1894 Ontario general election
The 1894 Ontario general election was the eighth general election held in the province of Ontario, Canada. It was held on June 26, 1894, to elect the 94 Members of the 8th Legislative Assembly of Ontario.
The main issues were the Liberals' "Ontario System", as well as French language schools, farmer interests, support for Toronto business, woman suffrage, the temperance movement, and the demands of labour unions.
The Ontario Liberal Party, led by Oliver Mowat, formed the government for the seventh consecutive parliament, even though some of its members were elected under joint banners: either with the Patrons of Industry or the Protestant Protective Association.
The Ontario Conservative Party, led by William Ralph Meredith, formed the official opposition.
The Patrons of Industry, a farmers' organization formed in 1890, cooperated with the urban labour movement to address the political frustrations of both groups with big business. Sixteen members of the Legislative Assembly were elected with Patrons of Industry support—12 Liberals, one Conservative, and three who ran only under the "Patrons of Industry" banner.
The Protestant Protective Association was an anti-Catholic group, associated with the Orange Order. It campaigned against the rights of Catholics and French-Canadians, and argued that Roman Catholics were attempting to take over Ontario. Nine candidates were elected with PPA support, 6 Conservatives, 1 Liberal and 2 who ran only under the PPA banner. The PPA worked most closely with the Conservative opposition.
Ottawa was given a second seat, and plurality block voting was used. Elsewhere the first-past-the-post election system was used. The Toronto district had been divided into separate single member districts, as part of the expansion of the Assembly
Expansion of the Legislative Assembly
An Act passed just prior to the election increased the size of the Assembly from 91 to 94 seats:Results
! colspan=2 rowspan=2 | Political party! rowspan=2 | Party leader
! colspan=5 | MPPs
! colspan=3 | Votes
! Candidates
!1890
!Dissol.
!1894
!±
!#
!%
! ±
! colspan="2"|Party !! Seats !! Votes !! colspan="3" | Change
Synopsis of results
! colspan=2 | Political party! Candidate
! Votes
! %
! Elected
! Incumbent
!colspan="3" style="text-align:right;"|Majority
!colspan="3" style="text-align:right;"|Turnout
!colspan="3" style="text-align:right;"|Registered voters
Analysis
| Parties | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th |
| 44 | 34 | 2 | |||
| 23 | 24 | 9 | |||
| 12 | 11 | 2 | |||
| 5 | 7 | 1 | |||
| 3 | 2 | 2 | |||
| 2 | 4 | 1 | |||
| 2 | - | ||||
| 1 | 6 | 1 | |||
| 1 | |||||
| 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 1 |
MLAs elected by region and riding
Party designations are as follows:Northern Ontario
Ottawa Valley
Saint Lawrence Valley
Central Ontario
Georgian Bay
Wentworth/Halton/Niagara
Midwestern Ontario
Southwestern Ontario
'''Peel/York/Ontario'''
Division of ridings
The newly created ridings returned the following MLAs:Seats that changed hands
Of the constituencies that were not altered, there were 38 seats that changed allegiance in the election:Liberal to Conservative
Liberal to Liberal/Patrons of Industry
Liberal to Conservative/PPA
Liberal to Patrons of Industry
Liberal to Independent-Conservative/PPA
Conservative to Liberal
Conservative to Liberal/Patrons of Industry
Conservative to Conservative/PPA
Conservative to Patrons of Industry
Conservative to Conservative/Patrons of Industry
Conservative to Liberal/PPA
Conservative to PPA
Liberal/Equal Rights to Liberal
Liberal/Equal Rights to Conservative
Conservative/Equal Rights to Conservative
Conservative/Equal Rights to Patrons of Industry