most seats but only a minority of the legislature. They joined with 11 Labour MPPs and three others to form a coalition government, ending the 14-year rule of Ontario's Conservatives. This is one of the few examples of coalition government in Canadian history. Premier William Howard Hearst had aimed to win a fifth consecutive term for the Conservatives, but instead the party became the first in Ontario history to fall from first to third place. As newspaperman John Willison later remarked, "There could not have been a worse time for a general election."

Campaign

The parties tended to have a targeted approach in fielding their candidates: It was the first in which women could vote and run for office. Election day was also held on the same day as the scheduled referendum on prohibition.

Conservatives

Hearst alienated the business community with his progressive policies; he had a rift with Adam Beck (London) over the direction of the Ontario Hydro-Electric Commission; and his promotion of prohibition alienated the urban "wets". Only the Conservatives attempted to field a full slate—and were helped by having four candidates being declared elected by acclamation—but about two dozen incumbents decided to step aside in favour of the local farmer candidates. Seventeen Conservative MLAs either retired from the Legislature, or had failed to be renominated. Arthur Pratt (Norfolk South) opted to campaign as an Independent-Conservative, claiming earlier in the year that at least 27 MLAs privately opposed Hearst's prohibition policy. Beck also decided to stand as an Independent, saying, "I do not object to the Government having a control of the Hydro enterprise, but I object to its becoming a Government department; only as an Independent can I look after the interests of Hydro-Electric Power for the people of the Province in the most efficient manner."

Liberals

The Liberals split between those still loyal to former leader Newton Rowell and his successor William Proudfoot (Huron Centre), and those who supported the new leader, Hartley Dewart. John Campbell Elliott (Middlesex West) (who had come in 3rd in the 1919 leadership contest), joined by five others, decided to drop out of the race. They tried to avoid direct contests with UFO candidates, fielding candidates in only 66 ridings as opposed to the 90 named in the 1914 election. In many respects, however, they underestimated the discontent that was simmering among rural Ontarians, and Dewart focused his attention unnecessarily against the Conservative campaign manager George Howard Ferguson. Proudfoot opted to campaign as an Independent.

United Farmers

The UFO focused on rural areas. Its leader, R.H. Halbert, did not campaign, as he had been elected to the House of Commons of Canada in an earlier by-election. It had only two incumbent MPPs, Beniah Bowman and John Wesley Widdifield, who had entered the legislature by winning by-elections in Manitoulin and Ontario North.

Labour

The labour political movement was fragmented between the Independent Labour Party, the Ontario section of the Canadian Labour Party, and the Ontario Labour Educational Association and its newspaper The Industrial Banner. The ILP was the effective organization on the campaign trail that year, and it promoted joint action with the UFO.

Media in the campaign

Media support in the campaign was mixed. The Globe and The Toronto Star, at that time both Liberal in outlook, were hostile against Dewart because of his stand on temperance issues. The Toronto World, generally a Conservative backer, pursued a simmering scandal from 1916 concerning International Nickel and alleged provincial support of wartime shipments of the metal to Germany via the cargo submarine Deutschland. The Farmer's Sun, recently acquired by the UFO, was an enthusiastic promoter of farmer policies.

Electoral system

Of the 111 seats, 103 were from single-member constituencies elected through first-past-the-post voting. The remaining eight came from four dual-member ridings in Toronto, each of which had parallel contests voting separately for seat A and seat B under the same FPTP rules.

Synopsis of results

Post-election pendulum

The robustness of the margins of victory for each party can be summarized in electoral pendulums. These are not necessarily a measure of the volatility of the respective riding results. The following tables show the margins over the various 2nd-place contenders, for which one-half of the value represents the swing needed to overturn the result. Actual seat turnovers to the opposition parties in the 1919 election are noted for reference.

Impact

The result was highly skewed as a result of the way the ridings were drawn up. The Ottawa Journal noted, "The arrangement of electoral districts in Ontario (and throughout Canada) is such that a farmer’s vote has practically twice the effect of the vote of any person resident in cities or large towns. Ottawa, for instance, with 110,000 population elects two members to the Ontario Legislature; Carleton County on one side with 20,000 people elects one member; Russell County on the other side has a population of 40,000 and elects one member." The UFO emerged from the vote with the largest bloc of seats, joining the eleven Labour MLAs to form a coalition government. Liberal-UFO MLA David James Taylor of Grey North, "Soldier" MLA Joseph McNamara of Riverdale and Labour-UFO MLA Karl Homuth of Waterloo South were also members of the governing caucus giving Drury's coalition 58 seats in total, a slight majority. The Ontario Liberal Party, led by Hartley Dewart, increased the size of its caucus by a small number, despite turning over more than half the seats held. The Conservative Party lost ground to all other parties, despite receiving the most votes. The election had several sweeping results: Upon hearing the news of the Conservative defeat, Hearst noted: "I will not make any prophecy as to what will take place. I thought the Government was going to sweep the country, and I was not alone in that, for a great many Liberals who were supporting me thought so, too. The Temperance Act no doubt had a great deal to do with my defeat, but I did what I felt was right, and if I had it to do over again, I would do the same thing." Three days after the election, James J. Morrison, Secretary of the UFO, reported on the way he had addressed the need to form a working majority in the chamber. He released the following statement: "The members-elect of the United Farmers of Ontario, after due consideration of the matter, have decided that it would be unwise for them to enter into alliance with either of the old Parties as parties. They are prepared to assume the fullest share of responsibility and form a Government in co-operation with such members of other parties as are in sympathy with their platform and principles and are free to give support thereto. In the formation of a Cabinet full consideration will be given to the various interests of the Province." Ernest C. Drury agreed to lead the new government as Premier of Ontario, and a UFO-Labour coalition cabinet was formed. Although he was Vice-President of the UFO, Drury had not been a candidate in the election and had to run in a by-election to enter the legislature following his appointment to the office of Premier.

Results overview

! colspan=2 rowspan=2 | Political party ! rowspan=2 | Party leader ! colspan=5 | MPPs ! colspan=3 | Votes ! Candidates ! Dissol. !1919 !± !# !% ! ± (pp)

Results by riding

Italicized names indicate members returned by acclamation. Two-tone colour boxes indicate ridings that turned over from the 1914 election, eg, {{legend|#9999FF|Addington: William David Black}} {{legend|#9999FF|Hastings North: John Robert Cooke}} {{legend|#9999FF|Hastings West: William Henry Ireland}} {{legend|#9999FF|Lennox: Reginald Amherst Fowler}} {{legend|#9999FF|Muskoka: George Walter Ecclestone}} {{legend|#EA6D6A|Northumberland West: Samuel Clarke}} {{legend|#EA6D6A|Prince Edward: Nelson Parliament}} {{legend|#9999FF|Simcoe West: William Torrance Allen}} {{legend|#9999FF|Frontenac: Anthony McGuin Rankin}} {{legend|#9999FF|Grenville: George Howard Ferguson}} {{legend|#9999FF|Kingston: Arthur Edward Ross}} {{legend|#9999FF|Leeds: Andrew Wellington Gray}} {{legend|#EA6D6A|Ottawa East: Joseph Albert Pinard}} {{legend|#EA6D6A|Russell: Damase Racine}} {{legend|#EEBBBB|Hamilton East: George Grant Halcrow}} {{legend|#EA6D6A|Lincoln: Thomas A. Marshall}} {{legend|#EA6D6A|Bruce West: Alexander Patterson Mewhinney}} {{legend|#EA6D6A|Oxford North: John Alexander Calder}} {{legend|#EA6D6A|Cochrane: Malcolm Lang}} {{legend|#EA6D6A|Sturgeon Falls: Zotique Mageau}} {{legend|#9999FF|Sudbury: Charles McCrea}} {{legend|#9999FF|Timiskaming: Thomas Magladery}} {{legend|#9999FF|Port Arthur: Donald McDonald Hogarth}} {{legend|#9999FF|Rainy River: James Arthur Mathieu}} {{legend|#9999FF|Huron North: John Joynt}} {{legend|#EA6D6A|Windsor: James Craig Tolmie}} {{legend|#9999FF|Parkdale: William Herbert Price}} {{legend|#9999FF|Toronto Northeast - A: Henry John Cody}} {{legend|#9999FF|Toronto Northeast - B: Joseph Elijah Thompson}} {{legend|#9999FF|Toronto Northwest - A: Thomas Crawford}} {{legend|#9999FF|Peel: Thomas Laird Kennedy}} {{legend|#9999FF|York East: George Stewart Henry}} {{legend|#9999FF|York North: Thomas Herbert Lennox}} {{legend|#9999FF|York West: Forbes Godfrey}}

Analysis

Seats that changed hands

There were 77 seats that changed allegiance in the election: (* - open seats, # - byelection gains held, ^ - change of affiliation) (Riding names in italics did not have Liberal candidates. Riding names in bold did not have Conservative candidates.)

Notable groups of candidates

(* - incumbent; † - chaplain; ‡ - Anti-Prohibition) Cooke was the only acclaimed candidate who had not previously been an incumbent.

Notes and references