8th Parliament of Ontario explained

The 8th Legislative Assembly of Ontario was in session from June 26, 1894, until January 28, 1898, just prior to the 1898 general election. The majority party was the Ontario Liberal Party led by Oliver Mowat. Arthur Sturgis Hardy succeeded Mowat as Premier in 1896 after Mowat entered federal politics. The Assembly also had significant groupings from the Patrons of Industry (representing farmers' interests) and the Protestant Protective Association (representing anti-Catholic sentiment, and associated with the Orange Order), each of which returned candidates either on their own or with local Liberal or Conservative support.

William Douglas Balfour served as Speaker for the assembly until he was named to cabinet on July 14, 1896. ^[1] Alfred Évanturel succeeded him as Speaker.^[2]

Timeline

8th Legislative Assembly of Ontario - Movement in seats held (1894-1898)

Party		1894	Gain/(loss) due to					1898
			Void election	Resignation as MPP	Death in office	Byelection gain	Byelection hold
45	(1)	(3)	(1)	4	5	49
23	(3)	(1)		1		20
Liberal-Patrons	12						12
	Conservative–P.P.A.	5	(1)					4
3						3
Conservative-Patrons	2						2
	Liberal-P.P.A.	2						2
	Protestant Protective Association	1						1
1						1
Total		94	(5)	(4)	(1)	5	5	94

Changes in seats held (1894–1898)

Seat	Before					Change
	Date	Member	Party		Reason	Date	Member	Party
London	October 25, 1894	William Ralph Meredith			Conservative	Appointed to Bench	November 20, 1894	Thomas Saunders Hobbs			Liberal
Algoma West	December 20, 1894	James M. Savage			Conservative	Election declared void	January 29, 1895	James Conmee			Liberal
Kingston	December 27, 1894^[3]	Edward H. Smythe			Conservative	Election declared void	January 28, 1895	William Harty			Liberal
Wellington West	January 29, 1895^[4]	George Tucker		Conservative–P.P.A.	Election declared void	February 1, 1896	James Tucker^[5]			Conservative
Haldimand	February 27, 1895^[6]	John Senn			Conservative	Election declared void	March 19, 1895	Jacob Baxter			Liberal
Brant North	April 23, 1895	William Bruce Wood			Liberal	Appointed Registrar of Brant County	May 20, 1895^[7]	Daniel Burt			Liberal
Kingston	September 20, 1895	William Harty			Liberal	Election declared void	October 8, 1895	William Harty			Liberal
Wentworth South	December 26, 1895^[8]	Nicholas Awrey			Liberal	Appointed Sheriff of Wentworth County	January 24, 1896	John Dickenson			Liberal
Oxford North	July 14, 1896	Oliver Mowat			Liberal	Appointed to the Senate	September 7, 1896	Andrew Pattulo			Liberal
Essex South	August 19, 1896	William Douglas Balfour			Liberal	Died in office	October 20, 1896	John Allan Auld			Liberal

External links

• A History of Ontario : its resources and development., Alexander Fraser
• Members in Parliament 8

Notes and References

1. Balfour died shortly afterwards on August 19, 1896.
2. Web site: Speakers of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario . Legislative Assembly of Ontario . 2014-08-29 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140801101335/http://speaker.ontla.on.ca/en/at-the-assembly/speakers/ . 2014-08-01 . dead .
3. News: . December 20, 1894. Dr. Smythe Unseated. . 1.
4. dismissed on appeal, November 29, 1895
5. brother of George Tucker
6. News: . February 28, 1895. Editorial Notes. Waterloo County Chronicle . 4.
7. returned by acclamation
8. News: . January 4, 1896. General Paragraphs. . 1.