1898 Ontario general election

The 1898 Ontario general election was the ninth general election held in the province of Ontario, Canada. It was held on March 1, 1898, to elect the 94 Members of the 9th Legislative Assembly of Ontario ("MLAs").

The Ontario Liberal Party, led by Arthur S. Hardy, won an eighth term in office with a clear majority – the Patrons of Industry and the Protestant Protective Association held no sway in this legislature.

The Ontario Conservative Party, led by Sir James P. Whitney, formed the official opposition.

Ottawa had two seats, and plurality block voting was used. Elsewhere the first-past-the-post election system was used.

Results

|- ! colspan=2 rowspan=2 | Political party ! rowspan=2 | Party leader ! colspan=5 | MPPs ! colspan=3 | Votes |- ! Candidates !1894 !<small>Dissol.</small> !1898 !± !# !% ! ± (pp)

|style="text-align:left;"|Arthur S. Hardy |91 |45 | |51 |6 |202,332 |47.29% |6.30

|style="text-align:left;"|James P. Whitney |90 |23 | |42 |19 |204,011 |47.69% |19.88

|style="text-align:left;"| |1 |&ndash; | |1 |1 |1,740 |0.41% |

|style="text-align:left;"|Liberal-Patrons |style="text-align:left;"| |&ndash; |12 | |&ndash; |12 |rowspan="7" colspan="3"|Did not campaign

|style="text-align:left;"|Conservative–P.P.A. |style="text-align:left;"| |&ndash; |5 | |&ndash; |5

|style="text-align:left;"|Joseph Longford Haycock |&ndash; |3 | |&ndash; |3

|style="text-align:left;"|Conservative-Patrons |style="text-align:left;"| |&ndash; |2 | |&ndash; |2

|style="text-align:left;"|Liberal-P.P.A. |style="text-align:left;"| |&ndash; |2 | |&ndash; |2 |- |style="background-color:#FF8000;"| |style="text-align:left;"|Protestant Protective Association |style="text-align:left;"| |&ndash; |1 | |&ndash; |1

|style="text-align:left;"| |&ndash; |1 | |&ndash; |1

|style="text-align:left;"| |18 |&ndash; |&ndash; |&ndash; | |19,683 |4.60% |2.10

|style="text-align:left;"| |1 |&ndash; |&ndash; |&ndash; | |57 |0.01% |

|colspan="3"| | |colspan="5"| |-style="background:#E9E9E9;" |colspan="3" style="text-align:left;"|Total |201 |94 |94 |94 | |427,823 |100.00% | |- |colspan="8" style="text-align:left;"|Blank and invalid ballots |align="right"|3,601 |style="background:#E9E9E9;" colspan="2"| |-style="background:#E9E9E9;" |colspan="8" style="text-align:left;"|Registered voters / turnout |525,795 |82.05% |11.75

Synopsis of results

= open seat

= turnout is above provincial average

= winning candidate was in previous Legislature

= incumbent had switched allegiance

= previously incumbent in another riding

= not incumbent; was previously elected to the Legislature

= incumbency arose from byelection gain

= incumbency arose from prior election result being overturned by the court

= other incumbents renominated

= previously an MP in the House of Commons of Canada

= multiple candidates

|- ! colspan=2 | Political party ! Candidate ! Votes ! % ! Elected ! Incumbent |-

|style="text-align:left;"|Alexander Lumsden |4,793 ||26.86 |style="text-align:center;"| |-

|style="text-align:left;"|Charles Berkeley Powell |4,548 ||25.49 |style="text-align:center;"| |-

|style="text-align:left;"|George O. O'Keefe |4,539 ||25.44 |style="text-align:center;"| |style="text-align:center;"| |-

|style="text-align:left;"|B. Slattery |3,964 ||22.21 |- !colspan="3" style="text-align:right;"|Majority |9 ||0.05

Analysis

MLAs elected by region and riding

Party designations are as follows:

Northern Ontario

Ottawa Valley

Saint Lawrence Valley

Central Ontario

Georgian Bay

Wentworth/Halton/Niagara

Midwestern Ontario

Southwestern Ontario

Peel/York/Ontario

Seats that changed hands

There were 50 seats that changed allegiance in the election:

Conservative to Liberal

• Algoma West
• Haldimand
• Halton
• Kingston
• Lanark North
• Lennox
• London
• Northumberland East
• Perth North
• York West

Liberal/Patrons of Industry to Liberal

• Bruce Centre
• Hastings East
• Kent West
• Middlesex North
• Parry Sound
• Perth South

Conservative/PPA to Liberal

• Lambton West
• Muskoka

Liberal/PPA to Liberal

• Bruce North

Independent-Conservative/PPA to Liberal

• Lambton East

Liberal to Conservative

• Grey North
• Hamilton East
• Hamilton West
• Hastings West
• Huron South
• Ontario North
• Ontario South
• Ottawa (1 MLA)
• Renfrew North
• Simcoe Centre
• Victoria West
• Waterloo North
• Waterloo South
• Wentworth North

Liberal/Patrons of Industry to Conservative

• Elgin West
• Frontenac
• Glengarry
• Prince Edward
• Simcoe West
• Stormont

Conservative/PPA to Conservative

• Durham West
• Toronto East
• Wellington West

Patrons of Industry to Conservative

• Dufferin
• Grey South
• Hastings North

Conservative/Patrons of Industry to Conservative

• Cardwell

Liberal/PPA to Conservative

• Middlesex East

PPA to Conservative

• Grey Centre

Conservative/Patrons of Industry to Independent-Conservative

• Carleton

MLAs changing parties

Six members changed their principal affiliation from the previous election:

See also

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

Notes and references

Notes

References