Ontario general election, 1971

Last updated
Ontario general election, 1971
Flag of Ontario.svg
  1967 October 21, 1971 1975  

117 seats in the 29th Legislative Assembly of Ontario
59 seats were needed for a majority

  First party Second party Third party
  Bill Davis Toronto 1984.jpg Robert Nixon-c1971.jpg Stephen Lewis - photo by Gordon Griffiths - 17 April 2009 crop.JPG
Leader Bill Davis Robert Nixon Stephen Lewis
Party Progressive Conservative Liberal New Democratic
Leader since February 12, 1971 January 6, 1967 October 4, 1970
Leader's seat Brampton Brant Scarborough West
Last election 69 28 20
Seats won 78 20 19
Seat changeIncrease2.svg9Decrease2.svg8Decrease2.svg1
Percentage 44.5% 27.8% 27.1%
SwingIncrease2.svg2.2pp Decrease2.svg3.8pp Increase2.svg1.2pp

Premier before election

Bill Davis
Progressive Conservative

Premier-designate

Bill Davis
Progressive Conservative

The Ontario general election of 1971 was held on October 21, 1971, to elect the 117 members of the 29th Legislative Assembly of Ontario (Members of Provincial Parliament, or "MPPs") of the Province of Ontario, Canada.

Ontario Province of Canada

Ontario is one of the 13 provinces and territories of Canada and is located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province accounting for 38.3 percent of the country's population, and is the second-largest province in total area. Ontario is fourth-largest jurisdiction in total area when the territories of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut are included. It is home to the nation's capital city, Ottawa, and the nation's most populous city, Toronto, which is also Ontario's provincial capital.

The Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, led by Bill Davis, who had replaced John Robarts as PC leader and premier earlier in the year, won a ninth consecutive term in office, and maintained its majority in the legislature, increasing its caucus in the legislature by eight seats from its result in the previous election.

Bill Davis Canadian politician, former Premier of Ontario

William Grenville "Bill" Davis, is a Canadian former politician who served as the 18th Premier of Ontario from 1971 to 1985. Davis was first elected as the MPP for Peel in the 1959 provincial election where he was a backbencher in Leslie Frost's government. Under John Robarts, he was minister of education. He succeeded Robarts as Premier of Ontario and held the position until resigning in 1985.

John Robarts Canadian politician, former Premier of Ontario

John Parmenter Robarts, was a Canadian lawyer and statesman, and the 17th Premier of Ontario.

The Ontario Liberal Party, led by Robert Nixon, lost seven seats, but continued in the role of official opposition.

The Ontario Liberal Party is a provincial political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. The party is ideologically aligned with the Liberal Party of Canada but the two parties are organizationally independent and have separate, though overlapping, memberships.

Robert Nixon (politician) Canadian politician in Ontario

Robert Fletcher Nixon, is a Canadian retired politician in the province of Ontario, Canada. The son of former Premier of Ontario Harry Nixon, he was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in a 1962 by-election following his father's death. The younger Nixon was elected leader of the Ontario Liberal Party in 1967 and led them through three provincial elections, the first two where the Liberals retained their standing as the second-largest party and official opposition in the legislature. Nixon resigned as party leader in 1976, and was succeeded by Stuart Smith after a leadership convention. Nixon remained a prominent member of the Liberal caucus after standing down from the party leadership, including two stints as interim opposition leader, and served as Provincial Treasurer and Deputy Premier in the government of David Peterson from 1985 to 1990.

The social democratic Ontario New Democratic Party, led by Stephen Lewis, lost one seat.

Social democracy is a political, social, and economic ideology that supports economic and social interventions to promote social justice within the framework of a liberal democratic polity and a capitalist economy. The protocols and norms used to accomplish this involve a commitment to representative and participatory democracy, measures for income redistribution, and regulation of the economy in the general interest and welfare state provisions. Social democracy thus aims to create the conditions for capitalism to lead to greater democratic, egalitarian and solidaristic outcomes. Due to longstanding governance by social democratic parties and their influence on socioeconomic policy development in the Nordic countries, in policy circles social democracy has become associated with the Nordic model in the latter part of the 20th century.

Ontario New Democratic Party political party in Ontario, Canada

The Ontario New Democratic Party is a social-democratic political party in Ontario, Canada. The Ontario NDP, led by Andrea Horwath since March 2009, currently forms the Official Opposition in Ontario following the 2018 general election. It is a provincial section of the federal New Democratic Party. It was formed in October 1961 from the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL).

Stephen Lewis Canadian politician

Stephen Henry Lewis is a Canadian politician, public speaker, broadcaster and diplomat. He was the leader of the social democratic Ontario New Democratic Party for most of the 1970s.

This election marked the first time that the provincial election was held on a Thursday. Subsequently, every provincial election has also been held on a Thursday, with the exception of the 2007 Ontario general election, which was held on a Wednesday.

Results

  Party Leader 1967 Elected% changePopular vote
%change
  Progressive Conservative Bill Davis 69 78+11.6%44.5%+2.2%
  Liberal Robert Nixon 28120-25.9%27.8%-3.8%
  New Democratic Stephen Lewis 20 19-5.0% 27.1%+1.2%
Total Seats117117-100% 

1 Includes T. Patrick Reid of Rainy River who was elected in 1967 as "Liberal-Labour" but was re-elected in 1971 as a Liberal.

Thomas Patrick Reid is a businessman and former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Liberal-Labour member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1967 to 1984 who represented the northern Ontario riding of Rainy River. He served as president of the Ontario Mining Association from 1987 to 2004 and has served on the boards of several mining companies.

Rainy River, Ontario Town in Ontario, Canada

Rainy River is a town in north-western Ontario, Canada, southeast of Lake of the Woods. Rainy River is situated on the eponymous Rainy River, which forms part of the Ontario-Minnesota segment of the Canada–US border. Opposite Rainy River across the river is the town of Baudette, Minnesota. The two towns are connected by the Baudette – Rainy River International Bridge. Rainy River is at the northwestern terminus of Ontario Highway 11.

The Liberal-Labour banner has been used several times by candidates in Canadian elections:

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