The 1926 Ontario general election was the 17th general election held in the Province of Ontario, Canada. It was held on December 1, 1926, to elect the 112 Members of the 17th Legislative Assembly of Ontario ("MLAs").[1]
Campaign
The United Farmers of Ontario decided to withdraw from electoral politics after having been defeated in the 1923 election, and most of its MPPs redesignated themselves as Progressives with former UFO Attorney-GeneralWilliam Edgar Raney becoming party leader. Nevertheless, several MPPs, including Raney himself, continued to run as candidates endorsed by local UFO associations.
Leslie Oke and Beniah Bowman were opposed to Raney's leadership as he was not a farmer. They were also opposed to the creation of a new Progressive Party which would not focus exclusively on farmers' issues, so they chose to remain as UFO MPPs. Bowman later resigned from the legislature before the election.
The Ontario Conservative Party, led by Howard Ferguson, was re-elected for a second term in government. There were several disputes in the selection of candidates: in Port Arthur, Donald Hogarth was one of two Conservative candidates—the other being the incumbent Francis Keefer—who were selected in parallel meetings arising from a dispute over the validity of the list of delegates.[2]
The principal issue of the campaign was the government's proposal to repeal the Ontario Temperance Act, replacing prohibition with government control of liquor sales. The Daily British Whig described it as "the greatest issue that has ever been placed before [the voters]".[3] The Liberal and Progressive parties both campaigned against repeal, and one of Ferguson's ministers, William Folger Nickle, resigned from the cabinet and ran for re-election against the government as a Prohibitionist candidate. Raney proposed that the Progressives and Liberals work in concert to support a single dry ticket in certain ridings, which led to the nomination of 27 Prohibitionist candidates.[3] In other ridings, the two parties tended to avoid campaigning against each other, in order to minimize the split of the temperance vote.[4]
The Conservatives fielded candidates in all but two ridings, and three of them were returned by acclamation. In 54 two-way contests, the Liberals declined to field a candidate in favour of an ally considered more likely to gain votes. There were only 15 three-cornered races, one four-way and one five-way battles.
Riding contests, by number of candidates (1926)
Candidates
Con
Lib
Prog
L-P
UFO
Lab
I-Con
I-Lib
Ind-Prog
Proh
LL
L-Proh
LLP
Total
1
3
3
2
90
38
13
10
3
2
1
1
1
20
1
3
1
184
3
17
8
3
1
3
6
1
5
1
45
4
1
1
1
1
4
5
1
1
2
1
5
Total
112
48
16
10
4
3
7
7
2
27
2
3
1
241
Several Liberals, protesting their party's temperance stand, chose to stand as Independent-Liberals.[3]
Outcome
The Ontario Liberal Party, led by W.E.N. Sinclair, obtained 13 seats, while the Progressives won 10. Five Liberal-Progressive candidates were also elected, along with several independents. The selection of Liberal-Progressive candidates was complex in some cases: in Victoria North, William Newman was selected by the Progressives, while W.G. Carley was the Liberal nominee. Newman was named as the L-P candidate in a joint meeting of the local parties.[5][a]
Karl Homuth of Waterloo South was the only Labour MPP returned. His support of the government (and eventual admission to the Conservative caucus after the election) led to Labour's collapse as a party.[4]
The fracture of the UFO, together with a large number of resignations from MPPs (of which five chose to run federally in 1925, and two more in 1926) significantly changed the composition of the Assembly.
Post-election scandals
After the election, the Toronto Star reported accusations of corrupt payments during the campaign:[7]
In Bruce South, the Liberal candidate (and former MLA in 1911-1914) J.G. Anderson consented to withdraw his nomination upon being paid $1,250 by the Prohibition Union to cover expenses related to the election.
In Kent East, the former Progressive Candidate W.J.Cryderman stated that an unnamed Liberal had offered him $500 cash plus a Dominion government position if he withdrew his nomination.
In Perth South, the Progressive candidate W.A. McKenzie was twice offered payments by the Prohibition Union if he withdrew his nomination. He did withdraw, but returned both cheques because of their blatant illegality.
The election in Bruce South was later declared void in June 1927.[8]
Raney complained that the net effect of the redistribution was to transfer up to 11 seats from rural to urban voters, and thus "to secure the re-election of the Ferguson Government".[11]
^"1926 General Election". elections.on.ca. Elections Ontario. Retrieved August 3, 2023. EO data errors on political affiliations adjusted to conform with Canadian Annual Review listing
^Newman would later join the Liberal caucus in January 1927, upon being instructed by the Clerk of the Legislature to make a choice as to which leader to sit behind. He had wanted to remain a member of the Liberal-Progressive group. J.H. Mitchell (Simcoe Southwest) joined him in the move, saying that he "has always been a Liberal".[6]
