1894 Ontario general election explained

Election Name:	1894 Ontario general election
Country:	Ontario
Type:	parliamentary
Ongoing:	no
Party Colour:	no
Party Name:	no
Previous Election:	1890 Ontario general election
Previous Year:	1890
Previous Mps:	7th Legislative Assembly of Ontario
Next Election:	1898 Ontario general election
Next Year:	1898
Seats For Election:	94 seats in the 8th Legislative Assembly of Ontario 48 seats were needed for a majority
Election Date:	June 26, 1894
Leader1:	Oliver Mowat
Leader Since1:	1872
Leaders Seat1:	Oxford North
Last Election1:	53
Seats1:	45
Seat Change1:	8
Leader2:	William Ralph Meredith
Leader Since2:	1879
Leaders Seat2:	London
Last Election2:	34
Seats2:	23
Seat Change2:	9
Premier
Posttitle:	Premier after election
Before Election:	Oliver Mowat
After Election:	Oliver Mowat

The 1894 Ontario general election was the eighth general election held in the Province of Ontario, Canada. It was held on June 26, 1894, to elect the 94 Members of the 8th Legislative Assembly of Ontario ("MLAs").

The main issues were the Liberals' "Ontario System", as well as French language schools, farmer interests, support for Toronto business, woman suffrage, the temperance movement, and the demands of labour unions.^[1]

The Ontario Liberal Party, led by Oliver Mowat, formed the government for the seventh consecutive parliament, even though some of its members were elected under joint banners: either with the Patrons of Industry or the Protestant Protective Association.

The Ontario Conservative Party, led by William Ralph Meredith, formed the official opposition.

The Patrons of Industry, a farmers' organization formed in 1890, cooperated with the urban labour movement to address the political frustrations of both groups with big business. Sixteen members of the Legislative Assembly were elected with Patrons of Industry support—12 Liberals, one Conservative, and three who ran only under the "Patrons of Industry" banner.

The Protestant Protective Association (PPA) was an anti-Catholic group, associated with the Orange Order. It campaigned against the rights of Catholics and French-Canadians, and argued that Roman Catholics were attempting to take over Ontario. Nine candidates were elected with PPA support, 6 Conservatives, 1 Liberal and 2 who ran only under the PPA banner. The PPA worked most closely with the Conservative opposition.

Unlike the previous two elections, this election strictly used First past the post to elect the members. The Toronto district was divided into separate single member districts, as part of the expansion of the Assembly.

Expansion of the Legislative Assembly

An Act passed just prior to the election^[2] increased the size of the Assembly from 91 to 94 seats:

• Toronto, a riding that returned three MLAs, was divided into Toronto East, Toronto North, Toronto South and Toronto West.

• Hamilton, a single-member constituency, was divided into Hamilton East and Hamilton West.

• Ottawa became a two-member riding.

Results

^[3] |-! colspan=2 rowspan=2 | Political party! rowspan=2 | Party leader! colspan=5 | MPPs! colspan=3 | Votes|-! Candidates!1890!Dissol.!1894!±!#!%! ± (pp)|style="text-align:left;"|Oliver Mowat|80|53||45|8|153,826|40.99%|8.64|style="text-align:left;"|William Ralph Meredith|56|34||23|11|104,369|27.81%|12.07|style="text-align:left;"|Liberal-Patrons|style="text-align:left;"||26| - | - |12|12|44,029|11.73%||style="text-align:left;"|Conservative–P.P.A.|style="text-align:left;"||13| - | - |5|5|24,616|6.56%||style="text-align:left;"|Joseph Longford Haycock|7| - | - |3|3|10,465|2.79%||style="text-align:left;"|Conservative-Patrons|style="text-align:left;"||7| - | - |2|2|11,608|3.09%||style="text-align:left;"|Liberal-P.P.A.|style="text-align:left;"||2| - | - |2|2|3,649|0.97%||-|style="background-color:#FF8000;"||style="text-align:left;"|Protestant Protective Association|style="text-align:left;"||8| - | - |1|1|11,015|2.94%||style="text-align:left;"||1| - | - |1|1|2,326|0.62%||style="text-align:left;"||9| - | - | - ||9,374|2.50%||style="text-align:left;"|Liberal-Equal Rights |style="text-align:left;"|||2| - | - |2|colspan="3"|Did not campaign|style="text-align:left;"|Conservative-Equal Rights|style="text-align:left;"|||2| - | - |2|colspan="3"|Did not campaign|colspan="3"|||colspan="5"||-style="background:#E9E9E9;"|colspan="3" style="text-align:left;"|Total|209|91|91|94||375,277|100.00%||-|colspan="8" style="text-align:left;"|Blank and invalid ballots|align="right"|3,886|style="background:#E9E9E9;" colspan="2"||-style="background:#E9E9E9;"|colspan="8" style="text-align:left;"|Registered voters / turnout|539,358|70.30%|0.70|}

Party !! Seats !! Votes !! colspan="3"

Change (pp)^[4]
	Protestant Protective Association^[5]

Before the Legislature's first session opened, four by-elections were called. William Ralph Meredith (London) resigned to accept appointment as a judge, while the elections of James M. Savage (Algoma West), John Senn (Haldimand) and Edward H. Smythe (Kingston) were overturned on appeal. The Liberals won all four Conservative seats, thus securing a majority in the Assembly. That, together with the inability of the Patrons of Industry and the Conservatives to combine on any issue, ensured the Liberals' hold on power.^[6]

Synopsis of results

Results by riding - 1890 Ontario general election

Riding^[7]	Winning party								Turnout	Votes
Name^[8]	1890		Party		Votes	Share	Margin #	Margin %		Lib	Con				Total
Addington		Con		Con	1,849	52.89%	202	5.78%	75.79%	1,647	1,849	–	–	–	3,496
Algoma East		Con		Lib	1,982	50.85%	66	1.69%	50.48%	1,982	1,916	–	–	–	3,898
Algoma West		Lib		Con	1,137	50.13%	6	0.26%	52.42%	1,131	1,137	–	–	–	2,268
Brant North		Lib		Lib	1,192	61.44%	444	22.89%	77.41%	1,192	–	748	–	–	1,940
Brant South		Lib		Lib	2,597	56.74%	617	13.48%	79.56%	2,597	–	–	1,980	–	4,577
Brockville		Lib		Lib	2,045	53.49%	267	6.98%	71.43%	2,045	1,778	–	–	–	3,823
Bruce Centre		Lib		L-PI	1,932	57.97%	531	15.93%	69.91%	1,401	–	1,932	–	–	3,333
Bruce North		Con		L-PP	1,369	39.35%	246	7.07%	63.61%	1,123	987	–	1,369^[9]	–	3,479
Bruce South		Lib		Lib	1,913	52.05%	151	4.11%	68.91%	1,913	–	1,762	–	–	3,675
Cardwell		Con		C-PI	1,888	54.93%	345	10.04%	65.18%	6	–	3,431^[10]	–	–	3,437
Carleton		Con		C-PI	1,986	63.61%	850	27.23%	68.07%	–	1,136	1,986	–	–	3,122
Dufferin		C-ER		PI	2,465	57.05%	609	14.09%	71.28%	–	1,856	2,465	–	–	4,321
Dundas		Con		Con	2,010	52.44%	187	4.88%	77.22%	–	2,010	1,823	–	–	3,833
Durham East		C-ER		Con	1,746	56.49%	401	12.97%	66.84%	–	1,746	–	1,345	–	3,091
Durham West		Lib		C-PP	1,646	50.94%	61	1.89%	84.42%	1,585	–	–	1,646	–	3,231
Elgin East		Con		Con	1,700	43.72%	366	9.41%	74.35%	1,334	1,700	854	–	–	3,888
Elgin West		Con		L-PI	2,851	51.55%	171	3.09%	80.82%	–	2,680	2,851	–	–	5,531
Essex North		Con		Lib	1,843	42.46%	246	5.67%	54.60%	1,843	901	1,597	–	–	4,341
Essex South		Lib		Lib	2,521	52.82%	789	16.53%	79.15%	2,521	–	520	1,732	–	4,773
Frontenac		Con		L-PI	1,517	52.26%	131	4.51%	61.94%	–	1,386	1,517	–	–	2,903
Glengarry		Lib		L-PI	2,030	55.22%	384	10.45%	70.96%	–	–	2,030	–	1,646	3,676
Grenville		Con		Con	1,826	47.88%	492	12.90%	64.99%	1,334	1,826	–	654	–	3,814
Grey Centre		Con		PPA	1,735	42.67%	542	13.33%	67.33%	1,138	–	–	2,928^[11]	–	4,066
Grey North		Lib		Lib	1,646	38.09%	213	4.93%	66.04%	1,646	1,242	–	1,433	–	4,321
Grey South		Con		PI	2,401	59.83%	789	19.66%	69.29%	1,612	–	2,401	–	–	4,013
Haldimand		Lib		Con	1,693	50.22%	15	0.44%	76.00%	1,678	1,693	–	–	–	3,371
Halton		Con		Con	2,269	51.25%	111	2.51%	77.10%	2,158	2,269	–	–	–	4,427
Hamilton East	New			Lib	2,348	51.09%	100	2.18%	78.01%	2,348	–	–	2,248	–	4,596
Hamilton West	New			Lib	2,468	55.10%	457	10.20%	78.80%	2,468	–	–	2,011	–	4,479
Hastings East		Con		L-PI	1,574	52.70%	161	5.39%	63.32%	1,413	–	1,574	–	–	2,987
Hastings North		Con		PI	1,782	50.71%	50	1.42%	61.37%	–	1,732	1,782	–	–	3,514
Hastings West		Lib		Lib	1,473	51.41%	81	2.83%	56.05%	1,473	–	–	–	1,392	2,865
Huron East		Lib		Lib	2,129	55.95%	453	11.91%	74.44%	2,129	–	1,676	–	–	3,805
Huron South		Lib		Lib	2,335	50.24%	22	0.47%	79.03%	2,335	2,313	–	–	–	4,648
Huron West		Lib		Lib	2,263	50.85%	76	1.71%	73.39%	2,263	–	2,187	–	–	4,450
Kent East		Lib		Lib	2,365	55.03%	432	10.05%	61.62%	2,365	–	1,933	–	–	4,298
Kent West		Con		L-PI	3,106	54.52%	515	9.04%	71.59%	–	2,591	3,106	–	–	5,697
Kingston		Con		Con	1,710	50.01%	1	0.03%	80.89%	1,709	1,710	–	–	–	3,419
Lambton East		Lib		IC-PP	2,326	52.06%	184	4.12%	78.15%	2,142	–	–	2,326^[12]	–	4,468
Lambton West		Lib		C-PP	3,044	50.73%	88	1.47%	63.63%	2,956	–	–	3,044	–	6,000
Lanark North		L-ER		Con	1,499	50.44%	26	0.87%	75.08%	1,473	1,499	–	–	–	2,972
Lanark South		Con		Con	1,830	53.03%	623	18.05%	69.08%	1,207	1,830	–	414	–	3,451
Leeds		Con		Con	1,999	55.14%	373	10.29%	65.02%	–	1,999	1,626	–	–	3,625
Lennox		Con		Con	1,089	39.09%	112	4.02%	67.24%	977	1,089	720	–	–	2,786
Lincoln		Con		Con	2,548	51.23%	122	2.45%	76.62%	–	2,548	–	–	2,426	4,974
London		Con		Con	3,273	51.07%	137	2.14%	86.29%	3,136	3,273	–	–	–	6,409
Middlesex East		Con		L-PP	2,280	54.79%	399	9.59%	69.27%	1,881	–	–	2,280	–	4,161
Middlesex North		Lib		L-PI	2,015	51.64%	128	3.28%	75.79%	–	–	2,015	1,887	–	3,902
Middlesex West		Lib		Lib	1,970	51.46%	112	2.93%	79.59%	1,970	1,858	–	–	–	3,828
Monck		Lib		Lib	1,519	51.13%	67	2.26%	72.61%	1,519	–	–	1,452	–	2,971
Muskoka		Con		C-PP	1,803	52.44%	168	4.89%	75.02%	1,635	–	–	1,803	–	3,438
Nipissing		Lib		Lib	1,345	65.83%	647	31.67%	56.12%	1,345	–	–	–	698	2,043
Norfolk North		Lib		Lib	1,690	54.64%	287	9.28%	76.63%	1,690	–	–	1,403	–	3,093
Norfolk South		Lib		Lib	1,424	50.37%	21	0.74%	73.06%	1,424	–	1,403	–	–	2,827
Northumberland East		Con		Con	1,701	38.76%	179	4.08%	74.35%	1,522	2,867^[13]	–	–	–	4,389
Northumberland West		Lib		Lib	1,402	52.27%	146	5.44%	73.18%	1,402	1,256	–	–	24	2,682
Ontario North		Con		Lib	2,114	50.90%	75	1.81%	79.45%	2,114	2,039	–	–	–	4,153
Ontario South		Lib		Lib	2,884	52.94%	320	5.87%	82.45%	2,884	2,564	–	–	–	5,448
Oxford North		Lib		Lib	2,197	58.40%	632	16.80%	64.35%	2,197	–	–	1,565	–	3,762
Oxford South		Lib		Lib	2,454	54.21%	381	8.42%	71.16%	2,454	–	2,073	–	–	4,527
Parry Sound		Lib		L-PI	1,968	56.94%	480	13.89%	42.89%	1,488	–	1,968	–	–	3,456
Peel		Lib		Lib	2,273	54.78%	397	9.57%	75.59%	2,273	–	–	1,876	–	4,149
Perth North		Lib		Con	2,957	50.93%	108	1.86%	81.23%	2,849	2,957	–	–	–	5,806
Perth South		Lib		L-PI	2,232	50.26%	23	0.52%	75.32%	2,209	–	2,232	–	–	4,441
Peterborough East		Lib		Lib	1,621	58.37%	465	16.74%	62.43%	1,621	1,156	–	–	–	2,777
Peterborough West		Lib		Lib	2,280	60.00%	760	20.00%	75.10%	2,280	1,520	–	–	–	3,800
Prescott		Lib		Lib	2,038	71.06%	1,208	42.12%	58.42%	2,038	–	830	–	–	2,868
Prince Edward		Lib		L-PI	2,149	53.35%	667	16.56%	71.00%	–	1,482	2,149	–	397	4,028
Renfrew North		Con		Lib	1,978	54.40%	320	8.80%	75.46%	1,978	1,658	–	–	–	3,636
Renfrew South		Lib		Lib	1,802	53.41%	231	6.85%	69.55%	3,373^[14]	1	–	–	–	3,374
Russell		Lib		Lib	1,976	62.47%	789	24.94%	48.17%	1,976	1,187	–	–	–	3,163
Simcoe Centre		Lib		Lib	1,170	36.76%	79	2.48%	67.88%	1,170	922	–	1,091	–	3,183
Simcoe East		Con		Con	2,021	43.21%	124	2.65%	67.07%	1,897	2,021	759	–	–	4,677
Simcoe West		Con		L-PI	1,509	51.48%	87	2.97%	58.38%	–	–	2,931^[15]	–	–	2,931
Stormont		Lib		L-PI	1,809	47.02%	404	10.50%	62.89%	1,405	633	1,809	–	–	3,847
Toronto East	New			C-PP	3,401	66.12%	1,658	32.23%	62.00%	–	–	1,743	3,401^[16]	–	5,144
Toronto North	New			Con	4,007	55.58%	805	11.17%	71.21%	3,202	4,007	–	–	–	7,209
Toronto South	New			Con	6,073	60.31%	2,077	20.63%	71.35%	3,996	6,073	–	–	–	10,069
Toronto West	New			Con	4,366	60.53%	1,519	21.06%	68.31%	2,847	4,366	–	–	–	7,213
Victoria East		Con		Con	1,688	54.40%	273	8.80%	60.24%	–	1,688	1,415	–	–	3,103
Victoria West		L-ER		Lib	1,785	48.64%	470	12.81%	70.62%	1,785	1,315	570	–	–	3,670
Waterloo North		Lib		Lib	2,042	51.11%	918	22.98%	64.48%	2,042	–	1,124	–	829	3,995
Waterloo South		Lib		Lib	2,212	55.63%	448	11.27%	65.85%	3,976^[17]	–	–	–	–	3,976
Welland		Con		Lib	2,579	50.90%	91	1.80%	78.16%	2,579	2,488	–	–	–	5,067
Wellington East		Lib		Lib	1,308	36.90%	55	1.55%	71.66%	1,308	984	1,253	–	–	3,545
Wellington South		Lib		Lib	1,993	60.39%	686	20.79%	59.46%	1,993	–	1,307	–	–	3,300
Wellington West		Lib		C-PP	1,718	54.49%	283	8.98%	65.91%	1,435	–	–	1,718	–	3,153
Wentworth North		Lib		Lib	1,449	51.31%	74	2.62%	78.75%	1,449	1,375	–	–	–	2,824
Wentworth South		Lib		Lib	1,551	55.37%	301	10.75%	83.84%	1,551	1,250	–	–	–	2,801
York East		Lib		Lib	1,959	56.23%	434	12.46%	67.24%	1,959	1,525	–	–	–	3,484
York North		Lib		Lib	2,035	54.28%	321	8.56%	61.07%	2,035	1,714	–	–	–	3,749
York West		Lib		Con	2,151	50.62%	53	1.25%	72.41%	2,098	2,151	–	–	–	4,249

= 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

= joint Conservative candidate

= joint Independent Conservative candidate

= joint Liberal candidate

= joint Labour candidate

= previously an MP in the House of Commons of Canada

= multiple candidates

^[3] |-! colspan=2 | Political party! Candidate! Votes! %! Elected! Incumbent|-|style="text-align:left;"|George O. O'Keefe|3,381 ||29.99|style="text-align:center;"||-|style="text-align:left;"|Erskine Henry Bronson|3,316 ||29.41|style="text-align:center;"||style="text-align:center;"||-|style="text-align:left;"|Taylor McVeitty|2,616 ||23.20|-|style="text-align:left;"|A. F. McIntyre|1,923 ||17.06|-|style="text-align:left;"|T. H. Beck|39 ||0.65|-!colspan="3" style="text-align:right;"|Majority^[18] |700 ||6.21|-!colspan="3" style="text-align:right;"|Turnout|6,841 ||56.11|-!colspan="3" style="text-align:right;"|Registered voters|12,193|}

Analysis

Party candidates in 2nd place^[19]

Party in 1st place	Party in 2nd place									Total
	Lib	Con	L-PI	C-PP	POI	C-PI	PPA	Ind	Lab-PI
	2	17	9	5	2	1	5	2		43
	18		2			1	1	1		23
	5	4		1		1		1		12
	4								1	5
	1	2								3
		1				1				2
	2									2
				1						1
	1									1
Total	33	24	11	7	2	4	6	4	1	92

Candidates ranked 1st to 5th place, by party

Parties	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th
	44	34	2
	23	24	9
	12	11	2
	5	7	1
	3	2	2
	2	4	1
	2
	1	6	1
	1
		4	3	1	1
		1

Source !!colspan="9"

Party !	Total
Lib		Con	POI	L-PI	C-PI	PPA	L-PP	C-PP	IC-PP
Seats retained	Incumbents returned	26	9								35
	Open seats held	8	4								12
	Byelection loss reversed		1								1
	Defeated by same-party candidate	1									1
Seats changing hands	Incumbents defeated	3	4	3	6	1	1		3		21
	Open seats gained	1	1		6	1		1	1		11
	Byelection gains held	1	1								2
	Incumbent changed allegiance	1									1
	Incumbent from 3rd-party byelection gain changed allegiance							1		1	2
New seat	New MLAs	1	2								3
	Previously incumbent in the Legislature	1	1						1		3
Ottawa seats	MLA returned	1									1
	New MLAs	1									1
Total		45	23	3	12	2	1	2	5	1	94

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

Division of ridings

The newly created ridings returned the following MLAs:

1890			1894
Riding	Party	MLAs	Riding	Party	MLAs
Toronto		2	Toronto East		1
			Toronto North		1
		1	Toronto South		1
			Toronto West		1
Hamilton		1	Hamilton East		1
			Hamilton West		1
Ottawa		1	converted to dual-member riding		2

Seats that changed hands

Elections to the 8th Parliament of Ontario – unaltered seats won/lost by party, 1890–1894

Party		1890	Gain from (loss to)																						1894
			Lib		Con		Lib-P		C-PPA		POI		Con-P		L-PPA		PPA		ICP		L-ER		C-ER
50			6	(4)		(7)		(3)		(1)								(1)	1				41
32	4	(6)				(5)		(1)		(1)		(2)		(2)		(1)			1		1		20
Liberal-Patrons	-	7		5																				12
Conservative–P.P.A.	-	3		1																				4
-	1		1																		1		3
Conservative-Patrons	-			2																				2
Liberal-P.P.A.	-			2																				2
	Protestant Protective Association	-			1																				1
-	1																						1
2		(1)		(1)																			-
2				(1)						(1)													-
Total		86	16	(7)	18	(6)	-	(12)	-	(4)	-	(3)	-	(2)	-	(2)	-	(1)	-	(1)	2	-	2	-	86

Of the constituencies that were not altered, there were 38 seats that changed allegiance in the election:

Liberal to Conservative

• Algoma West
• Haldimand
• Perth North
• York West

Liberal to Liberal/Patrons of Industry

• Bruce Centre
• Middlesex North
• Parry Sound
• Perth South
• Glengarry
• Prince Edward
• Stormont

Liberal to Conservative/PPA

• Lambton West
• Durham West
• Wellington West

Liberal to Patrons of Industry

• Grey South

Liberal to Independent-Conservative/PPA

• Lambton East

Conservative to Liberal

• Algoma East
• Brockville
• Essex North
• Ontario North
• Renfrew North
• Welland

Conservative to Liberal/Patrons of Industry

• Hastings East
• Kent West
• Elgin West
• Frontenac
• Simcoe West

Conservative to Conservative/PPA

• Muskoka

Conservative to Patrons of Industry

• Hastings North

Conservative to Conservative/Patrons of Industry

• Cardwell
• Carleton

Conservative to Liberal/PPA

• Bruce North
• Middlesex East

Conservative to PPA

• Grey Centre

Liberal/Equal Rights to Liberal

• Victoria West

Liberal/Equal Rights to Conservative

• Lanark North

Conservative/Equal Rights to Conservative

• Durham East

Conservative/Equal Rights to Patrons of Industry

• Dufferin

See also

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

Notes and references

References

Notes and References

1. Janet B. Kerr, "Sir Oliver Mowat and the Campaign of 1894," Ontario History, March 1963, Vol. 55 Issue 1, pp 1-13
2. An Act respecting Representation of certain Cities in the Legislative Assembly. S.O.. 1894. 2. https://archive.org/details/statutesofprovin1894onta/page/6/mode/2up.
3. Web site: 1894 General Election . Elections Ontario . Elections Ontario . January 3, 2021.
4. Straight party support only. Other MLAs sponsored by Patrons of Industry, PPA or Equal Rights Party are allocated to the latter, to show extent of influence.
5. Associated with the Orange Order.
6. Romney . Paul . 1994 . Mowat, Sir Oliver . XIII .
7. excluding Ottawa, a multi-member constituency
8. order is as given in EO reports
9. the Patrons of Industry incumbent Daniel McNaughton, who was elected in an 1893 byelection
10. two Conservative candidates
11. 1 PPA, plus the Conservative incumbent Joseph Rorke.
12. [Peter Duncan McCallum]
13. the incumbent William Arnson Willoughby was the winning candidate
14. the incumbent John Francis Dowling received 1,571 votes
15. 1 Liberal; 1 Conservative
16. [George Ryerson]
17. the incumbent John Douglas Moore was the winning candidate
18. plurality for third winning candidate
19. excluding Ottawa seats