1926 Ontario general election

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]

1926 Ontario general election

← 1923December 1, 19261929 →

112 seats in the 17th Legislative Assembly of Ontario
57 seats were needed for a majority
 First partySecond party
  LIB
LeaderGeorge Howard FergusonW.E.N. Sinclair
PartyConservativeLiberal
Leader sinceDecember 2, 19201923
Leader's seatGrenvilleOntario South
Last election7514
Seats won7214
Seat changeDecrease3Steady
Percentage57.6%17.2%
SwingIncrease7.8ppDecrease4.1pp

 Third partyFourth party
  UFO
LeaderWilliam RaneyLeslie Oke
PartyProgressiveUnited Farmers
Leader sinceJanuary 1925-
Leader's seatPrince EdwardLambton East
Last electionsplit from UFO17
Seats won103
Seat changeIncrease10Decrease14
Percentage6.3%1.3%
SwingDecrease19.8pp

Premier before election

G. Howard Ferguson
Conservative

Premier after election

G. Howard Ferguson
Conservative

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 candidates—the other being the incumbent Francis Keefer—who 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)
CandidatesConLibProgL-PUFOLabI-ConI-LibInd-ProgProhLLL-ProhLLPTotal
133
2903813103211120131184
3178313615145
411114
511215
Total1124816104377227231241

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][a]

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)
SeatBeforeChange
DateMemberPartyReasonDateMemberParty
LennoxAugust 23, 1923John Perry Vrooman LiberalDied in officeOctober 22, 1923Charles Wesley Hambly Conservative
Toronto Northwest - AMay 15, 1924Thomas Crawford ConservativeAccepted provincial appointmentJuly 7, 1924William Henry Edwards Conservative
Simcoe SouthApril 14, 1925William Earl Rowe ConservativeResigned to run in 1925 federal election Vacant
KenoraApril 14, 1925Peter Heenan LabourResigned to run in 1925 federal election Vacant
CochraneApril 14, 1925Malcolm Lang LiberalResigned to run in 1925 federal election Vacant
Norfolk NorthApril 14, 1925George David Sewell ProgressiveResigned to run in 1925 federal election Vacant
Grey CentreApril 14, 1925Dougall Carmichael ProgressiveResigned to run in 1925 federal election Vacant
Kent EastApril 14, 1925Manning William Doherty ProgressiveResigned seat to promote cooperative movement Vacant
LondonAugust 15, 1925Adam Beck ConservativeDied in office Vacant
Middlesex EastApril 8, 1926John Willard Freeborn ProgressiveResigned to run in 1926 federal election Vacant
ManitoulinApril 8, 1926Beniah Bowman United FarmersResigned to run in 1926 federal election Vacant
Kent WestOctober 11, 1926Robert Livingstone Brackin LiberalDied 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

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 partyParty leaderMPPsVotes
Candidates1923Dissol.1926±#%± (pp)
ConservativeHoward Ferguson1127574732 640,51555.87%6.10
LiberalW.E.N. Sinclair481411131 196,81317.17%4.16
ProgressiveWilliam Raney16111010 72,2776.30%Split from UFO
Liberal–Progressive1055 48,6194.24%New
United FarmersLeslie Oke3171314 15,4171.34%19.60
Labour34313 14,7941.29%3.46
Independent111 Did not campaign
Independent Liberal7144 21,0021.83%New
Independent Conservative711 20,1441.76%New
 Liberal-Prohibitionist311 11,5261.01%New
Independent Progressive211 6,0290.51%New
Prohibitionist2792,4358.06%New
 Liberal-Labour24,6330.40%New
 Liberal-Labour-Prohibitionist12,2980.20%New
Vacant10
Total2411111111121,146,502100.00%
Blank and invalid ballots6,785
Registered voters / turnout1,792,75763.95%5.61
Seats and popular vote by party
PartySeatsVotesChange (pp)
 Conservative
73 / 112
55.87%
6.106.1
 
 Liberal
13 / 112
17.17%
-4.16
 
 Progressive
10 / 112
6.30%
6.306.3
 
 Liberal–Progressive
5 / 112
4.24%
4.244.24
 
 United Farmers
3 / 112
1.34%
-19.60
 
 Labour
1 / 112
1.29%
-3.47
 
 Other
7 / 112
5.73%
2.532.53
 
 Prohibitionist
0 / 112
8.06%
8.068.06
 

Synopsis of results

Results by riding - 1926 Ontario general election[12][a 1][a 2]
RidingWinning partyTurnout
[a 3]
Votes
#NamePartyVotesShareMargin
#
Margin
%
ConLibProhProgL-ProgUFOLabourI-LibI-ConI-ProgL-ProhLLLLPTotal
 
001AddingtonConacclaimed
002AlgomaCon3,55461.50%1,32923.00%54.94%3,5542,2255,779
003Brant CountyProg4,11455.70%84211.40%70.74%3,2724,1147,386
004BrantfordCon7,75155.73%1,59511.47%71.11%7,7516,15613,907
005BrockvilleCon4,88160.69%1,72021.39%71.92%4,8813,1618,042
006Bruce NorthLib3,60138.39%6637.07%69.63%2,9383,6012,8409,379
007Bruce SouthProg4,92250.66%1281.32%72.30%4,7944,9229,716
008CarletonCon4,53060.18%1,53320.37%61.02%4,5302,9977,527
009Cochrane NorthCon2,88654.35%4628.70%56.22%2,8862,4245,310
010Cochrane SouthCon5,12468.17%2,73236.35%38.49%5,1242,3927,516
011DufferinProg4,47858.87%1,34917.73%73.73%3,1294,4787,607
012DundasL-Proh4,40755.22%83310.44%76.76%3,5744,4077,981
013DurhamLib6,63955.27%1,26710.55%73.87%5,3726,63912,011
014Elgin EastLib4,12255.51%81811.02%71.48%3,3044,1227,426
015Elgin WestCon6,81852.52%6555.05%65.80%6,8186,16312,981
016Essex NorthConacclaimed
017Essex SouthLib4,56051.20%2132.39%65.34%4,3474,5608,907
018Fort WilliamCon5,28676.10%3,62652.20%50.56%5,2861,6606,946
019Frontenac—LennoxLib4,62553.24%5636.48%66.49%4,0624,6258,687
020GlengarryCon4,44263.17%1,85226.34%63.81%4,4422,5907,032
021GrenvilleCon4,61758.02%1,27716.05%75.71%4,6173,3407,957
022Grey NorthProg8,42363.95%3,67427.89%67.85%4,7498,42313,172
023Grey SouthUFO7,10054.45%1,1608.90%72.16%5,9407,10013,040
024HaldimandLib5,21253.97%7677.94%73.29%4,4455,2129,657
025HaltonCon6,16451.53%3653.05%73.34%6,1645,79911,963
026Hamilton CentreCon9,78475.90%7,09455.03%62.30%9,7842,69041612,890
027Hamilton EastCon10,17469.07%5,61738.13%64.76%10,1744,55714,731
028Hamilton WestCon8,43673.48%5,39246.97%65.73%8,4363,04411,480
029Hastings EastCon3,98362.68%1,61225.37%67.43%3,9832,3716,354
030Hastings NorthCon4,00867.23%2,05434.45%60.92%4,0081,9545,962
031Hastings WestCon6,27361.96%2,42123.91%70.54%6,2733,85210,125
032Huron NorthLib6,38658.97%1,94217.93%73.57%4,4446,38610,830
033Huron SouthProg6,00357.93%1,64415.87%72.86%4,3596,00310,362
034Kent EastProg4,56251.67%1,25214.18%73.73%3,3109574,5628,829
035Kent WestCon8,44357.24%2,13514.47%64.22%8,4436,30814,751
036KenoraCon2,64152.30%4007.92%52.13%2,6411682,2415,050
037KingstonCon6,70560.45%2,31920.91%76.05%6,7054,38611,091
038Lambton EastUFO6,07557.88%1,65415.76%68.57%4,4216,07510,496
039Lambton WestCon7,09260.72%2,50421.44%68.73%7,0924,58811,680
040Lanark NorthCon3,58951.70%2363.40%70.61%3,5893,3536,942
041Lanark SouthCon3,87056.77%92313.54%62.49%3,8702,9476,817
042LeedsCon3,70251.48%2132.96%69.36%3,7023,4897,191
043LincolnProg4,34856.37%98312.74%65.45%3,3654,3487,713
044London NorthCon7,76361.83%2,97023.65%60.55%7,7634,79312,556
045London SouthCon9,06463.17%3,77926.34%69.15%9,0645,28514,349
046ManitoulinUFO2,24251.13%992.26%65.26%2,1432,2424,385
047Middlesex NorthI-Prog5,86156.04%1,26412.09%73.06%4,5975,86110,458
048Middlesex WestProg5,72363.36%2,41326.71%66.94%3,3105,7239,033
049MuskokaCon4,20657.83%1,13915.66%65.47%4,2063,0677,273
050Niagara FallsCon7,90068.58%4,28137.16%52.80%7,9003,61911,519
051NipissingCon5,21561.09%3,41439.99%55.81%5,2151,5211,8018,537
052NorfolkCon7,42154.64%1,2609.28%79.24%7,4216,16113,582
053NorthumberlandLib7,61253.46%9856.92%72.27%6,6277,61214,239
054Ontario NorthProg3,87855.58%77911.17%75.02%3,0993,8786,977
055Ontario SouthLib8,90157.30%2,26814.60%72.73%6,6338,90115,534
056Ottawa EastI-Lib5,19543.86%4183.53%53.60%4,7775,1951,87211,844
057Ottawa NorthCon9,04267.59%4,70735.19%43.91%9,0424,33513,377
058Ottawa SouthCon9,17162.27%3,61524.55%56.95%9,1715,55614,727
059Oxford NorthL-Prog6,01258.88%1,81317.76%68.51%4,1996,01210,211
060Oxford SouthL-Prog5,79356.97%1,41813.95%73.59%4,3755,79310,168
061Parry SoundCon4,62860.85%1,65021.69%57.33%4,6282,9787,606
062PeelCon6,19351.50%3613.00%68.46%6,1935,83212,025
063Perth NorthCon7,35055.97%1,56811.94%61.23%7,3505,78213,132
064Perth SouthLib4,17653.14%4946.29%70.66%3,6824,1767,858
065Peterborough CityCon6,39657.33%1,63614.66%72.87%6,3964,76011,156
066Peterborough CountyLib3,26154.57%5469.14%67.35%2,7153,2615,976
067Port ArthurCon2,68338.31%1722.46%60.40%5,194[a 4]1,8107,004
068PrescottI-Lib2,85535.56%240.30%66.17%5,173[a 4]2,8558,028
069Prince EdwardProg4,37850.28%490.56%80.46%4,3294,3788,707
070Rainy RiverCon2,23048.18%77716.79%55.89%2,2301,4539454,628
071Renfrew NorthCon5,00059.74%1,63019.47%58.40%5,0003,3708,370
072Renfrew SouthCon5,20856.92%1,26713.85%63.27%5,2083,9419,149
073RussellI-Lib5,23142.86%9838.05%66.40%4,2482,7255,23112,204
074St. CatharinesI-Con8,66972.91%5,44845.82%60.51%3,2218,66911,890
075Sault Ste. MarieCon5,49777.38%3,89054.76%38.96%5,4971,6077,104
076Simcoe CentreCon5,31550.93%1951.87%70.47%5,3155,12010,435
077Simcoe EastCon7,31255.84%1,53011.68%71.09%7,3125,78213,094
078Simcoe SouthwestL-Prog5,77952.03%4524.07%68.41%5,3275,77911,106
079StormontCon7,10165.97%3,43831.94%66.98%7,1013,66310,764
080Sturgeon FallsI-Lib2,04349.26%1032.48%50.97%1,9401642,0434,147
081SudburyConacclaimed
082TemiskamingCon4,04863.79%1,75027.58%45.36%4,0482,2986,346
083Victoria NorthL-Prog3,20752.26%2774.51%70.03%2,9303,2076,137
084Victoria SouthL-Prog4,63253.38%5876.77%74.48%4,0454,6328,677
085Waterloo NorthCon9,50069.03%5,23838.06%49.84%9,5004,26213,762
086Waterloo SouthLab9,09362.01%3,52324.03%67.91%5,5709,09314,663
087WellandCon7,69769.54%4,32539.07%56.34%7,6973,37211,069
088Wellington NortheastLib6,60162.24%2,59624.48%71.26%4,0056,60110,606
089Wellington SouthCon8,04453.04%9216.07%74.20%8,0447,12315,167
090Wentworth NorthCon4,81754.55%8039.09%69.76%4,8174,0148,831
091Wentworth SouthCon8,38367.38%4,32434.75%62.85%8,3834,05912,442
092Windsor EastCon9,75083.70%7,85167.40%48.24%9,7501,89911,649
093Windsor WestCon8,74177.79%6,24555.58%47.95%8,7412,49611,237
094BeachesCon9,59073.08%6,05846.17%64.83%9,5903,53213,122
095WoodbineCon9,57878.28%6,92056.55%60.61%9,5782,65812,236
096GreenwoodCon9,10178.64%6,62957.28%58.23%9,1012,47211,573
097RiverdaleCon8,83269.12%4,88638.24%61.96%8,8323,94612,778
098EglintonCon10,23061.73%3,88723.45%78.03%10,2306,34316,573
099St. DavidCon10,94877.68%7,80355.37%62.81%10,9483,14514,093
100St. GeorgeCon7,86556.34%4,88134.97%66.62%7,8657292,9842,381[a 4]13,959
101St. PatrickCon6,33969.64%4,14545.53%65.48%6,3395702,1949,103
102St. AndrewsCon4,53644.00%1,17111.36%67.37%4,5363112,0973,36510,309
103BellwoodsCon9,45276.79%6,59553.58%62.09%9,4522,85712,309
104BracondaleCon10,56369.41%7,56049.67%70.33%10,5631,6533,00315,219
105DovercourtCon6,23966.93%3,15633.86%62.07%6,2393,0839,322
106BrocktonCon11,24557.40%5,81029.65%61.72%11,2455,4352,91219,592
107ParkdaleCon8,91565.44%4,20730.88%66.23%8,9154,70813,623
108High ParkCon10,46661.13%3,81022.25%76.55%10,4666,65617,122
109York EastCon11,08566.02%5,37932.04%58.74%11,0855,70616,791
110York NorthLib6,00957.49%1,56514.97%75.01%4,4446,00910,453
111York SouthCon10,24266.49%5,08032.98%55.36%10,2425,16215,404
112York WestCon9,92762.20%6,81342.69%63.04%9,9272,9193,11415,960
  = 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 ConservativeWilliam David BlackNomination of F.A. Anglin (Prohibitionist) ruled invalid
Essex North ConservativePaul PoissonE.P. Tellier (Liberal and incumbent MLA) withdrew his nomination
Sudbury ConservativeCharles McCreaSole 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

References

Further reading