1890 Ontario general election

The 1890 Ontario general election was the seventh general election held in the Province of Ontario, Canada. It was held on June 5, 1890, to elect the 91 members of the 7th Legislative Assembly of Ontario ("MLAs").[1]

1890 Ontario general election
June 5, 1890
91 seats in the 7th Legislative Assembly of Ontario
46 seats were needed for a majority
  First party Second party
 
Leader Oliver Mowat William Ralph Meredith
Party Liberal Conservative
Leader since 1872 1879
Leader's seat Oxford North London
Last election 57 32
Seats won 53 34
Seat change Decrease4 Increase2
Premier before election

Oliver Mowat
Liberal

 Premier after election

Oliver Mowat
Liberal

The Assembly had been increased from 90 members after the passage of an Act in 1889 creating Nipissing as a riding.[2]

The election was a victory for the Ontario Liberal Party, led by Oliver Mowat.[3] The party won a sixth consecutive term in government, despite losing a small number of seats in the Legislature.

The Ontario Conservative Party, led by William Ralph Meredith won two additional seats.

This election was held partially using the Limited voting system where each Toronto voter had two votes for the three MPPs in the district. This produced mixed representation in that district and thus a degree of minority representation.[4]

A key issue in the election was the segregation of schools for Catholic and Protestant students, with the Liberal Party supporting the segregation and the Conservatives opposing it.[3]

Results
Elections to the 7th Parliament of Ontario (1890)
Political party Party leader MPPs Votes
Candidates 1886 Dissol. 1890 ± # % ± (pp)
Liberal Oliver Mowat 87 57 53 4Decrease 162,118 49.63% 1.22Increase
Conservative William Ralph Meredith 74 32 34 2Increase 130,289 39.88% 7.14Decrease
  Conservative-Equal Rights 14 – – 2 2Increase 26,154 8.01% New
  Liberal-Equal Rights 2 – – 2 2Increase 3,352 1.03% New
Independent 1 1 – – 1Decrease 7 – 0.68Decrease
Equal Rights 7 – – – 3,131 0.96% New
Independent-Liberal 1 – – – 1,620 0.50% New
Labour – – – Did not campaign
Temperance – – – Did not campaign
Vacant
Total 186 90 90 91 326,671 100.00%
Blank and invalid ballots 3,110
Registered voters / turnout 473,853 69.60% 0.09Decrease
Seats and popular vote by party of major influence
PartySeatsVotesChange (pp)
Liberal[a 1]
53 / 91
49.63%
1.22 1.22
 
Conservative[a 1]
34 / 91
39.88%
-7.14
 
Equal Rights
4 / 91
10.00%
10.00 10
 
Labour
0 / 91
0.00%
-3.85
 
Other
0 / 91
0.49%
-0.23
 
  1. Straight party support only. Other MLAs sponsored by Equal Rights Party are allocated to the latter, to show extent of influence.

Seats that changed hands

In its first election, Nipissing returned the Liberal candidate John Loughrin as its MLA.

Elections to the 18th Parliament of Ontario – seats won/lost by party, 1886–1890
Party 1886 Gain from (loss to) 1890
Lib Con Con-ER Lib-ER Ind
Liberal 575(10)(1)152
Conservative 3210(5)(2)(1)34
Conservative-Equal Rights –22
Liberal-Equal Rights –112
Independent 1(1)–
Total9011(6)8(10)–(2)–(2)1–90

In the election, 20 seats changed their allegiance.

See also

References
  1. "1890 General Election". Elections Ontario. Elections Ontario. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
  2. An Act to give Representation in the Legislative Assembly to the District of Nipissing, S.O. 1889, c. 2
  3. Dunning, Wm. A. (1890). "Record of Political Events". Political Science Quarterly. 5 (4): 741. doi:10.2307/2139551. JSTOR 2139551.
  4. 1921 Special House of Commons Committee on pro-rep. report, p. 12
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