The 1871 Ontario general election was the second general election held in the province of Ontario, Canada. It was held on March 21, 1871, to elect the 82 Members of the 2nd Parliament of Ontario ("MPPs").[1]
While it is generally accepted that that the Ontario Liberals led by Edward Blake secured a slim edge over the incumbent Conservatives led by Premier John Sandfield Macdonald, such an understanding was partially developed with the benefit of hindsight on a period during which the Liberals' ousted the Sandfield Macdonald ministry, commenced the building of a far more expansive administration, and within a year carried out an orderly transition of its party and the government leadership while largely remained stable and united. In the months following the election however, the incumbent government did not concede it has lost control of the legislature and continued to govern without convening the new parliament. Challenges to the election of a dozen members further muddied the situation and provided additional fodder for Sandfield Macdonald to resist convening the new parliament for eight months and to disregard multiple votes of no confidence.[2] The impasse was resolved on December 19 that year after his Treasurer resigned from cabinet and voted with the opposition.[3]
Neither the outgoing nor the incoming premier remained on the scene for long. The rapid decline of Premier Sandfield Macdonald's health was evident throughout that year. His ministry's demise at the year's end foretold his own in just five months. Matthew Crooks Cameron, his principal lieutenant in government and his most ardent defender in the legislature, assumed leadership of the Conservative Party and of the opposition. Premier Blake served only ten months, resigning in October 1972 to devote his attention to leading the national Liberal Party. He and George Brown convinced their former reform colleague Oliver Mowat to return to politics to succeed him, a move that secured his own legacy as founding head of a 34-year continuous Liberal rule.
The partisan makeup of the new parliament was not remotely as straight forward as the numbers suggest, as candidates' partisan affiliations were not formally registered as they are in modern days. While partisan affiliations were generally more clearly defined than during the 1867 election, there remained candidates who made use of party labels of past affiliations that did not reflect their political allegiance in practice, or were elected without having declared their allegiance.
Significant changes to the rules of engagement
As attorney general Sandfield Macdonald delivered in 1868 An Act respecting Elections of Members of the Legislative Assembly[4], the province's first statute that comprehensively consolidated and codified elections law. The statute instituted the key requirement to hold balloting for general elections on the same day throughout the province. It also considerably broadened the franchise.
He also delivered, at the eve the election call, the Controverted Elections Act of 1871[5], which consolidated an array of challenges to election conducts under corrupt practices, and depoliticised the adjudication process by transferring the power to adjudicate such challenges from parliamentary committees to the Court of Queen's Bench (predecessor of Ontario's superior court). This new regime end up playing a big role in ending his government.
While not a formal change to any legislation, both majors party held candidate nomination conventions with increased formality and managed the process with much firmer hands. The result of local nomination conventions of both parties received greater formal coverage in the press. Accordingly, while there remained no formal requirements for formal registration or declaration of candidates' partisan affiliations and no restrictions on usage, the identity of the two main parties' candidate were easier to discern than in the 1867 election. However, they also provided informal support to selected candidates not endorsed by them for various strategic reasons. Furthermore, certain candidates campaigned with labels of past affiliations but were not aligned with the party while other candidates downplay the party they are affiliated with.
This was the last election where sitting members of the federal parliament were not prevented from nomination or election. Before the federal election in the following year however, the Parliament of Canada would legislate the elimination of dual mandates by disallowing nominations of sitting provincial legislators in federal election contests.[6] This pending would impact both parties by removing six members elected in this election from the legislature, including the incumbent Liberal Premier and Treasurer, and two Conservative former cabinet members.
Uncertain election outcome
Partisan allegiance not all certain
Party affiliations were not formally recorded in contemporaneous elections record, but were a mixture of declarations made by the candidates or the parties, assessments by third parties such as the press, and presumptions from another events such as acceptance of specific offices. The various data tables in the result section report and tally the party affiliations as recorded in various resources maintained by the Legislative Assembly or by Elections Ontario, and not all were formally compiled contemporaneously. Even contemporaneous affiliations data were a combination of both formal undisputed declaration and informal assessment recorded in references published by third-party, with occasional uncertainties that reflected the lesser formality in partisan association at the time. The uncertainty of the election outcome stemmed in large part from this uncertainty of allegiance.
In the months following the election, identifying and tallying the elected members professed partisan affiliations was not the primary focus of press coverage. Various outlets classified members as "ministerialists" committed to sustain the incumbent ministry versus those opposing the government. Known partisan affiliation were considered along with other factors such as family ties and previous behaviour. While the likely leaning of specific members were extensively discussed by many outlets, only a small number of outlets post the tally of their assessments of the likely strength on the two sides. The following are a few samples of reported tally. (Election for Algoma were to be held later.)
Ministerialists
Opposition
Independent
(or unknown)
Election
uncertain
Total
Toronto Leader, 22 March 1871, p. 1
43
34
9
1
81
Toronto Globe, 23 March 1871, p. 2
32
41
7
1
81
Ottawa Free Press, 23 March 1871, p. 2
32
41
7
1
81
Sarnia Observer, 24 March 1871, p. 1
33
43
5
81
Toronto Globe, 6 December 1871, p. 2
29
40
6
7
82
Double return
Liberal leader Edward Blake was re-elected in Bruce South and also in Durham West (where he held the federal seat), but would only be able to cast one vote in parliament. This reduced the strength of the opposition by one until he could resign one of the seats and a writ for byelection can be moved. At that time, both steps could only be taken when the parliament was in session.
Elections challenged and invalided
The election of elevens members were challenged under the newly adopted Controverted Elections Act of 1871. While challenged were raised against elected members of both party, only one Liberals had his election invalided while five members on the government side were unseated. All sought to win back their seat in the subsequent byelections and all but one were successful, by those byelection could only be called with parliament in session, and their temporary absence deprived the Premier numerous votes during the crucial non-confidence votes.
Results data as reported by formal records available
↑Election declared void because of corrupt practices. Writ for new election issued.[8] Lauder was returned in the subsequent byelection.
↑Declined the seat in favour of sitting for Bruce South[8]John McLeod (Liberal) won the subsequent byelection.
↑Election declared void because of corrupt practices. Writ for new election issued.[8] Ardagh was returned in the subsequent byelection.
↑Election declared void because of corrupt practices. Writ for new election issued.[8] Monk was returned in the subsequent byelection.
↑Election declared void because of corrupt practices. Writ for new election issued.[8] Hamilton was returned in the subsequent byelection.
↑Election declared void because of corrupt practices. Writ for new election issued.[8]James Bethune (Liberal) won the subsequent byelection.
↑Election declared void because of corrupt practices. Writ for new election issued.[8]James Simeon McCuaig (Conservative) won the subsequent byelection.
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