Ontario general election, 1985

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Ontario general election, 1985
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←  1981 May 2, 1985 1987  →
125 seats in the 33rd Legislative Assembly of Ontario
63 seats needed for a majority

 First partySecond partyThird party
  David Peterson (2005).jpg Bob Rae.jpg
Leader Frank Miller David Peterson Bob Rae
Party Progressive Conservative Liberal New Democratic
Leader since January 26, 1985 February 21, 1982 February 7, 1982
Leader's seat Muskoka London Centre York South
Last election703421
Seats won524825
Seat changeDecrease2.svg18Increase2.svg14Increase2.svg4
Popular vote1,343,0441,377,965865,507
Percentage37.0%37.9%23.8%
SwingDecrease2.svg7.4pp Increase2.svg5.2pp Increase2.svg2.6pp
Premier before election

Frank Miller
Progressive Conservative

Premier-designate

Frank Miller [A]
Progressive Conservative

Diagram of the 1985 election results in the Provincial Legislature Oleg85.png
Diagram of the 1985 election results in the Provincial Legislature

The Ontario general election of 1985 was held on May 2, 1985, to elect members of the 33rd Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, Canada. The Progressive Conservatives won the most seats, but not a majority. Shortly after, the Progressive Conservatives' 42 years of governance in Ontario came to an end via a confidence vote defeating Premier Frank Miller's minority government. David Peterson's Liberals then formed a minority government with the support of Bob Rae's NDP.

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.

Frank Miller (politician) Canadian politician, former Premier of Ontario

Frank Stuart Miller,, was a Canadian politician, who served as the 19th Premier of Ontario for four months in 1985. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in 1971 as a Progressive Conservative member of the central Ontario riding of Muskoka. He served in the cabinet of Premier Bill Davis in several portfolios including Minister of Health and Minister of Natural Resources. He also served five years as the Treasurer of Ontario.

David Peterson Canadian politician

David Robert Peterson, was the 20th Premier of the Province of Ontario, Canada, from June 26, 1985 to October 1, 1990. He was the first Liberal premier of Ontario in 42 years.

Contents

Prelude

Near Thanksgiving of 1984, longstanding Premier Bill Davis announced that he would be stepping down as Premier and leader of the Ontario PCs in early 1985. Davis, in office since 1971, had rung up a string of electoral victories by pursuing a moderate agenda and relying on the skill of the Big Blue Machine team of advisors. Davis, who remained generally popular throughout his term in office, would unveil a surprise legacy project: Full funding for Ontario's separate Catholic school system, which would become known as Bill 30. This decision was supported by both other parties, but was generally unpopular, especially amongst the Tory base.

Thanksgiving (Canada) holiday in Canada

Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day is an annual Canadian holiday, occurring on the second Monday in October, which celebrates the harvest and other blessings of the past year.

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.

Catholic schools are parochial schools or education ministries of the Roman Catholic Church. As of 2011, the Church operates the world's largest non-governmental school system. In 2016, the church supported 43,800 secondary schools, and 95,200 primary schools. Catholic schools participate in the evangelizing mission of the Church, integrating religious education as a core subject within their curriculum.

The subsequent leadership race saw the PC party divide into two rough camps. The moderate and mainly urban wing was represented by second-place finisher Larry Grossman. The more strongly conservative rural faction backed eventual victor Frank Miller. After Miller's victory at the convention the party factions failed to reconcile; especially important was that a number of the mainly moderate members of the Big Blue Machine were pushed aside.

Lawrence Sheldon "Larry" Grossman, was a politician in Ontario, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly as a Progressive Conservative from 1975 to 1987, and was a cabinet minister in the governments of Bill Davis and Frank Miller. Grossman was leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives from 1985 to 1987.

Election

Despite these problems, the PCs remained far ahead in the polls, and when Miller called an election just six weeks after becoming premier, he was some twenty percentage points ahead of the Liberals. Over the campaign the Tory lead began to shrink as the Liberals waged a highly effective campaign. Part way into the campaign, the separate schools question re-emerged when the Anglican prelate of Toronto, Archbishop Lewis Garnsworthy, held a news conference on the issue where he compared Bill Davis' methods in pushing through the reform to Adolf Hitler: "This is how Hitler changed education in Germany, by exactly the same process, by decree. I won't take that back.". [1] Garnsworthy was much criticized for his remarks, but the issue was revived, alienating the conservative base, some of whom chose to stay home on election day.

Prelate high-ranking member of the clergy

A prelate is a high-ranking member of the clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin prælatus, the past participle of præferre, which means "carry before", "be set above or over" or "prefer"; hence, a prelate is one set over others.

Archbishop bishop of higher rank in many Christian denominations

In Christianity, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In some cases, such as the Lutheran Church of Sweden and the Church of England, the title is borne by the leader of the denomination. Like popes, patriarchs, metropolitans, cardinal bishops, diocesan bishops, and suffragan bishops, archbishops are in the highest of the three traditional orders of bishops, priests, and deacons. An archbishop may be granted the title or ordained as chief pastor of a metropolitan see or another episcopal see to which the title of archbishop is attached.

Lewis Samuel Garnsworthy was a Canadian religious leader. He served as the Anglican Bishop of Toronto from 1972 to 1989 and was the Archbishop of the ecclesiastical province of Ontario from 1979 to 1985.

The election held May 2, 1985 ended in a stalemate. The PCs emerged with a much-reduced caucus of 52 seats. The Liberals won 48 seats, but won slightly more of the popular vote. The NDP held the balance of power with 25 seats.

Direct election is a system of choosing political officeholders in which the voters directly cast ballots for the persons, or political party that they desire to see elected. The method by which the winner or winners of a direct election are chosen depends upon the electoral system used. The most commonly used systems are the plurality system and the two-round system for single-winner elections, such as a presidential election, and party-list proportional representation for the election of a legislature.

Despite taking 14 seats from the PCs, the result was something of a disappointment for the Liberals, as they felt they had their first realistic chance of winning government in recent memory. The NDP was also disappointed by the election result. It had been nearly tied with the Liberals for popular support for several years, and had hoped to surpass them.

Post-Election

The PCs (the incumbent party) intended to remain in power with a minority government, as they had done on two occasions under Davis' leadership. Rae and the NDP had little interest in supporting a continuation of PC rule, and began negotiations on May 13 to reach an agreement with the Liberals. Rae and Peterson signed an Accord May 29 [2] that would see a number of NDP priorities put into law in exchange for an NDP motion of non-confidence in Miller's government, and the NDP's support of the Liberals. The NDP agreed to support a Liberal minority government for two years, and the Liberals agreed not to call an election during that time.

In a parliamentary democracy based on the Westminster system, confidence and supply are required for a minority government to retain power in the lower house.

Miller, apprised of negotiations, considered a plan to address the province on television two days before the throne speech, disown funding for Catholic schools, and announce he was meeting with the Lieutenant Governor to request an election before a confidence vote could take place. [3] While believing that the Lieutenant Governor would have to call an election if requested before the confidence vote, Miller refused, believing the party's finances to be too fragile for a second campaign, and that repudiating a key Davis policy would tear the party apart. [4]

On June 18, 1985, the PCs were defeated by the passage of a motion of no confidence introduced by Rae. Lieutenant-Governor John Black Aird then asked Peterson to form a government. Miller resigned eight days later, and Peterson's minority government was sworn in the same day.

Results

 PartyLeader 1981 Elected% changePopular vote
%change
Progressive Conservative Frank Miller 7052-25.7%37.0%-7.4%
  Liberal David Peterson 3448+41.2%37.9%+4.2%
  New Democratic Bob Rae 21 25+19.0%23.8%+2.7%
Libertarian Scott Bell  - 0.4% 
Green   - 0.1% 
Communist Gordon Massie - 0.1%-0.06%
Freedom none (Robert Metz, President) - 0.1% 
 Others  - 0.7%-0.1%
Total Seats125125-100% 

The Revolutionary Workers League fielded one candidate.

Riding results

Algoma:

Algoma—Manitoulin:

Armourdale:

Beaches—Woodbine:

Bellwoods:

Brampton:

Brantford:

Brant—Oxford—Haldimand:

Brock:

Burlington South:

Cambridge:

Carleton:

Carleton East:

Carleton-Grenville:

Chatham—Kent:

Cochrane North:

Cochrane South:

Cornwall:

Don Mills:

Dovercourt:

Downsview:

Dufferin—Simcoe:

Durham East:

Durham West:

Durham—York:

Eglinton:

Elgin:

Erie:

Essex North:

Essex South:

Etobicoke:

Fort William:

Frontenac—Addington:

Grey:

Grey—Bruce:

Haldimand—Norfolk:

Halton—Burlington:

Hamilton Centre:

Hamilton East:

Hamilton Mountain:

Hamilton West:

Hastings—Peterborough:

High Park—Swansea:

Humber:

Huron—Bruce:

Huron—Middlesex:

Kenora:

Kent—Elgin:

Kingston and the Islands:

Kitchener:

Kitchener—Wilmot:

Lake Nipigon:

Lambton:

Lanark—Renfrew:

Lakeshore:

Leeds:

Lincoln:

London Centre:

London North:

London South:

Middlesex:

Mississauga East:

Mississauga North:

Mississauga South:

Muskoka:

Niagara Falls:

Nickel Belt:

Nipissing:

Northumberland:

Oakville:

Oakwood:

Oriole:

Oshawa:

Ottawa Centre:

Ottawa East:

Ottawa South:

Ottawa West:

Oxford:

Parkdale:

Parry Sound:

Perth:

Peterborough:

Port Arthur:

Prescott and Russell:

Prince Edward—Lennox:

Quinte:

Rainy River:

Renfrew North:

Renfrew South:

Riverdale:

St. Andrew—St. Patrick:

St. Catharines:

PartyCandidateVotes%+/-
 Liberal(x)Jim Bradley 20,60557.94
    Progressive ConservativeElaine Herzog9,02925.39
 New Democratic PartyMichael Cormier5,62415.81
Communist Eric Blair3050.86
Total valid votes35,563100.00
Rejected, unmarked and declined ballots201
Turnout35,76461.65

St. David:

St. George:

Sarnia:

Sault Ste. Marie:

Scarborough Centre:

Scarborough East:

Scarborough—Ellesmere:

Scarborough North:

Scarborough West:

Simcoe Centre:

Simcoe East:

Stormont—Dundas—Glengarry & East Grenville:

Sudbury:

Sudbury East:

Timiskaming:

Victoria—Haliburton:

Waterloo North:

Welland—Thorold:

Wellington—Dufferin—Peel:

Wellington South:

Wentworth:

Wentworth North:

Wilson Heights:

Windsor—Riverside:

Windsor—Sandwich:

Windsor—Walkerville:

York Centre:

York East:

York Mills:

York North:

York South:

York West:

Yorkview:

Post-election changes

York East (res. Robert Elgie, September 26, 1985), April 17, 1986:

Cochrane North (res. René Fontaine, 1986), August 14, 1986:

David Ramsay, elected as a New Democrat, joined the Liberal Party on October 6, 1986. Tony Lupusella, also elected as a New Democrat, joined the Liberal Party on December 17, 1986. After Lupusella's defection, the Liberals held as many seats in the legislative assembly as the Progressive Conservatives, at 51, (if the Speaker of the Legislature is included as a Liberal).

Paul Yakabuski, PC MPP for Renfrew South died July 31, 1987

See also

Notes

A Replaced as Premier by David Peterson on June 26, 1985

B Turmel ran as a "Social Credit Party of Ontario" candidate despite the fact that the party was long since defunct

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References

  1. ↑ Robert Matas, "Davis like Hitler on schools: bishop," Globe and Mail, 25 April 1985, p. 1.
  2. ↑ http://www.macleans.ca/politics/what-happens-in-a-hung-parliament/
  3. ↑ Stevens, Geoffrey (1990), Leaders and Lesser Mortals, Toronto: Key Porter Books, pp. 48–50, ISBN   1550134442
  4. ↑ Stevens, Geoffrey (1990), Leaders and Lesser Mortals, Toronto: Key Porter Books, p. 50, ISBN   1550134442
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