1981 Ontario general election

1981 Ontario general election

← 1977 March 19, 1981 1985 →

125 seats in the 32nd Legislative Assembly of Ontario
63 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party
  LIB
Leader Bill Davis Stuart Smith
Party Progressive Conservative Liberal
Leader since February 12, 1971 January 25, 1976
Leader's seat Brampton Hamilton West
Last election 58 33
Seats won 70 33
Seat change Increase12 Steady0
Popular vote 1,412,488 1,065,569
Percentage 44.38% 33.48%
Swing Increase4.80pp Increase2.29pp

  Third party Fourth party
 
Leader Michael Cassidy
Party New Democratic Liberal–Labour
Leader since February 5, 1978
Leader's seat Ottawa Centre
Last election 33 1
Seats won 21 1
Seat change Decrease12 Steady 0
Popular vote 672,824 7,111
Percentage 21.14% 0.22%
Swing Decrease7.02pp Decrease0.03

Seating in chamber after the election

Premier before election

Bill Davis
Progressive Conservative

Premier after election

Bill Davis
Progressive Conservative

The 1981 Ontario general election was held on March 19, 1981, to elect members of the 32nd Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, Canada.

The governing Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, led by Bill Davis, was re-elected for a twelfth consecutive term in office. The PCs finally won a majority government after winning only minorities in the 1975 and 1977 elections. The Liberal Party, led by Stuart Smith, was able to maintain its standing in the Legislature, while the New Democratic Party, led by Michael Cassidy, lost a significant number of seats, allowing the Tories to win a majority.