Ontario general election, 1948

Ontario general election, 1948

June 7, 1948

90 seats in the 23rd Legislative Assembly of Ontario 46 seats were needed for a majority   First party Second party   Leader George Drew Ted Jolliffe Party Progressive Conservative Co-operative Commonwealth Leader since December 9, 1938 April 3, 1942 Leader's seat High Park (lost re-election) York South Last election 66 8 Seats won 53 21 Seat change -13 +13 Percentage 41.5% 27.0% Swing -2.8pp +4.6pp   Third party Fourth party   LP Leader Farquhar Oliver A. A. MacLeod Party Liberal Labor-Progressive Leader since May 16, 1947 1945 Leader's seat Grey South Bellwoods Last election 14 2 Seats won 14 2 Seat change ±0 ±2 Percentage 29.8% 1.0% Swing ±0.0pp -1.4pp

Premier before election George Drew Progressive Conservative Premier-designate George Drew Progressive Conservative

George Drew (right) in the offices of the Ontario Department of Transportation the day after his party's election victory

The Ontario general election of 1948 was held on June 7, 1948, to elect the 90 members of the 23rd Legislative Assembly of Ontario (Members of Provincial Parliament, or "MPPs") of the Province of Ontario, Canada.

The Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, led by George Drew, won a third consecutive term in office, winning a solid majority of seats in the legislature—53, down from 66 in the previous election.

Despite winning a majority, Drew lost his own seat to temperance crusader Bill Temple. Instead of seeking a seat in a by-election, Drew left provincial politics to run for, and win, the leadership of the federal Progressive Conservative Party.

Drew was replaced as Ontario PC leader and premier by Thomas Kennedy on an interim basis, and then by Leslie Frost.

The Ontario Liberal Party, led by Farquhar Oliver, increased its caucus from 11 to 14, but lost the role of official opposition. Only one of the three Liberal-Labour MPPs sitting with the Liberal caucus, James Newman, was re-elected.

The social democratic Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (Ontario Section), led by Ted Jolliffe, formed the official opposition by increasing its caucus from 8 to 21 seats.

Two Toronto seats were won by Labor-Progressive Party MPPs J. B. Salsberg and A.A. MacLeod. The LPP was the official name of the Communist Party of Ontario. The LPP only ran two candidates, Salsberg and MacLeod, in 1948 down from 31 candidates in 1945.

Results

See also

• Politics of Ontario
• List of Ontario political parties
• Premier of Ontario
• Leader of the Opposition (Ontario)

Elections and referendums in Ontario
General elections	1867 1871 1875 1879 1883 1886 1890 1894 1898 1902 1905 1908 1911 1914 1919 1923 1926 1929 1934 1937 1943 1945 1948 1951 1955 1959 1963 1967 1971 1975 1977 1981 1985 1987 1990 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2014 next
By-elections	List of Ontario by-elections
Referendums	1894 1902 1919 1921 1924 2007