The 1945 Ontario general election was held on June 4, 1945, to elect the 90 members of the

22nd Legislative Assembly of Ontario The 22nd Legislative Assembly of Ontario was in session from June 4, 1945, until April 27, 1948, just prior to the 1948 Ontario general election, 1948 general election. The majority party was the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party led by George ...

(Members of Provincial Parliament, or "MPPs") of the Province of

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. The Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, led by George Drew, won a second consecutive term in office, winning a solid majority of seats in the legislature—66, up from 38 in the previous election. The

Ontario Liberal Party The Ontario Liberal Party (OLP; french: Parti libéral de l'Ontario, PLO) is a political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. The party has been led by interim leader John Fraser (Ontario MPP), John Fraser since August 2022. The party esp ...

, led by former premier

Mitchell Hepburn Mitchell Frederick Hepburn (August 12, 1896 – January 5, 1953) was the 11th premier of Ontario, from 1934 to 1942. He was the youngest premier in Ontario history, appointed at age 37. He was the only Ontario Liberal Party leader in the 20th cent ...

, was returned to the role of official opposition with 11 seats, plus 3 Liberal-Labour seats that it won, out of 6 contested, in coalition with the

Labor-Progressive Party The Labor-Progressive Party (french: Parti ouvrier-progressiste) was the legal Front organization, front of the Communist Party of Canada from 1943 to 1959. Origins and initial success In the 1940 Canadian federal election, 1940 federal elect ...

(which was, in fact, the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

), in an effort to marginalize the CCF. The three new Liberal-Labour MPPs were James Newman of Rainy River, Joseph Meinzinger of

Waterloo North Waterloo North was a federal electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1867 to 1968. It was located in the province of Ontario. It was created by the British North America Act of 1867 which entitled each of north an ...

and Alexander Parent of Essex North. The social democratic Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), led by

Ted Jolliffe Edward Bigelow JolliffeSmith, p. 195 (March 2, 1909 – March 18, 1998) was a Canadian social democratic politician and lawyer from Ontario. He was the first leader of the Ontario section of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and ...

, was reduced from 34 seats to only 8. Two seats were won by the Labor-Progressive Party on its own with the re-election of

A.A. MacLeod Alexander Albert "A. A." MacLeod (April 2, 1902 – March 13, 1970) was a political organizer and a prominent member of the Communist Party of Canada and, later, of its legal group, the Labor-Progressive Party. He was an elected Member of Provi ...

and J.B. Salsberg. The LPP contested a total of 31 ridings under the leadership of

Leslie Morris Leslie Tom Morris (October 10, 1904 – November 13, 1964) was a Welsh-Canadian politician, journalist and longtime member of the Communist Party of Canada and, its front group, the Labor-Progressive Party. He was leader of the Ontario Labor-P ...

who was defeated in the Toronto riding of Bracondale. As well, the Labor-Progressive Party ran several joint candidates with the Liberals under the Liberal-Labour banner. The Drew government called the election in an attempt to get a

majority government A majority government is a government by one or more governing parties that hold an absolute majority of seats in a legislature. This is as opposed to a minority government, where the largest party in a legislature only has a plurality of seats. ...

. By exploiting increasing Cold War tensions, the PC Party was able to defeat Jolliffe's CCF by stoking fears about communism. Jolliffe replied by giving a radio speech (written by

Lister Sinclair Lister Sheddon Sinclair, OC (January 9, 1921 – October 16, 2006) was a Canadian broadcaster, playwright and polymath. Early life Sinclair was born in Bombay, India, to Scottish parents. His father, William Sheddon Sinclair, was a chemical eng ...

) that accused Drew of running a political

gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

in Ontario, alleging that a secret department of the

Ontario Provincial Police The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is the provincial police service of Ontario, Canada. Under its provincial mandate, the OPP patrols provincial highways and waterways, protects provincial government buildings and officials, patrols unincorp ...

was acting as a political police spying on the opposition and the media. This accusation led to a backlash, and loss of support for the CCF, including the loss of Jolliffe's own seat of

York South York South was an electoral district (or "riding") in Ontario, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1904 to 1979. The riding is notable for the 1942 federal by-election in which newly elected Conservative leader Ar ...

. This probably helped Drew win his majority, although in the 1970s, archival evidence was discovered proving the charge.

Results

, - ! colspan=2 rowspan=2 , Political party ! rowspan=2 , Party leader ! colspan=5 , MPPs ! colspan=3 , Votes , - ! Candidates ! 1943 ! Dissol. !1945 !± !# !% ! ± (pp) , style="text-align:left;", George Drew , 90 , 38 , , 66 , 28 , 781,345 , 44.25% , 8.75 , style="text-align:left;",

, 79 , 15 , , 11 , 4 , 475,029 , 26.90% , 3.32 , style="text-align:left;",

, 89 , 34 , , 8 , 26 , 395,708 , 22.41% , 9.21 , style="text-align:left;", , 7 , – , – , 3 , 3 , 41,163 , 2.33% , , style="text-align:left;",

, 29 , 2 , 2 , 2 , , 43,170 , 2.44% , 1.54 , style="text-align:left;", , – , – , – , – , 1 , colspan="3", ''Did not campaign'' , style="text-align:left;", , 14 , – , – , – , , 11,895 , 0.67% , 0.47 , style="text-align:left;", , 2 , – , – , – , , 10,241 , 0.58% , 0.27 , , 4 , – , – , – , , 6,285 , 0.36% , 0.18 , style="text-align:left;", Socialist-Labour , style="text-align:left;", , 2 , – , – , – , , 710 , 0.04% , 0.01 , style="text-align:left;", , 1 , – , – , – , , 247 , 0.01% , , 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 , 317 , 90 , 90 , 90 , , 1,765,793 , 100.00% , , - , colspan="8" style="text-align:left;", Blank and invalid ballots , align="right", 17,482 , style="background:#E9E9E9;" colspan="2", , -style="background:#E9E9E9;" , colspan="8" style="text-align:left;", Registered voters / turnout , 2,450,321 , 72.78% , 14.04

Seats that changed hands

There were 36 seats that changed allegiance in the election. ; PC to Liberal * Stormont ; Liberal to PC * Algoma—Manitoulin *

Bruce The English language name Bruce arrived in Scotland with the Normans, from the place name Brix, Manche in Normandy, France, meaning "the willowlands". Initially promulgated via the descendants of king Robert the Bruce (1274−1329), it has been ...

Grey North Grey North was a federal electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1867 to 1968. It was located in the province of Ontario. It was created by the British North America Act of 1867, which divided the County of Grey in ...

Kent West Kent West was a federal electoral district (or ''riding'') represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1904 to 1917. It was located in the province of Ontario. This riding was created in 1903 when Kent riding was divided into two ridings, ...

Lambton East Lambton East was a federal electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1882 to 1935. It was located in the province of Ontario. This riding was created from Lambton riding. The East Riding of the county of Lambton was ...

Muskoka—Ontario Muskoka—Ontario was a federal electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1925 to 1949. It was located in the province of Ontario. This riding was created in 1924 from parts of Muskoka and Ontario North ridings. It ...

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

Renfrew South Renfrew South was a federal riding represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1867 to 1968. It was located in the province of Ontario. The federal riding was created by the British North America Act of 1867 and was abolished in 1966, w ...

; CCF to PC *

Bracondale Bracondale was a provincial electoral district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was represented in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1926 to 1967. The constituency got its name from an old Toronto suburb called Bracondale, that was annexed b ...

Brantford Brantford (Canada 2021 Census, 2021 population: 104,688) is a city in Ontario, Canada, founded on the Grand River (Ontario), Grand River in Southwestern Ontario. It is surrounded by County of Brant, Brant County, but is politically separate with ...

Hamilton Centre Hamilton Centre (french: Hamilton-Centre) is a federal electoral district in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 2004. History It was created in 2003 from parts of Hamilton East, Hamil ...

* Hamilton East * Hamilton—Wentworth * Lambton West *

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Falls, ...

* Riverdale * St. David *

Waterloo South Waterloo South was a federal electoral district and a provincial electoral district in Canada. Federally, it was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1867 to 1968. It was located in the province of Ontario. It was created by the Bri ...

Welland Welland is a city in the Regional Municipality of Niagara in Southern Ontario, Canada. As of 2021, it had a population of 55,750. The city is in the centre of Niagara and located within a half-hour driving distance to Niagara Falls, Niagara-on ...

Wellington South Wellington South was a Canadian federal electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1867 to 1968. It was located in the province of Ontario. It was created by the British North America Act of 1867 as the "South Riding ...

Windsor—Sandwich Windsor—Sandwich was an electoral riding in Ontario, Canada. It was created in 1934 and was abolished with the 1967 election as a result of redistribution. The area was restructured as Windsor West from 1967 to 1975, during which time it was r ...

Windsor—Walkerville Windsor—Walkerville was a federal electoral district that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1968 to 1988. It was located in the southwest corner of the province of Ontario. This riding was created in 1966 from parts of E ...

* Woodbine *

York East York East was a federal electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada at different times. It was located in the province of Ontario. History The first federal riding of York East was created by the British North America Act ...

York North York North was a federal riding in Ontario, Canada, that was in the House of Commons of Canada from Confederation in 1867 until 2004. The federal riding was eliminated in 2003 when it was redistributed between two new ridings of Newmarket—A ...

York West York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

; CCF to Liberal * Cochrane North * Nipissing *

Parry Sound Parry Sound is a sound or bay of Georgian Bay on Lake Huron, in Ontario, Canada. It is highly irregularly shaped with many deep bays and islands. Killbear Provincial Park is located on the large peninsula that separates the sound from Georgian B ...

; CCF to Liberal-Labour * Essex North * Rainy River *

; Independent-Liberal to PC * Elgin

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ontario General Election, 1945 1945 elections in Canada

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which nuclear weapons have been used in combat. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. Januar ...

1945 in Ontario June 1945 events in Canada

Results

Seats that changed hands

See also

References