1914 Ontario general election

1914 Ontario general election

←  1911 June 29, 1914 1919  →
←  outgoing members
111 seats in the 14th Legislative Assembly of Ontario 56 seats were needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader James P. Whitney Newton Rowell Party Conservative Liberal Leader since 1896 1911 Leader's seat Dundas Oxford North Last election 83 22 Seats won 84 24 Seat change 1 2 Percentage 55.3% 38.6%
Premier before election James P. Whitney Conservative Premier after election James P. Whitney Conservative

The 1914 Ontario general election was the 14th general election held in the Province of Ontario, Canada. It was held on June 29, 1914, to elect the 111 Members of the 14th Legislative Assembly of Ontario (MLAs). ^[1]

The Ontario Conservative Party, led by Sir James P. Whitney, won a fourth consecutive term in government. Whitney died three months after the election and was succeeded by William Howard Hearst. The Conservatives contested 109 of the 111 ridings, deciding not to have candidates stand in Glengarry (where the Liberal Hugh Munro was acclaimed) and Norfolk North (where the Liberal incumbent Thomas Robert Atkinson was up against a Liberal anti-Temperance candidate). ^[2] However, dissension within the Tory ranks resulted in a significant number of them campaigning as either independent or temperance candidates. ^[2]

The Ontario Liberal Party, led by Newton Rowell, formed the official opposition.

Independent Labour MLA Allan Studholme was re-elected in Hamilton East. He had held the seat since a 1906 by-election.

The campaign was seen to turn more significantly on the matter of Regulation 17 (which limited instruction in French-language Catholic separate schools), in comparison to temperance issues, and that worked against the Liberals, ^[3] who placed Prohibition of sales in bars and clubs as a main plank in their platform. ^[4]

Expansion of the Legislative Assembly

Toronto ridings, as constituted in 1914

An Act passed prior to the election expanded the number of members from 106 to 111, and the number of ridings from 103 to 107. ^[5] The following changes were made:

• Windsor was spun off from Essex North
• Monck was merged with Lincoln, and St. Catharines was withdrawn
• Niagara Falls was withdrawn from Welland
• Cochrane was carved out from Timiskaming
• In Bruce County, the three ridings were reorganized:

• The Township of Kinloss was withdrawn from Bruce South
• Bruce North gained the Township of Elderslie, while those of Bruce and Saugeen were withdrawn
• As a consequence, Bruce Centre was reconstituted as Bruce West

• In Victoria County, Victoria East and Victoria West were reorganized into Victoria North and Victoria South
• In Toronto, the ridings of Toronto East, Toronto North, Toronto South and Toronto West were replaced:

• Toronto Northeast, Toronto Northwest, Toronto Southeast and Toronto Southwest were constituted as two-member constituencies
• Parkdale and Riverdale were created as single-member constituencies

The Patricia Portion acquired in 1912 was divided between Cochrane and Kenora.

Results

Elections to the 14th Parliament of Ontario (1914)

Political party		Party leader	MPPs					Votes
			Candidates	1911	Dissol.	1914	±	#	%	± (pp)
	Conservative	James P. Whitney	109	82		84	2	268,548	54.02%	1.57
	Liberal	Newton Rowell	90	22		24	2	186,168	37.45%	1.06
	Labour		4	1		1		6,535	1.31%	1.12
	Independent-Liberal		2	–	–	1	1	2,236	0.45%	New
	Temperance		9	–	–	–		13,064	2.63%	New
	Liberal-Temperance		1	–	–	1	1	2,733	0.55%	New
	Conservative-Temperance		2	–	–	–		2,222	0.45%	0.02
	Prohibitionist		1	–	–	–		1,302	0.26%	New
	Liberal–Conservative			1		–	1	Did not campaign
	Independent		5	–	–	–		4,837	0.97%	0.07
	Socialist		12	–	–	–		4,532	0.91%	0.04
	Independent-Conservative		4	–	–	–		4,270	0.86%	0.11
	Liberal-Anti-Temperance		1	–	–	–		691	0.14%	New
	Vacant
Total			240	106	106	111		497,138	100.00%
Blank and invalid ballots								7,304
Registered voters / turnout								697,935	72.28%	8.02

Seats and popular vote by party

Party		Seats	Votes	Change (pp)
	Conservative	84 / 111	54.02%	-1.57
	Liberal	24 / 111	37.45%	-1.06
	Temperance factions	1 / 111	3.89%	3.86		3.86
	Other	2 / 111	4.64%	-1.23

Results summary by region

Distribution of seats and popular vote %, by party by region (1914)

Region	Candidates									Seats					Vote share (%)
	Con	Lib	Temp	Soc	Lab	Ind	Ind-Con	Ind-Lib	Lib-Anti-T	Con	Lib	Lab	Ind-Lib	L-Temp	Con	Lib	Temp	Lab	Ind	Soc	Ind-Con	Ind-Lib
Central Ontario	19	14	4	1	–	1	1	–	–	16	3	–	–	–	58.34	33.07	5.89	–	2.13	0.16	0.42	–
Eastern Ontario	16	13	1	1	1	1	2	2	–	12	4	–	1	–	49.63	39.12	2.02	0.45	2.02	0.09	3.22	3.46
Hamilton, Halton and Niagara	9	6	1	1	2	–	–	–	–	7	1	1	–	–	54.31	26.01	4.11	14.10	–	1.47	–	–
Midwestern Ontario	20	17	4	4	–	–	–	–	1	13	7	–	–	1	50.78	38.44	8.06	–	–	2.01	–	–
Northeastern Ontario	9	8	1	1	–	2	–	–	–	7	2	–	–	–	50.77	40.69	2.91	–	4.03	1.61	–	–
Northwest Ontario	4	3	–	–	–	1	–	–	–	4	–	–	–	–	53.90	38.31	–	–	7.79	–	–	–
Southwestern Ontario	16	16	–	–	1	–	1	–	–	9	7	–	–	–	49.11	47.94	–	0.53	–	–	2.42	–
Toronto	10	8	2	4	–	–	–	–	–	10	–	–	–	–	63.94	29.87	4.59	–	–	1.61	–	–
York, Peel and Ontario	6	5	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	6	–	–	–	–	54.00	46.00	–	–	–	–	–	–
Total	109	90	13	12	4	5	4	2	1	84	24	1	1	1	54.50	37.45	3.97	1.31	0.97	0.91	0.86	0.45

Reorganization of ridings

The newly created ridings returned the following MLAs:

1911		1914
Riding	Party	Riding		Party
Essex North	█  Conservative	Essex North		█  Liberal
		Windsor		█  Liberal
Monck	█  Liberal	Lincoln		█  Liberal
Lincoln	█  Conservative
Withdrawn from Lincoln		St. Catharines		█  Conservative
Welland	█  Conservative	Niagara Falls		█  Conservative
		Welland
Timiskaming	█  Conservative	Timiskaming		█  Conservative
		Cochrane		█  Liberal
Bruce Centre	█  Liberal	Bruce West		█  Liberal
Toronto ridings: Toronto East Toronto North Toronto South Toronto West	█  Conservative (8 MLAs)	Parkdale		█  Conservative
		Riverdale		█  Conservative
		Toronto Northeast	A	█  Conservative
			B	█  Conservative
		Toronto Northwest	A	█  Conservative
			B	█  Conservative
		Toronto Southeast	A	█  Conservative
			B	█  Conservative
		Toronto Southwest	A	█  Conservative
			B	█  Conservative

Seats that changed hands

Elections to the 12th Parliament of Ontario – unaltered seats won/lost by party, 1911–1914

Party		1911	Gain from (loss to)												1914
			Con		Lib		Lab		I-Lib		L-Tmp		L-Con
	Conservative	71			8	(8)						(1)	1		71
	Liberal	20	8	(8)						(1)					19
	Labour	1													1
	Independent-Liberal [a 1]	–			1										1
	Liberal-Temperance	–	1												1
	Liberal–Conservative [a 2]	1		(1)											–
Total		93	9	(9)	9	(9)	–	–	–	(1)	–	(1)	1	–	93

1. Gustave Évanturel (Prescott) was originally elected as a Liberal in 1911.
2. James Arthur Mathieu (Rainy River) campaigned as a Conservative and won.

There were 20 seats that changed allegiance in the election:

Liberal to Conservative Bruce South Grey North Haldimand Lambton East Middlesex East Ontario South Oxford South Wentworth North Liberal to Independent-Liberal Prescott Liberal-Conservative to Conservative Rainy River

Conservative to Liberal Brant Brant South Essex South Middlesex North Ottawa East Ottawa West Peterborough West Prince Edward Conservative to Liberal-Temperance Wellington South

Acclamations

Candidates returned by acclamation

Party		Riding	Candidate
	Conservative	Kenora	Harold Arthur Clement Machin
		Renfrew South	Thomas William McGarry
		York West	Forbes Godfrey
	Liberal	Glengarry	Hugh Munro

When nominations closed, three candidates were acclaimed. ^[2] A later withdrawal in Kenora enabled the acclamation of Harold Arthur Clement Machin. ^[6]

Forbes Godfrey (York West) was acclaimed because the Liberal candidate was held to have missed the deadline by one minute. ^[2] In Wellington East, the Liberals opted not to press a similar case against the Conservative candidate, whose nomination papers were filed 90 minutes after the deadline. ^[7]

See also

• Politics of Ontario
• list of Ontario political parties
• Premier of Ontario
• Leader of the Opposition (Ontario)

References

1. "1914 General Election". Elections Ontario. Elections Ontario. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
2. "The Ontario Campaign is Hotly Contested". The Daily British Whig . Kingston. June 23, 1914. p. 8.
3. "Sir James' Triumph". The Toronto World . June 30, 1914. p. 6.
4. Hopkins 1915, p. 440.
5. The Representation Act , S.O. 1914, c. 4
6. "Pith of the News". The Daily British Whig . Kingston. June 24, 1914. p. 1.
7. "Provincial Election: Only 3 Elected by Acclamation". Newmarket Era . June 26, 1914. p. 2.

Further reading

• Hopkins, J. Castell (1915). The Canadian Annual Review of Public Affairs, 1914. Toronto: The Annual Review Publishing Company.