1963 Ontario general election explained

Election Name:	1963 Ontario general election
Country:	Ontario
Type:	parliamentary
Ongoing:	no
Party Colour:	no
Party Name:	no
Previous Election:	1959 Ontario general election
Previous Year:	1959
Next Election:	1967 Ontario general election
Next Year:	1967
Seats For Election:	108 seats in the 27th Legislative Assembly of Ontario 55 seats were needed for a majority
Election Date:	September 25, 1963
Leader1:	John Robarts
Leader Since1:	October 25, 1961
Leaders Seat1:	London North
Last Election1:	71
Seats1:	77
Seat Change1:	6
Percentage1:	48.9%
Swing1:	2.6pp
Leader Since2:	April 20, 1958
Leaders Seat2:	Waterloo North (lost re-election)
Last Election2:	22
Seats2:	24
Seat Change2:	2
Percentage2:	35.3%
Swing2:	1.3pp
Leader3:	Donald C. MacDonald
Leader Since3:	November 21, 1953
Leaders Seat3:	York South
Last Election3:	5
Seats3:	7
Seat Change3:	2
Percentage3:	15.5%
Swing3:	1.2pp
Premier
Posttitle:	Premier after election
Before Election:	John Robarts
After Election:	John Robarts

The 1963 Ontario general election was held on September 25, 1963, to elect the 108 members of the 27th Legislative Assembly of Ontario (Members of Provincial Parliament, or "MPPs") of the Province of Ontario.^[1]

The Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, led by John Robarts, who had replaced Leslie Frost as PC leader and premier in 1961, won a seventh consecutive term in office, and maintained its majority in the legislature, increasing its caucus from the 71 members elected in the previous election to 77 members in an enlarged legislature.

The Ontario Liberal Party, led by John Wintermeyer, increased its caucus from 22 to 24 members, although Wintermeyer lost his seat of Waterloo North. He resigned as party leader but the Liberals continued in their role of official opposition. Robert Gibson of Kenora was re-elected as a Liberal-Labour MPP sitting with the Liberal caucus.

The social democratic Co-operative Commonwealth Federation was formally dissolved and succeeded by the Ontario New Democratic Party in 1961. The newly conglomerated party was still led by Donald C. MacDonald, and won two additional seats, for a total of seven.

The Social Credit Party of Ontario split into two factions mirroring the split in the federal party. The official Social Credit party ran candidates in three rural ridings while the more radical Social Credit Action faction ran candidates in six ridings in Toronto.^[2]

Expansion of Legislative Assembly

The size of the Legislative Assembly was increased from 98 to 108 members,^[3] through the reorganization of Toronto's suburban ridings:

Abolished ridings	New ridings
York Centre	Armourdale Downsview Yorkview
York East	Don Mills York East York Mills
York—Humber^[4]	Humber
York—Scarborough	Scarborough Centre Scarborough East Scarborough North Scarborough West
York South	Forest Hill York South
York West	Etobicoke Lakeshore York West

Results

^[5] |-! colspan=2 rowspan=2 | Political party! rowspan=2 | Party leader! colspan=5 | MPPs! colspan=3 | Votes|-! Candidates!1959!Dissol.!1963!±!#!%! ± (pp)|style="text-align:left;"|John Robarts|108|71||77|6|1,052,740|48.61%|2.46|style="text-align:left;"|John Wintermeyer|107|21||23|2|754,032|34.82%|1.44^[6] |style="text-align:left;"|Donald C. MacDonald|97|5||7|2|340,208|15.71%|0.96|style="text-align:left;"||1|1||1||6,774|0.31%|0.04|style="text-align:left;"||1| - | - | - ||5,190|0.24%|0.13|style="text-align:left;"||7| - | - | - ||2,759|0.13%|0.09|style="text-align:left;"||9| - | - | - ||2,313|0.11%|0.02^[7] |style="text-align:left;"||6| - | - | - ||1,654|0.08%|0.15|style="text-align:left;"||1| - | - | - ||103| - ||style="text-align:left;"||| - | - | - ||colspan="3"|did not campaign|style="text-align:left;"||| - | - | - ||colspan="3"|did not campaign|colspan="3"|||colspan="5"||-style="background:#E9E9E9;"|colspan="3" style="text-align:left;"|Total|337|98|98|108||2,165,773|100.00%||-|colspan="8" style="text-align:left;"|Blank and invalid ballots|align="right"|18,028|style="background:#E9E9E9;" colspan="2"||-style="background:#E9E9E9;"|colspan="8" style="text-align:left;"|Registered voters / turnout|3,435,745|59.72%|3.84|}

Synopsis of results

Results by riding - 1963 Ontario general election

Riding	Winning party								Turnout ^[8]	Votes
Name^[9]	1959		Party		Votes	Share	Margin #	Margin %		PC	Lib/	NDP	Ind-PC			Total
Algoma—Manitoulin		PC		Lib	7,951	49.89%	1,522	9.55%	66.25%	6,429	7,951	1,557	–	–	–	15,937
Brant		Lib		Lib	10,771	55.31%	3,792	19.47%	60.75%	6,979	10,771	1,725	–	–	–	19,475
Brantford		Lib		Lib	7,572	43.55%	23	0.13%	71.17%	7,549	7,572	2,136	–	131	–	17,388
Bruce		Lib		Lib	7,997	53.61%	1,076	7.21%	76.56%	6,921	7,997	–	–	–	–	14,918
Carleton		PC		PC	12,999	57.13%	4,496	19.76%	60.96%	12,999	8,503	1,251	–	–	–	22,753
Cochrane North		PC		PC	6,443	50.28%	2,556	19.95%	64.37%	6,443	3,887	1,975	–	509	–	12,814
Cochrane South		PC		PC	12,983	51.40%	4,874	19.29%	62.93%	12,983	4,169	8,109	–	–	–	25,261
Dufferin—Simcoe		PC		PC	8,875	66.29%	5,260	39.29%	55.36%	8,875	3,615	898	–	–	–	13,388
Durham		PC		PC	7,914	51.18%	1,501	9.71%	70.75%	7,914	6,413	1,135	–	–	–	15,462
Elgin		PC		PC	11,382	62.81%	4,643	25.62%	62.89%	11,382	6,739	–	–	–	–	18,121
Essex North		Lib		Lib	14,453	45.73%	3,806	12.04%	68.26%	10,647	14,453	6,505	–	–	–	31,605
Essex South		PC		Lib	9,572	49.85%	715	3.72%	73.30%	8,857	9,572	773	–	–	–	19,202
Fort William		Lib		NDP	8,427	37.45%	1,172	5.21%	71.10%	7,255	6,820	8,427	–	–	–	22,502
Frontenac—Addington		PC		PC	6,746	55.11%	2,019	16.49%	61.20%	6,746	4,727	769	–	–	–	12,242
Glengarry		PC		PC	5,361	56.25%	1,363	14.30%	74.96%	5,361	3,998	172	–	–	–	9,531
Grenville—Dundas		PC		PC	9,518	68.30%	5,100	36.60%	64.88%	9,518	4,418	–	–	–	–	13,936
Grey North		PC		Lib	6,862	44.75%	31	0.20%	73.20%	6,831	6,862	1,642	–	–	–	15,335
Grey South		Lib		Lib	5,459	52.06%	885	8.44%	67.21%	4,574	5,459	–	–	–	452	10,485
Haldimand—Norfolk		PC		PC	14,307	57.17%	4,425	17.68%	70.39%	14,307	9,882	640	–	–	195	25,024
Halton		PC		PC	19,947	51.53%	6,372	16.46%	65.06%	19,947	13,575	5,188	–	–	–	38,710
Hamilton Centre		PC		PC	7,533	36.29%	578	2.78%	55.55%	7,533	5,890	6,955	–	–	382	20,760
Hamilton East		CCF		NDP	8,097	36.71%	952	4.32%	65.26%	6,812	7,145	8,097	–	–	–	22,054
Hamilton—Wentworth		PC		PC	13,642	63.20%	9,211	42.68%	61.37%	13,642	4,431	3,511	–	–	–	21,584
Hastings East		PC		PC	7,815	64.37%	3,909	32.20%	70.93%	7,815	3,906	419	–	–	–	12,140
Hastings West		PC		PC	11,146	53.85%	2,298	11.10%	67.36%	11,146	8,848	704	–	–	–	20,698
Huron		PC		PC	8,931	67.72%	4,674	35.44%	69.43%	8,931	4,257	–	–	–	–	13,188
Huron—Bruce		PC		Lib	6,359	50.11%	28	0.22%	81.69%	6,331	6,359	–	–	–	–	12,690
Kenora		LL		LL	6,774	45.48%	840	5.64%	63.66%	5,934	6,774^[10]	2,187	–	–	–	14,895
Kent East		Lib		Lib	7,365	55.49%	1,458	10.99%	75.51%	5,907	7,365	–	–	–	–	13,272
Kent West		PC		PC	12,205	53.69%	1,676	7.37%	64.99%	12,205	10,529	–	–	–	–	22,734
Kingston		PC		PC	10,092	49.11%	1,024	4.98%	68.40%	10,092	9,068	1,389	–	–	–	20,549
Lambton East		PC		PC	7,131	52.24%	864	6.33%	75.93%	7,131	6,267	252	–	–	–	13,650
Lambton West		PC		PC	10,813	44.69%	638	2.64%	63.23%	10,813	10,175	3,207	–	–	–	24,195
Lanark		PC		PC	8,757	72.15%	6,255	51.53%	54.19%	8,757	2,502	879	–	–	–	12,138
Leeds		PC		PC	12,711	75.68%	9,280	55.25%	63.03%	12,711	3,431	654	–	–	–	16,796
Lincoln		PC		PC	23,229	53.99%	8,422	19.58%	61.19%	23,229	14,807	4,235	–	–	753	43,024
London North		PC		PC	12,531	68.61%	8,279	45.33%	57.57%	12,531	4,252	1,480	–	–	–	18,263
London South		PC		PC	13,982	62.54%	7,970	35.65%	55.47%	13,982	6,012	2,364	–	–	–	22,358
Middlesex North		PC		PC	9,960	71.79%	6,772	48.81%	68.58%	9,960	3,188	726	–	–	–	13,874
Middlesex South		PC		PC	12,532	60.72%	5,909	28.63%	62.57%	12,532	6,623	1,483	–	–	–	20,638
Muskoka		PC		PC	6,639	63.13%	3,776	35.90%	68.44%	6,639	2,863	1,015	–	–	–	10,517
Niagara Falls		Lib		Lib	13,864	52.80%	4,040	15.39%	62.39%	9,824	13,864	2,568	–	–	–	26,256
Nickel Belt		PC		PC	9,155	36.49%	956	3.81%	67.48%	9,155	8,199	6,898	–	835	–	25,087
Nipissing		Lib		Lib	11,424	47.52%	929	3.86%	67.40%	10,495	11,424	2,119	–	–	–	24,038
Northumberland		PC		PC	10,219	55.12%	1,897	10.23%	76.36%	10,219	8,322	–	–	–	–	18,541
Ontario		PC		PC	9,903	60.29%	5,605	34.12%	62.17%	9,903	4,298	2,224	–	–	–	16,425
Oshawa		CCF		PC	12,077	41.45%	682	2.34%	59.07%	12,077	5,662	11,395	–	–	–	29,134
Ottawa East		PC		Lib	8,814	51.45%	1,353	7.90%	58.02%	7,461	8,814	857	–	–	–	17,132
Ottawa South		PC		PC	12,671	54.50%	3,333	14.34%	56.68%	12,671	9,338	1,241	–	–	–	23,250
Ottawa West		PC		PC	11,048	55.76%	3,049	15.39%	63.32%	11,048	7,999	768	–	–	–	19,815
Oxford		Lib		PC	12,972	50.65%	1,493	5.83%	69.88%	12,972	11,479	1,161	–	–	–	25,612
Parry Sound		PC		PC	6,414	53.81%	1,696	14.23%	73.06%	6,414	4,718	787	–	–	–	11,919
Peel		PC		PC	24,969	61.58%	14,569	35.93%	61.62%	24,969	10,400	5,177	–	–	–	40,546
Perth		PC		PC	13,324	61.79%	5,084	23.58%	63.44%	13,324	8,240	–	–	–	–	21,564
Peterborough		PC		PC	16,972	58.05%	9,195	31.45%	67.85%	16,972	7,777	4,490	–	–	–	29,239
Port Arthur		PC		PC	13,580	50.56%	6,849	25.50%	66.68%	13,580	6,143	6,731	–	–	407	26,861
Prescott		PC		PC	6,700	55.46%	1,320	10.93%	71.93%	6,700	5,380	–	–	–	–	12,080
Prince Edward—Lennox		PC		PC	7,645	61.96%	3,883	31.47%	59.64%	7,645	3,762	931	–	–	–	12,338
Rainy River		PC		PC	4,568	54.06%	1,955	23.14%	67.05%	4,568	2,613	1,269	–	–	–	8,450
Renfrew North		PC		PC	10,664	57.80%	3,740	20.27%	70.53%	10,664	6,924	861	–	–	–	18,449
Renfrew South		PC		PC	7,736	51.78%	889	5.95%	79.52%	7,736	6,847	358	–	–	–	14,941
Russell		PC		PC	13,661	40.42%	344	1.02%	55.67%	13,661	13,317	1,632	5,190	–	–	33,800
Sault Ste. Marie		PC		PC	11,559	42.24%	2,200	8.04%	69.12%	11,559	9,359	6,446	–	–	–	27,364
Simcoe Centre		PC		PC	10,825	62.70%	5,655	32.75%	59.62%	10,825	5,170	1,271	–	–	–	17,266
Simcoe East		PC		PC	9,646	57.65%	3,494	20.88%	64.84%	9,646	6,152	935	–	–	–	16,733
Stormont		Lib		PC	11,101	52.74%	1,827	8.68%	69.27%	11,101	9,274	675	–	–	–	21,050
Sudbury		Lib		Lib	10,176	41.60%	914	3.74%	65.96%	9,262	10,176	5,022	–	–	–	24,460
Temiskaming		PC		Lib	4,124	40.41%	270	2.65%	69.45%	3,854	4,124	2,227	–	–	–	10,205
Victoria		PC		PC	9,091	56.90%	2,976	18.63%	70.00%	9,091	6,115	771	–	–	–	15,977
Waterloo North		Lib		PC	18,760	47.30%	2,813	7.09%	73.99%	18,760	15,947	4,951	–	–	–	39,658
Waterloo South		PC		PC	10,436	43.88%	3,700	15.56%	68.39%	10,436	6,736	6,610	–	–	–	23,782
Welland		PC		PC	16,142	52.15%	3,437	11.10%	66.20%	16,142	12,705	2,108	–	–	–	30,955
Wellington—Dufferin		PC		PC	7,666	66.33%	4,445	38.46%	63.22%	7,666	3,221	671	–	–	–	11,558
Wellington South		Lib		Lib	10,829	47.36%	2,146	9.39%	70.87%	8,683	10,829	3,351	–	–	–	22,863
Wentworth		Lib		PC	12,089	37.61%	943	2.93%	60.10%	12,089	11,146	8,909	–	–	–	32,144
Wentworth East		CCF		NDP	8,634	41.71%	1,970	9.52%	56.76%	6,664	5,400	8,634	–	–	–	20,698
Windsor—Sandwich		Lib		Lib	10,739	42.29%	1,121	4.41%	61.52%	9,618	10,739	5,035	–	–	–	25,392
Windsor—Walkerville		Lib		Lib	7,781	49.74%	2,393	15.30%	65.96%	5,388	7,781	2,473	–	–	–	15,642
York North		PC		PC	18,233	49.22%	6,233	16.83%	57.35%	18,233	12,000	5,959	–	850	–	37,042
Armourdale	New			PC	10,218	50.09%	4,176	20.47%	63.90%	10,218	6,042	4,140	–	–	–	20,400
Beaches		PC		PC	7,277	40.67%	820	4.58%	68.00%	7,277	4,158	6,457	–	–	–	17,892
Bellwoods		PC		PC	6,039	50.98%	2,026	17.10%	61.98%	6,039	4,013	1,793	–	–	–	11,845
Bracondale		Lib		Lib	4,271	38.31%	69	0.62%	61.33%	4,202	4,271	2,675	–	–	–	11,148
Don Mills	New			PC	9,708	51.64%	4,456	23.70%	60.12%	9,708	3,841	5,252	–	–	–	18,801
Dovercourt		Lib		Lib	6,938	45.72%	2,120	13.97%	58.53%	4,818	6,938	3,418	–	–	–	15,174
Downsview	New			Lib	7,335	38.13%	528	2.74%	51.02%	5,097	7,335	6,807	–	–	–	19,239
Eglinton		PC		PC	18,371	55.22%	6,389	19.20%	67.53%	18,371	11,982	2,916	–	–	–	33,269
Etobicoke	New			Lib	8,193	42.73%	446	2.33%	62.61%	7,747	8,193	3,232	–	–	–	19,172
Forest Hill	New			PC	10,001	40.87%	2,253	9.21%	59.01%	10,001	6,509	7,748	–	–	210	24,468
High Park		PC		PC	7,676	42.66%	891	4.95%	64.53%	7,676	6,785	3,420	–	–	114	17,995
Humber^[11]		PC		PC	10,144	45.76%	3,288	14.83%	60.32%	10,144	6,856	5,170	–	–	–	22,170
Lakeshore	New			PC	8,598	43.32%	2,735	13.78%	62.15%	8,598	5,863	5,024	–	–	364	19,849
Parkdale		Lib		Lib	9,100	44.95%	2,259	11.16%	58.51%	6,841	9,100	4,304	–	–	–	20,245
Riverdale		PC		PC	8,047	49.45%	3,736	22.96%	56.26%	8,047	4,311	3,676	–	137	103	16,274
St. Andrew		PC		PC	4,310	43.86%	833	8.48%	58.04%	4,310	3,477	1,640	–	297	102	9,826
St. David		PC		PC	6,051	42.98%	518	3.68%	58.91%	6,051	5,533	2,139	–	–	355	14,078
St. George		PC		PC	9,134	53.86%	3,547	20.91%	57.56%	9,134	5,587	1,941	–	–	298	16,960
St. Patrick		PC		PC	4,821	47.75%	777	7.70%	60.58%	4,821	4,044	1,025	–	–	207	10,097
Scarborough Centre	New			PC	7,264	37.37%	404	2.08%	60.00%	7,264	5,314	6,860	–	–	–	19,438
Scarborough East	New			PC	5,623	44.35%	1,704	13.44%	57.14%	5,623	3,919	3,137	–	–	–	12,679
Scarborough North	New			PC	9,918	50.73%	5,069	25.93%	57.45%	9,918	4,849	4,785	–	–	–	19,552
Scarborough West	New			NDP	10,641	43.47%	2,471	10.10%	63.21%	8,170	5,538	10,641	–	–	128	24,477
Woodbine		CCF		NDP	9,020	45.89%	1,281	6.52%	48.85%	7,739	2,898	9,020	–	–	–	19,657
York East		PC		PC	12,930	52.35%	5,926	23.99%	61.70%	12,930	7,004	4,765	–	–	–	24,699
York Mills	New			PC	16,391	57.41%	8,351	29.25%	63.43%	16,391	4,122	8,040	–	–	–	28,553
York South		CCF		NDP	10,538	47.58%	3,575	16.14%	60.25%	6,963	4,646	10,538	–	–	–	22,147
Yorkview	New			NDP	7,607	38.38%	703	3.55%	56.03%	5,310	6,904	7,607	–	–	–	19,821
York West		PC		PC	15,107	64.35%	8,802	37.49%	60.66%	15,107	6,305	2,064	–	–	–	23,476

= open seat

= turnout is above provincial average

= winning candidate was in previous Legislature

= incumbent had switched allegiance

= incumbency arose from byelection gain

= previously incumbent in another riding

= other incumbents renominated

= Liberal-Labour candidate

= multiple candidates

Analysis

Party candidates in 2nd place

Party in 1st place		Party in 2nd place			Total
		PC	Lib	NDP
	68	9	77
22		1	23
1			1
5	2		7
Total		28	70	10	108

Candidates ranked 1st to 5th place, by party

Parties	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th
	77	28	3
	23	70	14
	7	10	79	1
	1
			1	5	3
			1
				6
				6
					1

Source !!colspan="5"

Party
align="center"	PC	align="center"	Lib	align="center"	Lib-Lab	align="center"	NDP	Total
Seats retained	Incumbents returned	48	15	1	4	68
	Open seats held	14				14
	Byelection loss reversed	1				1
	Ouster of incumbent changing allegiance	1				1
Seats changing hands	Incumbents defeated	4	4		1	10
	Incumbent defeated by previous incumbent from another riding	1				1
	Open seats gained		1			1
	Byelection gains held		1			1
New ridings	New MPPs	8	1		2	11
	Won by previous incumbent from another riding		1			1
Total		77	23	1	7	108

Reorganization of ridings

The reorganized ridings returned the following MPPs:

1959		1963
Riding	Party	Riding	Party
York Centre		Armourdale
		Downsview
		Yorkview
York East		Don Mills
		York East
		York Mills
York—Humber		Humber
York—Scarborough		Scarborough Centre
		Scarborough East
		Scarborough North
		Scarborough West
York South		Forest Hill
		York South
York West		Etobicoke
		Lakeshore
		York West

Seats that changed hands

Elections to the 27th Parliament of Ontario – unaltered seats won/lost by party, 1959–1963

Party		1959	Gain from (loss to)								1963
			PC		Lib		NDP		L-L
67			4	(6)	1				66
20	6	(4)				(1)			21
4		(1)	1						4
1									1
Total		92	6	(5)	5	(6)	1	1	-	-	92

There were 12 seats that changed allegiance in the election.

PC to Liberal

• Algoma—Manitoulin
• Essex South
• Grey North
• Huron—Bruce
• Ottawa East
• Timiskaming

Liberal to PC

• Oxford
• Stormont
• Waterloo North
• Wentworth

Liberal to NDP

• Fort William

NDP to PC

• Oshawa

See also

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

Further reading

• Book: Saywell . John T. . John Saywell . Canadian Annual Review for 1963 . 1964 . University of Toronto Press . Toronto . registration.

Notes and References

1. Web site: 1963 General Election . Elections Ontario . January 3, 2021.
2. "Nominations split Social Crediters", Globe and Mail, August 30, 1963
3. The Representation Amendment Act, 1962-63. S.O.. 1962-63. 125. https://archive.org/details/statutesofprov196263onta/page/622/mode/2up.
4. The Town of Weston was withdrawn from York-Humber, and transferred to York South.
5. Web site: 1963 general election results. . Elections Ontario. October 29, 2023.
6. Successor to the CCF
7. Successor to Labor-Progressive
8. including spoilt ballots
9. order is as given in EO reports
10. [Robert Gibson (Ontario politician)|Robert Wayne Gibson]
11. formerly known as York—Humber