1919 Ontario general election

1919 Ontario general election

← 1914 October 20, 1919 1923 →
← outgoing members
111 seats in the 15th Legislative Assembly of Ontario 56 seats were needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader Ernest C. Drury Hartley Dewart Party United Farmers Liberal Leader since October 1919[a] June 26, 1919 Leader's seat - Toronto Southwest Last election pre-creation 24 Seats won 44 27 Seat change 44 3 Percentage 21.0% 25.5% Swing 21.0pp 12.4pp   Third party Fourth party   Leader William Hearst Walter Rollo Party Conservative Labour Leader since 1914 - Leader's seat Sault Ste. Marie (lost re-election) Hamilton West Last election 84 1 Seats won 25 11 Seat change 59 10 Percentage 34.1% 9.1% Swing 19.8pp 7.8pp
Premier before election William Hearst Conservative Premier after election Ernest C. Drury United Farmers

The 1919 Ontario general election, held on October 20, 1919, elected 111 Members of the 15th Legislative Assembly of Ontario ("MLAs"). The United Farmers of Ontario captured the most seats but only a minority of the legislature. They joined with 11 Labour MPPs and three others to form a coalition government, ending the 14-year rule of Ontario's Conservatives.^[1] This is one of the few examples of coalition government in Canadian history.

Premier William Howard Hearst had aimed to win a fifth consecutive term for the Conservatives, but instead the party became the first in Ontario history to fall from first to third place.^[2] As newspaperman John Willison later remarked, "There could not have been a worse time for a general election."^[2]

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