| Communist Party of Canada (Ontario) | |
| Native Name: | Parti communiste du Canada (Ontario) |
| Subheader: | Active provincial party |
| Leader: | Drew Garvie |
| President: | Dave McKee[1] |
| Foundation: | , |
| Successor: | Labor-Progressive Party (1943-1959) |
| Headquarters: | 290A Danforth Ave Toronto, Ontario M4K 1N6 |
| Ideology: | Communism Marxism–Leninism |
| Position: | Far-left |
| National: | Communist Party of Canada |
| Colours: | Red |
| Blank1 Title: | Fiscal policy |
| Blank2 Title: | Social policy |
| Seats1 Title: | Seats in the House of Commons |
| Seats2 Title: | Seats in the Senate |
| Seats3 Title: | Seats in Legislature |
| Country: | Canada |
| State: | Ontario |
| Parties Dab1: | List of political parties in Ontario |
| Elections Dab1: | List of Ontario general elections |
The Communist Party of Canada (Ontario) (French: Parti communiste du Canada (Ontario)) is the Ontario provincial wing of the Communist Party of Canada. Using the name Labor-Progressive Party from 1943 until 1959, the group won two seats in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario: A.A. MacLeod and J.B. Salsberg were elected in the 1943 provincial election as "Labour" candidates but took their seats as members of the Labor-Progressive Party, which the banned Communist Party launched as its public face in a convention held on August 21 and 22, 1943, shortly after both the August 4 provincial election and the August 7 election of Communist Fred Rose to the House of Commons in a Montreal by-election.[2]
MacLeod and Salsberg served as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs) from 1943 until 1951 and 1955 respectively. A third LPP member, Alexander A. Parent, who was also president of UAW Local 195, was elected as the Liberal-Labour MPP for Essex North in 1945. In January 1946, Parent announced he was breaking with the "reactionary" Liberals and sat the remainder of his term in the legislature as a Labour representative while voting with LPP MPPs MacLeod and Salsberg.[3] [4] He did not run for re-election in 1948.
The party has not been able to win any seats at the provincial level since Salsberg's defeat in 1955. The party continued to run under the Labor-Progressive banner up to the 1959 provincial election, after which it again identified itself as the Communist Party.
Individual members of the party have been elected to school boards in the past few decades, but have done so as independents rather than as "Communist Party" candidates. Since 2019, the party has been led by Drew Garvie.
| Year of election | Leader |
|
| ± |
| % of popular vote | ± (pp) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N/A | 1,542 | 0.15% | ||||||
| N/A | 9,559 | 0.61% | 0.46 | |||||
| N/A | 3,751 | 0.24% | 0.37 | |||||
| 19431 2 | N/A | 2 | 11,888 | 0.90% | 0.66 | |||
| Leslie Morris | 3[5] | 46,418 | 2.63% | 1.73 | ||||
| A. A. MacLeod | [6] | 17,654 | 1.0% | 1.63 | ||||
| align=right rowspan=2 | Stewart Smith | [7] | 1 | 11,914 | 0.67% | 0.33 | ||
| [8] | 1 | 20,875 | 1.19% | 0.52 | ||||
| align=right rowspan=3 | Bruce Magnuson | [9] | 4,304 | 0.23% | 0.96 | |||
| 19634 | [10] | 1,654 | 0.08% | 0.15 | ||||
| [11] | 592 | 0.02% | 0.06 | |||||
| align=right rowspan=3 | William Stewart | [12] | 1,620 | 0.05% | 0.03 | |||
| [13] | 9,120 | 0.28% | 0.23 | |||||
| 7,995 | 0.24% | 0.04 | ||||||
| Mel Doig | 5,296 | 0.16% | 0.08 | |||||
| align=right rowspan=2 | Gordon Massie | 3,696 | 0.1% | 0.06 | ||||
| 3,422 | 0.09% | 0.03 | ||||||
| Elizabeth Rowley | 1,139 | 0.03% | 0.06 | |||||
| 1995 | Darrell Rankin | 1,015 | 0.03% | |||||
| 1999 | Hassan Husseini | 814 | 0.02% | 0.01 | ||||
| 2003 | align=right rowspan=4 | Elizabeth Rowley | 2,187 | 0.05% | 0.03 | |||
| 2007 | 1,715 | 0.04% | 0.01 | |||||
| 2011 | 1,163 | 0.03% | 0.01 | |||||
| 2014 | 2,290 | 0.04% | 0.01 | |||||
| 2018 | Dave McKee | 1,471 | 0.03% | 0.01 | ||||
| 2022 | Drew Garvie | 2,101 | 0.04% | 0.01 |
Notes
1A. A. MacLeod (Bellwoods) and J. B. Salsberg (St. Andrew) were elected under the Labour ticket, but switched to the new Labor-Progressive Party on its formation shortly after the election. Party operates under the LPP name until and including the 1959 election.[15]
2Results compared to Communist candidates in 1937
3In addition, in 1945, the Labor-Progressive Party and Liberal Party of Ontario jointly endorsed 6 Liberal-Labour, 3 of whom were elected, in an effort to marginalize the CCF.
4The party reverted to its original name of the Communist Party as of this election. Results compared to Labor-Progressive Party in previous election.
The party has three constituency associations registered with Elections Ontario:
| Year | Party level | Riding level | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contributions received | Number of contributors over $100 | Contributions received | Number of contributors over $100 | Contributions received | ||
| 2007 | $13,585.00 | 32 | $1,530 | 3 | $15,115 | |
| 2008 | $39,085.29 | 63 | $3,600 | 10 | $46,685.29 | |
| 2009 | $40,175.25 | 53 | $8,630 | 20 | $48,805.25 | |
| 2010 | $40,032.80 | 59 | $6,020 | 13 | $46,052.80 | |
| 2011 | $19,619.80 | 36 | $400 | 1 | $20,019.80 | |
| 2012 | $48,385.11 | 64 | $635 | 3 | $49,020.11 | |
| 2013 | $35,708.70 | 61 | $170 | 0 | $35,878.70 | |
| Total | $236,591.95 | 368 | $20,985 | 50 | $261,576.95 | |
Source: Elections Ontario, Yearly Financial Statements, Political Parties, Constituency Associations[20]