Ontario general election, 2003

Ontario general election, 2003
Ontario
October 2, 2003

103 seats in the 38th Legislative Assembly of Ontario
52 seats were needed in a majority
  First party Second party Third party
  PC
Leader Dalton McGuinty Ernie Eves Howard Hampton
Party Liberal Progressive Conservative New Democratic
Leader since December 1, 1996 March 23, 2002 June 22, 1996
Leader's seat Ottawa South Dufferin—Peel—Wellington—Grey Kenora—Rainy River
Last election 35 59 9
Seats won 72 24 7
Seat change Increase37 Decrease35 Decrease2
Popular vote 2,090,001 1,559,181 660,730
Percentage 46.4% 34.6% 14.7%
Swing Increase6.6pp Decrease10.5pp Increase2.1pp

The Ontario Legislature after the 2003 election.

Premier before election

Ernie Eves
Progressive Conservative

Premier-designate

Dalton McGuinty
Liberal

The Ontario general election of 2003 was held on October 2, 2003, to elect the 103 members of the 38th Legislative Assembly (Members of Provincial Parliament, or "MPPs") of the Province of Ontario, Canada.

The election was called on September 2 by Premier Ernie Eves to capitalize on an increase in support for the governing Ontario Progressive Conservative Party in the days following the 2003 North American blackout. The election was won, however, by the Ontario Liberal Party, led by Dalton McGuinty.

Lead up to the campaign

In 1995, the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party or "Tories" under Mike Harris came from third place to upset the front-running Ontario Liberal Party under Lyn McLeod and the highly unpopular governing Ontario New Democratic Party under Bob Rae to form a majority government. The Harris government was far more activist than earlier Ontario PC governments, and over the next two terms moved to cut personal income tax rates by 30%, closed almost 40 hospitals to increase efficiency, cut the Ministry of the Environment staff in half, and undertook massive reforms of the education system including mandatory teacher testing and student testing in public education and public tax credits for parents who sent their children to private schools.

In the 1999 provincial election, the Tories were able to ride a strong economy and a campaign aimed at proving rookie Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty was "not up to the job" to another majority government. The Walkerton Tragedy, however, where a contaminated water supply led to the deaths of 7 people and illness of at least 2,300 were linked in part to government environment and regulatory cutbacks, and as a result the government's popularity was badly damaged. A movement to provide tax credits to parents with children in private schools also proved to be unpopular.

In September 2001, Harris announced his intention to resign and the PC party called a leadership convention for 2002 to replace him. Five candidates emerged: former Finance Minister Ernie Eves who had retired earlier that year, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, Environment Minister Elizabeth Witmer, Health Minister Tony Clement and Labour Minister Chris Stockwell. The resulting leadership election was divisive in the PC Party, with Flaherty adopting a hard-right platform and attacking the front-running Eves as "a pale, pink imitation of Dalton McGuinty" and a "serial waffler." At one point, anti-abortion activists apparently supporting Flaherty distributed pamphlets attacking Tony Clement because his wife worked for hospitals that performed abortions. At the convention, Eves was able to win on the second ballot after Elizabeth Witmer and Tony Clement both endorsed him.

Eves took office on April 15, 2002, and promptly re-aligned his government to the political centre. The party would negotiate a deal with striking government workers, dramatically cancel an IPO of Hydro One, the government's electricity transmission company, and defer planned tax breaks for corporations and private schools for a year. With polls showing the Conservatives moving from a 15-point deficit to a tie in public opinion with the Liberals, the media praising Eves' political reorientation of the government, and the opposition Liberals reeling from the seizure of some of their political turf, the time seemed ripe for a snap election call. Many political observers felt that Eves had the momentum to win an election at that time.

However, several factors likely convinced Eves to wait to call an election. First, in 1990, the Liberals had lost the election in part due to perceptions that they called the election early for purely partisan reasons. Since then, the shortest distance between elections has been four years less five days (Ontario has since moved to fixed date election dates). Second, the PC Party was exhausted and divided from a six-month leadership contest. Third, the move to the centre had created opposition in traditional Conservative support. Financial conservatives and businesses were angered over Eves' cancellation of the hydro IPO. Others felt betrayed that promised tax cuts had not been delivered, seemingly breaking the PCs' own Taxpayer Protection Act, while private school supporters were upset their promised tax credit had been delayed for a year.

In the fall of 2002, the opposition Liberals began a round of attacks on perceived PC mismanagement. First, Jim Flaherty was embroiled in scandal when it was revealed that his leadership campaign's largest donor had received a highly lucrative contract for slot machines from the government. Then, Tourism Minister Cam Jackson was forced to resign when the Liberals revealed he had charged taxpayers more than $100,000 for hotel rooms, steak dinners and alcoholic beverages. The Liberals showed the Tories had secretly given a large tax break to the Toronto Blue Jays, a team owned by prominent Tory Ted Rogers.

At the same time, both the New Democrats and Liberals criticized the government over skyrocketing electricity prices. In May 2002, the government had followed California and Alberta in deregulating the electricity market. With contracting supply due to construction delays at the Pickering nuclear power plant and rising demand for electricity in an unusually warm autumn, the spot price for electricity rose, resulting in consumer outrage. In November, Eves fixed the price of electricity and ended the open market, appeasing consumers but angering conservative free-marketers.

That winter, Eves promised a provincial budget before the beginning of the fiscal year, to help hospitals and schools budget effectively. However, as multiple scandals in the fall had already made the party unwilling to return to Question Period, they wished to dismiss the Legislative Assembly of Ontario until as late as possible in the spring. The budget was instead to be announced at the Magna International headquarters in Newmarket, Ontario rather than in the Legislature. The move was met with outrage from the PC Speaker, Gary Carr who called the move unconstitutional and would rule that it was a prima facae case of contempt of the legislature. The controversy over the location of the budget would far outstrip any support earned by the content of the budget.

The government faced a major crisis when SARS killed several people in Toronto and threatened the stability of the health care system. On April 23, when the World Health Organization advised against all but essential travel to Toronto to prevent the spread of the virus, Toronto tourism greatly suffered.

Downtown Toronto during the 2003 Blackout

When the spring session was finally convened in late spring, the Eves government was forced through three days of debate on the contempt motion over the Magna budget followed by weeks of calls for the resignation of Energy Minister Chris Stockwell. Stockwell was accused of accepting thousands of dollars in undeclared gifts from Ontario Power Generation, an arms length crown corporation he regulated, when he travelled to Europe in the summer of 2002. Stockwell finally stepped aside after dominating the provincial news for almost a month, and would not seek reelection.

By the summer of 2003, the Progressive Conservatives received an unexpected opportunity to re-gain popularity in the form of the 2003 North American blackout. When the blackout hit, Eves initially received criticism for his late response; however, as he led a series of daily briefings to the press in the days after the blackout, Eves was able to demonstrate leadership and stayed cool under pressure. The crisis also allowed Eves to highlight his principal campaign themes of experience, proven competence and ability to handle the government. When polls began to register a moderate increase for the Conservatives, the table was set for an election call.

Progressive Conservative campaign

In 1995 and 1999, the Progressive Conservatives ran highly focused, disciplined campaigns based on lessons learned principally in US states by the Republican Party. In 1995, the core PC strategy was to polarize the electorate around a handful of controversial ideas that would split opposition between the other two parties. The PCs stressed radical tax cuts, opposition to job quotas, slashing welfare rates and a few hot button issues like opposing photo radar and establish "boot camps" for young offenders. They positioned leader Mike Harris as an average-guy populist who would restore common sense to government after ten lost years of NDP and Liberal mismanagement. The campaign manifesto, released in 1994, was titled the "Common Sense Revolution" and advocated a supply side economics solution to a perceived economic malaise.

In 1999, the PCs were able to point to increased economic activity as evidence that their supply side plan worked. Their basic strategy was to again polarize the electorate around a handful of controversial ideas and their record while preventing opposition from rallying exclusively around the Liberals by undermining confidence in Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty. They ran a series of negative television ads against McGuinty in an attempt to brand him as "not up to the job." At the same time, they emphasized their economic record, while downplaying disruptions in health care and education as part of a needed reorganization of public services that promoted efficiency and would lead to eventual improvements.

Both campaigns proved highly successful and the principal architects of those campaigns had been dubbed the "whiz kids" by the press. David Lindsay, Mike Harris' chief of staff, was responsible for the overall integration of policy, communications, campaign planning and transition to government while Mitch Patten served as campaign secretary. Tom Long and Leslie Noble jointly ran the campaigns, with Long serving as campaign chair and Noble as campaign manager. Paul Rhodes, a former reporter, was responsible for media relations. Deb Hutton was Mike Harris' right arm as executive assistant. Jaime Watt and Perry Miele worked on the advertising. Guy Giorno worked on policy and speechwriting in 1995 and in 1999 was in charge of overall messaging. Scott Munnoch was tour director and Glen Wright rode the leader's bus. Future leader John Tory worked on fundraising and debate prep, and was actually one of two people (the other was John Matheson) to play Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty during preparation for the 1999 leaders' debate. (Andy Brandt and Giorno played NDP leader Howard Hampton.)

Heading into 2003, Tom Long refused to work for Ernie Eves. Most speculated that Long saw Eves as too wishy-washy and not enough of a traditional hard-right conservative. Jaime Watt took Long's position as campaign co-chair and more or less all the same players settled into the same spot. A few new faces included Jeff Bangs as campaign manager. Bangs was a long-time Eves loyalist who had grown up in his riding of Parry Sound.

The Progressive Conservatives once again planned on polarizing the electorate around a handful of hot button campaign pledges. However, with their party and government listing in public opinion polls, they found their only strong contrasts were around the experience and stature of Premier Eves. Their campaign slogan "Experience You Can Trust" was designed to highlight Eves' years in office.

The party platform, dubbed "The Road Ahead," was longer and broader than in earlier years. Five main planks would emerge for the campaign:

  1. Tax deductions for mortgage payments.
  2. Rebate seniors the education portion of their property taxes.
  3. Tax credits for parents sending their children to private schools.
  4. Banning teachers' strikes by sending negotiations to binding arbitration.
  5. A "Made-in-Ontario" immigration system.

Each plank was targeted at a key Tory voting bloc: homeowners, seniors, religious conservatives, parents and law-and-order types.

Eves' campaigning followed a straightforward pattern. Eves would highlight one of the five elements of the platform and then attack Dalton McGuinty for opposing it. For instance, he would visit the middle-class home of a visible minority couple with two kids and talk about how much money they would get under his mortgage deducatability plan. That would be followed by an attack on McGuinty for having a secret plan to raise their taxes. Or he would campaign in a small town assembly plant and talk about how under a "Made-in-Ontario" immigration plan fewer new Canadians would settle in Toronto and more outside the city, helping the plant manager with his labour shortage. Then he would link McGuinty to Prime Minister of Canada Jean Chrétien and say McGuinty supported the federal immigration system that allows terrorists and criminals into the country.

The Tory television advertising also attempted to polarize the election around these issues.

In one of the ads, a voice-over accompanying an unflattering photo of the Liberal leader asks "Ever wonder why Dalton McGuinty wants to raise your taxes?" The ad then points out that McGuinty has opposed Tory plans to allow homeowners a tax deduction on mortgage interest and to give senior citizens a break on their property taxes.

In another ad, the voice-over asks "Doesn't he (McGuinty) know that a child's education is too important to be disrupted by lockouts and strikes?" It says that McGuinty has sided with the unions and rejected the Tory proposal to ban teacher strikes.

Both ads end with the attack "He's still not up to the job."

Armed with a majority, the Tories were hoping to hold the seats they already had, while targeting a handful of rural Liberal seats in hopes of increasing their majority. They campaigned relatively little in Northern Ontario, with the exception of North Bay and Parry Sound, both of which they held.

Liberal campaign

The first half of Dalton McGuinty's 1999 campaign was widely criticized as disorganized and uninspired, and most journalists believe he gave a poor performance in the leaders' debate. However, McGuinty was able to rally his party in the last ten days. On election day, the Liberals won 40% of the vote, their second best showing in almost fifty years. Perhaps more importantly, nine new MPPs were elected, boosting the caucus from 30 to 36, including dynamic politicians like George Smitherman and Michael Bryant.

In 1999, the Liberal strategy had been to polarize the electorate between Mike Harris and Dalton McGuinty. They purposely put out a platform that was devoid of ideas, to ensure the election was about the Tory record, and not the Liberal agenda. To an extent, they succeeded. Support for the NDP collapsed from 21% to just 13%, while the Liberals climbed 9%. However, while they almost cornered the market of those angry at the Tories, they could not convince enough people to be angry at the Tories to win.

The night he conceded defeat, McGuinty was already planning how to win the next election. He set out the themes that the Liberals would build into their next platform. Liberals, he said, would offer "some of those things that Ontarians simply have to be able to count on - good schools, good hospitals, good health care, good education and something else.... We want to bring an end to fighting so we can finally start working together."

McGuinty replaced many of his young staff with experienced political professionals he recruited. The three he kept in key positions were Don Guy, his campaign manager and a pollster with Pollara, Matt Maychak, his director of communications, and Bob Lopinski, his director of issues management. To develop his platform, he added to this a new chief of staff, Phil Dewan, a former policy director for Premier David Peterson and Ottawa veteran Gerald M. Butts. He also sought out Peterson-era Ontario Minister of Labour Greg Sorbara to run for president of the Ontario Liberal Party.

Early on, McGuinty set down three strategic imperatives. First, no tax cuts. This ran against the conventional wisdom of politics that you had to offer tax cuts to win; everyone from Mike Harris to Bill Clinton had campaigned on reducing the tax burden on the middle class. But McGuinty was determined that Ontario voters would accept that the money was needed to restore public health care and education services. Second, a positive tone. McGuinty wanted to avoid the typical opposition leader role of automatically opposing whatever the government announced, and instead, set the agenda with positive alternatives. While attacking your opponent was important, that would be left to caucus surrogates. Third, one big team. At the time, the Ontario Liberal Party was riven into factions. Peterson-era people distrusted more recent arrivals. Jean Chrétien supporters fought with Paul Martin supporters. McGuinty set a tone that divisions were left at the door.

The emphasis on building the team was highly successful as job that in 1999 were done by one person were now assigned to groups of four or six or eight. Dewan brought on board veterans of the Peterson regime such as Sheila James, Vince Borg and David MacNaughton. From Ottawa, campaign veterans such as Warren Kinsella, Derek Kent and Gordon Ashworth signed on to help oust the Ontario Tories from power.

The Liberal strategy was the same as in 1999: polarize the election between the Conservatives and Liberals to marginalize the NDP and then convince enough voters that the Conservatives had to go. With polls showing more than 60% of voters reporting it was "time for a change", the Liberals campaign theme was "choose change". The theme summarized the two-step strategy perfectly: first, boil the election down to a two-party choice and then cast the Liberals as a capable and trustworthy agent of change at a time when voters were fed up with the government.

After the sparse platform of 1999, the 2003 Liberal platform was a sprawling omnibus of public policy crossing five main policy booklets, three supplements aimed at specific geographic or industrial groups and a detailed costing exercise. The principle planks that were highlighted in the election were:

  1. Freezing taxes and balancing the books.
  2. Improving test scores and lowering class sizes in public schools.
  3. Reducing wait times for key health services.
  4. Improving environmental protection and quality of life.
  5. Repairing the divisions of the Harris-Eves era.

McGuinty backed up his comprehensive platform with a meticulous costing by a forensic account and two bank economists. While the Conservatives had adopted a third-party verification in 1995, they did not in 2003, allowing the Liberals to gain credibility that they could pay for their promises.

In contrast to the Eves campaign, where the leader was both positive and negative message carrier, the Liberals used a number of caucus members to criticize the Harris-Eves government while McGuinty was free to promote his positive plan for change.

The Liberal advertising strategy was highly risky. While conventional wisdom says the only way to successfully respond to a negative campaign is with even more negative ads against your opponent, McGuinty ran only positive ads for the duration of the campaign.

In the pre-writ period, the Liberal advertising featured Dalton McGuinty speaking to the camera, leaning against a tree while snow falls, saying "People hear me say that I'll fix our hospitals and fix our schools and yet keep taxes down. Am I an optimist? Maybe. What I'm not is cynical, or jaded, or tired. I don't owe favours to special interests or old friends or political cronies. Together, we can make Ontario the envy of the world, once again. And, I promise you this, no one will work harder than I will to create that Ontario."

During the first stage of the campaign, the principal Liberal ad featured a tight close-up of Dalton McGuinty as he spoke about his plans for Ontario. In the key line of the first ad, McGuinty looks into the camera and says "I won't cut your taxes, but I'm not going to raise them either."

Geographically, the Liberal campaign was able to rest on a solid core of seats in Toronto and Northern Ontario that were at little risk at the beginning of the election period. They had to defend a handful of rural seats that had been recently won and were targeted by the PCs. However, the principle battlefield of the election was in PC-held territory in the "905" region of suburbs around Toronto, particularly Peel and York districts, suburban seats around larger cities like Ottawa and Hamilton and in Southwestern Ontario in communities like London, Kitchener-Waterloo and Guelph.

NDP campaign

The 1999 NDP campaign received its lowest level of popular support since the Second World War, earning just 12.6% of the vote and losing party status with just nine seats. Several factors led to this poor showing, including a lacklustre campaign, Hampton's low profile, and a movement called strategic voting that endorsed voting for the Liberals in most ridings in order to remove the governing Tories. After the election, there was a short-lived attempt to remove leader Howard Hampton publicly led by leaders of the party's youth wing. However, the majority of party members blamed the defeat on NDP supporters voting Liberal in hopes of removing Harris and the Tories from power. As a result, Hampton was not widely blamed for this severe defeat and stayed on as leader.

Under the rules of the Legislative Assembly, a party would receive "official party status", and the resources and privileges accorded to officially-recognized parties, if it had 12 or more seats; thus, the NDP would lose caucus funding and the ability to ask questions in the House. However, the governing Conservatives changed the rules after the election to lower the threshold for party status from 12 seats to 8. The Tories argued that since Ontario's provincial ridings now had the same boundaries as the federal ones, the threshold should be lowered to accommodate the smaller legislature. Others argued that the Tories were only helping the NDP so they could continue to split the vote with the Liberals.

During the period before the election, Hampton identified the Conservative plan for deregulating and privatizing electricity generation and transmission as the looming issue of the next election. With the Conservatives holding a firm market-oriented line and the Liberal position muddled, Hampton boldly focused the party's Question Period and research agendas almost exclusively on energy issues. Hampton quickly distinguished himself as a passionate advocate of maintaining public ownership of electricity generation, and published a book on the subject, Public Power, in 2003.

With the selection of Eves as the PC leader, the NDP hoped that the government's move to the centre in the spring of 2002 would reduce the polarization of the Ontario electorate between the PCs and Liberals and improve the NDP's standing. It was also hoped that the long-standing split between labour and the NDP would be healed as the bitter legacy of the Rae government faded.

The co-chairs of the NDP campaign were Diane O'Reggio, newly installed as the party's provincial secretary after a stint in Ottawa working for the federal party, and Andre Foucault, secretary-treasurer of the Communications Energy and Paperworkers union. The manager was Rob Milling, principal secretary to Hampton. Communications were handled by Sheila White and Gil Hardy. Jeff Ferrier was the media coordinator.

The NDP strategy was to present itself as distinct from the Liberals on the issue of public ownership of public services, primarily in electricity and health care, while downplaying any significant differences between the Liberals and PCs. There was a conscious effort to discourage "strategic voting" where NDP supporters vote Liberal to defeat the Conservatives. The NDP slogan was "publicpower", designed to highlight both the energy issue Hampton had championed and public health care, while promoting a populist image of empowerment for average people.

The NDP campaign was designed to be highly visual and memorable. Each event was built around a specific visual thematic. For instance, in the first week of the campaign, Hampton attacked the Liberal energy platform saying it was "full of holes" and holding up a copy of the platform with oversized holes punched in it. He also illustrated it "had more holes than Swiss cheese" by also displaying a large block of cheese. At another event, Hampton and his campaign team argued that the Liberal positions were like "trying to nail Jello to the wall" by literally attempting to nail Jello to a wall. Hampton also made an appearance in front of the Toronto home of millionaire Peter Munk to denounce Eves' tax breaks, claiming that they would save Munk $18,000 a year.

The first round of NDP ads avoided personal attacks, and cast leader Howard Hampton as a champion of public utilities. In one 30-second spot, Mr. Hampton talks about the effects of privatization of the power industry and the blackout. "For most of us, selling off our hydro was the last straw," he says. The clip is mixed with images of Toronto streets during power failure.

Geographically, the NDP campaign focused on targeting seats in Scarborough and Etobicoke in Toronto, Hamilton, Ottawa and Northern Ontario.

Campaign events

Early weeks

The first week of the campaign was dominated by the Conservatives, who launched a series of highly negative attacks at Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty while highlighting popular elements of their platform. On the Saturday of the first week, a round of media-sponsored public opinion polls showed the Liberals 12-point lead reduced to a tie between the Liberals and Conservatives. The Conservative strategy of "going negative" appeared to be working. Combined with Premier Eves' high-profile performance in the blackout, most media commentators believed the Liberals would have to also go negative.

As the campaign entered week 2, it was anticipated that the Liberals would push a series of highly negative ads to combat advertising by the Conservatives that attacked Dalton McGuinty. However, instead they went positive and stayed positive throughout the campaign. It was Eves who went on the defensive as the Liberals worked the media to put the Premier on his heels. Stung by years of arrogance by the PC Party toward reporters, the media were quick to pile on.

After the Liberals Gerry Phillips and Gerald M. Butts accused Eves of having no plan to pay for his $10.4 billion in promises, Eves stumbled when he could not provide his own cost for his promises. "I couldn't tell you off the top of my head," he admitted. Then came a story on the front of the Globe and Mail saying that Ontarians would have to pay "millions" in extra premiums because the election call had delayed implementation of new auto insurance regulations promised by Eves on the eve of the campaign. On Wednesday the government was broadsided when - days after a raid at a meat packing plant exposed the sorry state of public health at some abattoirs - leaked documents showed the PC government had been sitting on recommendations to improve meat safety, leading to calls for a public inquiry by the opposition parties. The issue was made worse when Agriculture Minister Helen Johns refused all media calls and had to be literally tracked down in her riding by reporters. On Thursday, according to the Green party candidate in Nipissing (Mike Harris's old riding), a donor with Tory connections offered him money to bolster his campaign and draw votes away from the Liberals. The same day, Eves attacked Dalton McGuinty for voting against a bill to protect taxpayers from increased taxes, when it turns out McGuinty in fact voted for that bill.

"Evil reptilian kitten-eater from another planet"

Finally, on the Friday of the second week, the Eves campaign issued a bizarre press release calling Dalton McGuinty an "evil reptilian kitten-eater from another planet". This moment would prove the defining moment of the campaign. First, it was so memorable and unusual that it served to attract the attention of all Ontarians, including those who do not pay attention to a campaign until its final days. Second, the over-the-top negativity brought to life a key critique of the Liberals, that the Harris-Eves Tories picked fights for no reason and went too far. Third, the hysteria around the comment put the Eves campaign on the defensive in the media at a critical point and prevented them from regaining their footing after a difficult week. Fourth, it polarized the election around the PCs and Liberals, and left the NDP on the sidelines. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the Eves team was instantly at each other's throats over who would take the blame for approving the press release.

Later weeks

The Conservatives spent the third week on the defensive and dropping in the polls, unable to recover from the disasters of the second week and fresh new attacks. The Liberals produced documents from the Walkerton Inquiry showing that individual Conservative MPPs were warned about risks to human health and safety resulting from cuts to the Environment Ministry budget. An attack on Dalton McGuinty saying he needed "professional help" forced an apology from the Conservatives to people with mental illness. Tory MPP John O'Toole said the Tory negative campaign was a mistake, putting Eves on the defensive once again. A leaked memo was used by the opposition to accuse the government of threatening public sector workers into not telling the truth at a public inquiry into the government's handling of the SARS crisis. Eves ended the week with another event that backfired, brandishing barbed wire and a get out of jail free card to attack the Liberals as soft on crime. Reporters spent more time focused on Eves' first use of props in the election than on his message.

By the fourth week of the campaign, polls showed the Liberals pulling away from the Conservatives with a margin of at least 10 points. It was widely believed that only a disastrous performance in the leader's debate stood between Dalton McGuinty and the Premier's Office. McGuinty - who had stumbled badly in the 1999 debate - was able to play off low expectations and a surprisingly low-key Eves to earn the draw he wanted. The debate itself was also subject to criticism from the Green Party of Ontario, which denounced a Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission decision not to allow leader Frank de Jong to participate.

The final week of the campaign was marred by more negative attacks from Eves and the Conservatives. At one point, Premier Eves referred to Mr. McGuinty as having a "pointy head", a remark he later conceded was inappropriate. McGuinty was able to extend the bad press from the incident another day when he joked to radio hosts that they needed to be careful "so I won't spear you with my sharp pointy head." McGuinty spent the last days of the campaign travelling through previously rock solid PC territory in ridings like Durham, Simcoe and Leeds-Grenville to large crowds.

Issues

The campaign was contentious on the issues as well, with both the Liberals and Howard Hampton's New Democrats attacking the Tories' record in office. Various scandals and other unpopular moves reduced public opinion of the Tories going into the race, including the Walkerton water tragedy, the deaths of Dudley George and Kimberly Rogers, the possible sale of publicly owned electric utility Hydro One, the SARS outbreak, the decision to release the 2003 budget at an auto parts factory instead of the Legislature, the widespread blackout in August, and the Aylmer packing plant tainted meat investigation. As one Tory insider put it: "So many chickens came to roost, its like a remake of The Birds".

One of the most contentious issues was education. All three parties pledged to increase spending by $2 billion, but Premier Eves also pledged to ban teacher strikes, lock-outs, and work-to-rule campaigns during the school year, a move the other parties rejected. Teacher strikes had plagued the previous Progressive Conservative mandate of Mike Harris, whose government had deeply cut education spending.

Tax cuts were also an issue. The Progressive Conservatives proposed a wide range of tax cuts, including a 20-percent cut to personal income taxes, and the elimination of education tax paid by seniors, two moves that would have cost $1.3 billion together. The Liberals and New Democrats rejected these cuts as profligate. The Liberals also promised to cancel some pending Tory tax cuts and to eliminate some tax cuts already introduced.

Assessment

CBC Newsworld declared a Liberal victory minutes after ballot-counting began. Ernie Eves conceded defeat only ninety minutes into the count.

The Liberals won a huge majority with 72 seats, almost 70% of the 106- seat legislature. The Liberals not only won almost every seat in the city of Toronto, but every seat bordering on Toronto as well. All seven seats in Peel region went Liberal, as well as previously safe PC 905 seats like Markham, Oakville and Pickering-Ajax. The Liberals also made a major breakthrough in Southwestern Ontario, grabbing all three seats in London as well as rural seats like Perth-Middlesex, Huron-Bruce and Lambton-Kent. If the story of the PC majorities in 1995 and 1999 were the marriage of rural and small-town conservative bedrock with voters in the suburbs, the 2003 election was a divorce of those suburban voters from rural Ontario and a new marriage to the mid-town professionals and New Canadians who make up the Liberal base.

The NDP had a disappointingly confusing election: on one hand, they won seven seats, one fewer than the eight required to keep "official party status", which would give it a share of official Queen's Park staff, money for research, and guaranteed time during Question Period. On the other hand, they increased their share of the popular vote for the first time since 1990. Despite the mixed results, Hampton stayed on as party leader, saying that the party did not blame him for the poor performance. The party was returned to official party status seven months into the session, when Andrea Horwath won a by-election in Hamilton East on May 13, 2004.

The Tories were completely shut out of Toronto, where 19 out of 22 ridings were won by the Liberals, and the remaining three were carried by the New Democrats. Perhaps more ominously for the PCs, they were also shut out of any seats bordering Toronto; only in the outermost suburbs like Aurora and Whitby were high-profile PC cabinet ministers able to retain their seats. With the arguable exception of Elizabeth Witmer, no PC member represents an urban riding.

The 38th Parliament of Ontario opened on November 19, 2003 at 3 p.m. Eastern Time with a Throne Speech in which the McGuinty government laid out their agenda.

Student vote

High school students in every riding in Ontario were allowed to cast ballots in their classrooms as part of a student vote. While their numbers did not count in the official election, they did tell a story all on their own. The student vote reflected change a lot more than the actual result, as well as widespread anti-conservatism. 93 ridings favoured the Liberals in the student vote, nine favoured the New Democrats, and one favoured the Greens, while the Conservatives were shut out. There was also a vote for elementary students.

Provincial results

Party Party leader # of
candidates
Seats Popular vote
1999 Dissolution Elected % Change # % % Change
     Liberal Dalton McGuinty 103 35 36 72 +105.7% 2,090,001 46.4% +6.6%
Progressive Conservative Ernie Eves 103 59 56 24 -59.3% 1,559,181 34.6% -10.5%
New Democratic Howard Hampton 103 9 9 7 -22.2% 660,730 14.7% +2.1%
Green Frank de Jong 102 - - - - 126,651 2.8% +2.1%
Family Coalition Giuseppe Gori 51 - - - - 34,623 0.8% +0.2%
Freedom Paul McKeever 24 - - - - 8,376 0.2% +0.1%
Communist Elizabeth Rowley 6 - - - - 2,187 0.05% +0.03%
Libertarian Sam Apelbaum 5 - - - - 1,991 0.04% -0.06%
Confederation of Regions none (Richard Butson, de facto) 1 - - - - 293 0.01%  
     Independent & non-affiliated 24 - 1 - -100% 13,211 0.3% -0.3%
     Independent Renewal 10 - - - - 3,402 - -
     Independent Liberal 1 - - - - 3,259 - -
     Independent Reform 1 - - - - 586 - -
     Communist League 1 - - - - 204 - -
     Other independent 11 - - - - 5,760 - -
  Vacant 1  
Total   103 103 103 - 4,497,244 100%  

Notes:

1 "Before" refers to the party standings in the Legislature at the end of the legislative session, and not to the standings at the previous election.

2 Richard Butson was the sole candidate for the Confederation of Regions Party.

3Ten candidates ran as "Independent Renewal" candidates. This was the Marxist-Leninist Party under another name.

4Candidates from the Independent Reform Party and Communist League also ran as independents.

5Costas Manios ran as an "Independent Liberal" candidate after being denied the opportunity to run for the Liberal Party nomination in Scarborough Centre. Outgoing MPP Claudette Boyer had sat in the house as an "Independent Liberal" from 2001 to 2003.

It is possible that some other candidates listed on the ballot as independents ran for unregistered parties.

The following table gives the number of seats each party won, and the number of ridings in which each party came second, third, and fourth:

Party Seats Second Third Fourth
     Liberal 72 30 1 0
Progressive Conservative 24 57 22 0
New Democratic 7 16 78 2
Green 0 0 2 92
Family Coalition 0 0 0 7
     Independent 0 0 0 1
     Independent Liberal 0 0 0 1

Riding results

Ottawa

Electoral District Candidates   Incumbent
 Liberal PC NDP Green Other
Nepean—Carleton Rod Vanier
20,878 (35.65%)
John Baird
31,662 (54.06%)
Liam McCarthy
3,828 (6.54%)
Matt Takach
2,200 (3.76%)
  John Baird
Ottawa Centre Richard Patten
22,295 (45.1%)
Joe Varner
11,217 (22.69%)
Jeff Atkinson
11,362 (22.98%)
Chris Bradshaw
3,821 (7.73%)
Stuart Ryan (Comm)
306 (0.62%)
Matt Szymanowicz (F)
218 (0.44%)
Fakhry Guirguis (Ind)
214 (0.43%)
Richard Patten
Ottawa—Orléans Phil McNeely
25,300 (50.36%)
Brian Coburn
20,762 (41.32%)
Ric Dagenais
2,778 (5.53%)
Melanie Ransom
1,402 (2.79%)
  Brian Coburn
Ottawa South Dalton McGuinty
24,647 (51.7%)
Richard Raymond
16,413 (34.43%)
James McLaren
4,306 (9.03%)
David Chernushenko
1,741 (3.65%)
John Pacheco (FCP)
562 (1.18%)
Dalton McGuinty
Ottawa—Vanier Madeleine Meilleur
22,188 (53.53%)
Maurice Lamirande
10,878 (26.24%)
Joseph Zebrowski
6,507 (15.7%)
Raphael Thierrin
1,876 (4.53%)
  Claudette Boyer
Ottawa West—Nepean Jim Watson
23,127 (47.04%)
Garry Guzzo
20,277 (41.24%)
Marlene Rivier
4,099 (8.34%)
Neil Adair
1,309 (2.66%)
Robert Gauthier (Ind)
353 (0.72%)
Garry Guzzo

Eastern Ontario

Electoral District Candidates   Incumbent
 Liberal PC NDP Green Other
Glengarry—Prescott—Russell Jean-Marc Lalonde
28,956
Albert Bourdeau
10,921
Guy Belle-Isle
2,544
Louise Pattington
1,471
  Jean-Marc Lalonde
Hastings—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington Leona Dombrowsky
21,548
Barry Gordon
13,709
Ross Sutherland
4,286
Adam Scott
1,311
John-Henry Westen (FCP)
673
Leona Dombrowsky
Kingston and the Islands John Gerretsen
28,877
Hans Westenberg
9,640
Janet Collins
5,514
Eric Walton
3,137
Chris Beneteau (FCP)
735
John Gerretsen
Lanark—Carleton Marianne Wilkinson
23,466 (38.79%)
Norm Sterling
29,641 (48.99%)
Jim Ronson
3,554 (5.87%)
John Baranyi
2,564 (4.24%)
Jim Gardiner (FCP)
1,275 (2.11%)
Norm Sterling
Leeds—Grenville Stephen Mazurek
17,667
Bob Runciman
21,443
Steve Armstrong
2,469
Jerry Heath
1,799
Melody Trolly (FCP)
649
Bob Runciman
Prince Edward—Hastings Ernie Parsons
22,937
John Williams
12,800
Jodie Jenkins
3,377
Joe Ross
628
Trueman Tuck
(F)
229
Ernie Parsons
Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke Derek Nighbor
18,629
John Yakabuski
19,274
Felcite Stairs
5,092
Chris Walker
671
  Sean Conway
Stormont—Dundas—
Charlottenburgh
Jim Brownell
19,558
Todd Lalonde
13,948
Matt Sumegi
1,639
Tom Manley
2,098
Gary Besner (Ind)
968
John Cleary

Central Ontario

Electoral District Candidates   Incumbent
 Liberal PC NDP Green Other
Barrie—Simcoe—Bradford Mike Ramsay
21,998
Joe Tascona
31,529
John Thomson
5,641
Stewart Sinclair
1,278
Roberto Sales (FCP)
441
Joe Tascona
Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound Dave Hocking
14,881
Bill Murdoch
23,338
Colleen Purdon
4,159
Martin Donald
769
Linda Freiburger (FCP)
1,086
Bill Cook(Ref)
586
Bill Murdoch
Dufferin—Peel—Wellington—Grey Dan Yake
14,859
Ernie Eves
29,222
Mitchel Healey
3,148
Frank de Jong
3,161
Dave Davies (FCP)
1,202
Ernie Eves
Durham Garry Minnie
18,590
John O'Toole
23,814
Teresa Williams
6,274
Gordon MacDonald
1,183
Cathy McKeever (F)
707
John O'Toole
Haliburton—Victoria—Brock Jason Ward
17,171
Laurie Scott
24,297
Earl Manners
7,884
Douglas Smith
1,183
Paul Gordon (FCP)
663
Charles Olito (F)
273
Chris Hodgson
Northumberland Lou Rinaldi
20,382
Doug Galt
17,816
Murray Weppler
5,210
Derrick Kelly
1,839
  Doug Galt
Peterborough Jeff Leal
24,626
Gary Stewart
18,418
Dave Nickle
9,796
Tim Holland
1,605
Max Murray (FCP)
414
Bob Bowers (Ind)
178
Gary Stewart
Simcoe—Grey Mark Redmond
17,505
Jim Wilson
26,114
Leo Losereit
5,032
Geoffrey Maile
875
Steven Taylor (FCP)
801
Philip Bender (Lbt)
411
Jim Wilson
Simcoe North Paul Sloan
19,713
Garfield Dunlop
23,393
John Niddery
5,515
Nina Pruesse
1,540
Blaine Scott (FCP)
453
Karnail Singh (Ind)
101
Garfield Dunlop
York North John Taylor
21,054
Julia Munro
24,517
Sylvia Gerl
4,029
Bob Burrows
1,854
Simone Williams (FCP)
497
Julia Munro

Southern Durham & York

Electoral District Candidates   Incumbent
 Liberal PC NDP Green Other
Markham Tony Wong
27,253
David Tsubouchi
21,257
Janice Hagan
2,679
Bernadette Manning
824
Patrick Redmond (FCP)
697
David Tsubouchi
Oak Ridges Helena Jaczek
31,026
Frank Klees
32,647
Pamela Courtot
4,464
Steven Haylestrom
1,821
  Frank Klees
Oshawa Chris Topple
9,383
Jerry Ouellette
14,566
Sid Ryan
13,547
Karen Tweedle
636
Paul McKeever (F)
518
Dale Chilvers (FCP)
383
Jerry Ouellette
Pickering—Ajax—Uxbridge Wayne Arthurs
24,970
Janet Ecker
23,960
Vern Edwards
3,690
Adam Duncan
1,946
  Janet Ecker
Thornhill Mario Racco
21,419
Tina Molinari
20,623
Laurie Orrett
2,616
Bridget Haworth
705
Lindsay King (F)
304
Tina Molinari
Vaughan—King—Aurora Greg Sorbara
36,928
Carmine Iacono
21,744
Mike Seaward
4,697
Adrian Visentin
2,412
  Greg Sorbara
Whitby—Ajax Dennis Fox
22,593
Jim Flaherty
27,240
Dan Edwards
5,155
Michael MacDonald
1,375
  Jim Flaherty

Downtown Toronto

Electoral District Candidates   Incumbent
 Liberal PC NDP Green Other
Beaches—East York Monica Purdy
10,070
Angela Kennedy
8,157
Michael Prue
21,239
Tom Mason
1,995
  Michael Prue
Davenport Tony Ruprecht
15,586
Tom Smith
1,977
Jordan Berger
7,243
Mark O'Brien
907
David Senater (Ind)
293
Franz Cauchi (F)
264
Nunzio Venuto (Lbt)
233
Tony Ruprecht
Don Valley West Kathleen Wynne
23,488
David Turnbull
17,394
Ali Naqvi
2,540
Philip Hawkins
1,239
  David Turnbull
Eglinton—Lawrence Mike Colle
23,743
Corinne Korzen
12,402
Robin Alter
4,351
Mark Viitala
1,236
  Mike Colle
Parkdale—High Park Gerard Kennedy
23,008
Stephen Snell
6,436
Margo Duncan
6,275
Neil Spiegel
2,758
Stan Grzywna (FCP)
591
Karin Larsen (Comm)
349
John Steele (Comm League)
204
Richard (Dick) Field (F)
165
Gerard Kennedy
St. Paul's Michael Bryant
24,887
Charis Kelso
11,203
Julian Heller
6,740
Peter Elgie
2,266
Carol Leborg (F)
354
Michael Bryant
Toronto Centre—Rosedale George Smitherman
23,872
John Adams
9,968
Gene Lara
9,112
Gabriel Draven
1,739
Philip Fernandez (Ind Renewal)
324
Silvio Ursomarzo (F)
218
George Smitherman
Toronto—Danforth Jim Davidson
12,246
George Sardelis
6,562
Marilyn Churley
18,253
Michael Pilling
1,368
Masood Atchekzai (FCP)
217
Mehmet Ali Yagiz (Ind)
73
Marilyn Churley
Trinity—Spadina Nellie Pedro
12,927
Helena Guergis
4,985
Rosario Marchese
19,268
Greg Laxton
2,362
Judson Glober (Lbt)
756
Nick Lin (Ind Renewal)
256
Rosario Marchese
York South—Weston Joseph Cordiano
19,932
Stephen Halicki
4,930
Brian Donlevy
6,247
Enrique Palad
794
Mariangela Sanabria (FCP)
475
Joseph Cordiano

Suburban Toronto

Electoral District Candidates   Incumbent
 Liberal PC NDP Green Other
Don Valley East David Caplan
21,327
Paul Sutherland
12,027
Murphy Browne
3,058
Dan Craig
558
Ryan Kidd (FCP)
460
Wayne Simmons (F)
119
David Caplan
Etobicoke Centre Donna Cansfield
22,070
Rose Andrachuk
17,610
Margaret Anne McHugh
3,400
Ralph M. Chapman
1,584
  Chris Stockwell
Etobicoke—Lakeshore Laurel Broten
19,680
Morley Kells
14,524
Irene Jones
8,952
Junyee Wang
708
Ted Kupiec (FCP)
480
Janice Murray (Ind Renewal)
225
Morley Kells
Etobicoke North Shafiq Qaadri
16,727
Baljit Gosal
6,978
Kuldip Singh Sodhi
3,516
Mir Kamal
503
Frank Acri (Ind)
1,990
Teresa Ceolin (FCP)
1,275
John Hastings
Scarborough—Agincourt Gerry Phillips
23,026
Yolanda Chan
11,337
Stacy Douglas
2,209
Lawrence Arkilander
566
Tony Ieraci
(FCP)
550
Gerry Phillips
Scarborough Centre Brad Duguid
21,698
Marilyn Mushinski
11,686
Michael Laxer
3,653
Robert Carty
642
Costas Manios (Independent Liberal)
3,259
Joseph Internicola (FCP)
495
Elizabeth Rowley (Comm)
241
Marilyn Mushinski
Scarborough East Mary Anne Chambers
21,798
Steve Gilchrist
14,323
Gary Dale
5,250
Hugh McNeil
668
Sam Apelbaum (Lbt)
285
Steve Gilchrist
Scarborough—Rouge River Alvin Curling
23,976
Kevin Moore
9,468
Jean-Paul Yovanoff
2,246
Karen Macdonald
1,326
Mitchell Persaud
(FCP)
536
Alvin Curling
Scarborough Southwest Lorenzo Berardinetti
17,501
Dan Newman
11,826
Barbara Warner
6,688
Andrew Strachan
689
Ray Scott (FCP)
586
Dan Newman
Willowdale David Zimmer
21,823
David Young
19,957
Yvonne Bobb
3,084
Sharolyn Vettesse
933
Rina Morra (FCP)
442
Vaughan Byrnes (F)
227
David Young
York Centre Monte Kwinter
18,808
Dan Cullen
7,826
Matthew Norrish
3,494
Constantine Kristonis
1,496
  Monte Kwinter
York West Mario Sergio
16,102
Ted Aver
2,330
Garth Bobb
3,954
Richard Von Fuchs
437
Christopher Black (Comm)
408
Mario Sergio

Brampton, Mississauga & Oakville

Electoral District Candidates   Incumbent
 Liberal PC NDP Green Other

Bramalea—Gore—Malton—Springdale

Kuldip Kular
19,306
Raminder Gill
15,549
Cesar Martello
4,931
Ernst Braendli
1,176
Frank Chilelli (Ind Renewal)
868
Howard Cukoff (Comm)
503
Raminder Gill
Brampton Centre Linda Jeffrey
16,661
Joe Spina
15,656
Kathy Pounder
4,827
Sanjeev Goel
820
Wally Dove (F)
356
Joe Spina
Brampton West—Mississauga Vic Dhillon
28,926
Tony Clement
26,414
Chris Moise
5,103
Paul Simas
811
Paul Micelli (FCP)
1,122
John G. Purdy (F)
266
Tony Clement
Mississauga Centre Harinder Takhar
18,466
Rob Sampson
15,846
Michael Miller
3,237
Jeffrey Scott Smith
776
John R. Lyall (FCP)
588
Rob Sampson
Mississauga East Peter Fonseca
16,686
Carl DeFaria
13,382
Michael Hancock
2,479
Donald Barber
666
Gary Nail (FCP)
358
Pierre Chenier (Ind Renewal)
256
Carl DeFaria
Mississauga South Tim Peterson
17,211
Margaret Marland
16,977
Ken Cole
3,606
Pamela Murray
949
Alfred Zawadzki (FCP)
555
Margaret Marland
Mississauga West Bob Delaney
27,903
Nina Tangri
20,406
Arif Raza
4,196
Richard Pereira
1,395
Charles Montano (FCP)
989
John Snobelen
Oakville Kevin Flynn
22,428
Kurt Franklin
18,991
Anwar Naqvi
2,858
  Theresa Tritt (FCP)
751
Gary Carr

Hamilton, Burlington & Niagara

Electoral District Candidates   Incumbent
 Liberal PC NDP Green Other
Ancaster—Dundas—
Flamborough—Aldershot
Ted McMeekin
23,045
Mark Mullins
18,141
Kelly Hayes
5,666
Brian Elder Sullivan
903
Michael Trolly (FCP)
434
Richard Butson (CoR)
293
Ted McMeekin
Burlington Mark Fuller
19,654
Cam Jackson
21,506
David Laird
3,832
Julie Gordon
1,086
Vic Corvaro (FCP)
523
Cam Jackson
Erie—Lincoln Vance Badawey
16,290
Tim Hudak
20,348
Julius Antal
3,950
Tom Ferguson
713
Steve Elgersma (FCP)
666
Tim Hudak
Halton Barbara Sullivan
28,112
Ted Chudleigh
33,610
Jay Jackson
5,587
Matthew Raymond Smith
1,295
Giuseppe Gori (FCP)
1,123
Ted Chudleigh
Hamilton East Dominic Agostino
16,015
Sohail Bhatti
4,033
Bob Sutton
9,035
Raymond Dartsch
563
Bob Mann (Comm)
380
Kelly Greenaway (Ind Renewal)
378
Michael Izzotti (FCP)
304
Dominic Agostino
Hamilton Mountain Marie Bountrogianni
23,524
Shakil Hassan
8,637
Chris Charlton
12,017
Selwyn Inniss
494
Eleanor Johnson (FCP)
748
Marie Bountrogianni
Hamilton West Judy Marsales
15,600
Doug Brown
8,185
Roy Adams
13,468
Jo Pavlov
727
Lynne Scime (FCP)
750
Jamilé Ghaddar (Ind Renewal)
303
David Christopherson
Niagara Centre Henry D'Angela
12,526
Ann Gronski
10,336
Peter Kormos
23,289
Jordan McArthur
768
  Peter Kormos
Niagara Falls Kim Craitor
18,904
Bart Maves
15,353
Claude Sonier
4,962
Ryan McLaughlin
1,124
  Bart Maves
St. Catharines Jim Bradley
25,319
Mark Brickell
12,932
John Bacher
3,944
Jim Fannon
1,167
Linda Klassen (FCP)
714
Jim Bradley
Stoney Creek Jennifer Mossop
24,751
Brad Clark
19,517
Lorrie McKibbon
5,419
Richard Safka
898
  Brad Clark

Midwestern Ontario

Electoral District Candidates   Incumbent
 Liberal PC NDP Green Other
Brant Dave Levac
24,236
Alayne Sokoloski
13,618
David Noonan
5,262
Mike Clancy
1,014
John Turmel (Ind)
295
Dave Levac
Cambridge Jerry Boyle
16,559
Gerry Martiniuk
19,996
Pam Wolf
8,513
Michael Chownyk
983
Al Smith (FCP)
1,001
Gerry Martiniuk
Guelph—Wellington Liz Sandals
23,607
Brenda Elliott
20,735
James Valcke
6,745
Ben Polley
3,917
Alan John McDonald (FCP)
914
Brenda Elliott
Haldimand—Norfolk—Brant Rob Esselment
17,151
Toby Barrett
20,109
Paul Steiner
4,720
Graeme Dunn
1,088
Barra Gots (FCP)
548
Toby Barrett
Huron—Bruce Carol Mitchell
19,879
Helen Johns
16,594
Grant Robertson
4,973
Shelley Hannah
934
Dave Joslin (FCP)
902
Robert Sabharwal (F)
127
Helen Johns
Kitchener Centre John Milloy
18,280
Wayne Wettlaufer
16,210
Ted Martin
6,781
Luigi D'Agnillo
1,728
  Wayne Wettlaufer
Kitchener—Waterloo Sean Strickland
22,456
Elizabeth Witmer
23,957
Dan Lajoie
6,084
Pauline Richards
1,774
Lou Reitzel (FCP)
949
Owen Alastair Ferguson (Ind)
242
Julian Ichim (Ind Renewal)
153
Elizabeth Witmer
Oxford Brian Brown
16,135
Ernie Hardeman
18,656
Shawn Rouse
5,318
Tom Mayberry
838
Andre De Decker (FCP)
689
Paul Blair (F)
404
Kaye Sargent (Lbt)
306
Ernie Hardeman
Perth—Middlesex John Wilkinson
17,017
Bert Johnson
15,680
Jack Verhulst
4,703
John Cowling
1,201
Pat Bannon (FCP)
857
Robert Smink (F)
384
Bert Johnson
Waterloo—Wellington Deborah Whale
17,344
Ted Arnott
22,550
Richard Walsh Bowers
3,970
Allan Strong
1,203
Gord Truscott (FCP)
978
Ted Arnott

Southwestern Ontario

Electoral District Candidates   Incumbent
 Liberal PC NDP Green Other
Chatham-Kent—Essex Pat Hoy
23,022
Dave Wilkinson
11,586
Derry McKeever
2,893
Jim Burgess
1,069
David Rodman (F)
281
Pat Hoy
Elgin—Middlesex—London Steve Peters
24,914
Bruce Smith
13,149
Bryan Bakker
4,063
Mark Viitala
1,236
Ray Monteith (F)
671
Steve Peters
Essex Bruce Crozier
20,559
Patrick O'Neil
11,234
Pat Hayes
12,614
Darren J. Brown
998
  Bruce Crozier
Lambton—Kent—Middlesex Maria Van Bommel
18,533
Marcel Beaubien
15,060
Joyce Jolliffe
4,523
Tim Van Bodegom
1,133
James Armstrong (Ind)
1,053
Wayne Forbes (F)
780
Marcel Beaubien
London North Centre Deb Matthews
20,212
Dianne Cunningham
13,460
Rebecca Coulter
11,414
Bronagh Joyce Morgan
780
Craig Smith (FCP)
432
Lisa Turner (F)
242
Dianne Cunningham
London—Fanshawe Khalil Ramal
13,920
Frank Mazzilli
11,777
Irene Mathyssen
12,051
Bryan Smith
568
Mike Davidson (F)
493
Frank Mazzilli
London West Christopher Bentley
25,581
Bob Wood
15,463
Patti Dalton
7,403
Laura Wythe
805
Bill Frampton (F)
460
Bob Wood
Sarnia—Lambton Caroline Di Cocco
18,179
Henk Vanden Ende
11,852
Glenn Sonier
6,482
Bradley Gray
1,414
Andrew Falby (F)
316
Caroline Di Cocco
Windsor—St. Clair Dwight Duncan
19,692
Matt Bufton
4,162
Madeline Crnec
10,433
Chris Holt
1,315
Saroj Bains (Ind Renewal)
253
Dwight Duncan
Windsor West Sandra Pupatello
21,993
Derek Insley
4,187
Yvette Blackburn
7,383
Cary M. Lucier
1,233
Enver Villamizar (Ind Renewal)
386
Sandra Pupatello

Northern Ontario

Electoral District Candidates   Incumbent
 Liberal PC NDP Green Other
Algoma—Manitoulin Mike Brown
14,520
Terry McCutcheon
5,168
Peter Denley
9,459
Ron Yurick
680
  Mike Brown
Kenora—Rainy River Geoff McClain
6,746
Cathe Hoszowski
3,343
Howard Hampton
15,666
Dan King
305
  Howard Hampton
Nickel Belt Alex McCauley
13,759
Dave Kilgour
4,804
Shelley Martel
16,567
Robert Nevin
479
  Shelley Martel
Nipissing Monique Smith
18,003
Al McDonald
14,978
Terry O'Connor
2,613
Jaimie Board
528
  Al McDonald
Parry Sound—Muskoka Dan Waters
13,332
Norm Miller
18,776
Jo-Anne Boulding
3,838
Glen Hodgson
2,277
Charlene Phinney (FCP)
484
Norm Miller
Sault Ste. Marie David Orazietti
20,050
Bruce Willson
2,674
Tony Martin
11,379
Dan Brosemer
441
Al Walker (FCP)
606
Tony Martin
Sudbury Rick Bartolucci
24,631
Mila Wong
5,068
Harvey Wyers
4,999
Luke Norton
1,009
  Rick Bartolucci
Thunder Bay—Atikokan Bill Mauro
17,735
Brian McKinnon
5,365
John Rafferty
6,582
Kristin Boyer
762
  Lyn McLeod
Thunder Bay—Superior North Michael Gravelle
21,938
Brent Sylvester
2,912
Bonnie Satten
4,548
Carl Rose
882
  Michael Gravelle
Timiskaming—Cochrane David Ramsay
18,499
Rick Brassard
6,330
Ben Lefebvre
5,741
Paul Palmer
489
  David Ramsay
Timmins—James Bay Michael Doody
12,373
Merv Russell
2,527
Gilles Bisson
14,941
Marsha Kriss
219
  Gilles Bisson

By-elections

Ten by-elections were held between the 2003 and 2007 elections.

Electoral District Candidates   Incumbent
 Liberal PC NDP Green Other
Hamilton East
May 13, 2004
Ralph Agostino
6,362
Tara Crugnale
1,772
Andrea Horwath
15,185
Raymond Dartsch
449
John Turmel (Ind)
122
Dominic Agostino
died March 24, 2004
Dufferin—Peel—Wellington—Grey
March 17, 2005
Bob Duncanson
4,621
John Tory
15,633
Lynda McDougall
3,891
Frank de Jong
2,767
Paul Micelli (FCP)
488
Bill Cook (Ind)
164
Philip Bender (Lbt)
135)
John Turmel (Ind)
88
Ernie Eves
resigned February 1, 2005
Scarborough—Rouge River
November 24, 2005
Bas Balkissoon
9,347
Cynthia Lai
4,032
Sheila White
2,425
Steven Toman
167
Alan Mercer (Lbt)
100
Rina Morra (FCP)
93
Wayne Simmons (F)
59
Alvin Curling
resigned August 19, 2005
Toronto—Danforth
March 30, 2006
Ben Chin
10,636
Georgina Blanas
2,713
Peter Tabuns
13,064
Paul Charbonneau
582
Franz Cauchi (F)
93
Marilyn Churley
Whitby—Ajax
March 30, 2006
Judi Longfield
14,529
Christine Elliott
15,843
Julie Gladman
3,204
Nick Boileau
307
Paul McKeever (F)
198
Jim Flaherty
Nepean—Carleton
March 30, 2006
Brian Ford
9,457
Lisa MacLeod
17,311
Laurel Gibbons
2,489
Peter Tretter
634
John Baird
Parkdale—High Park
September 14, 2006
Sylvia Watson
9,387
David Hutcheon
4,921
Cheri DiNovo
11,675
Frank de Jong
1,758
Stan Grzywna (FCP)
366
Jim McIntosh (Lbt)
162
Silvio Ursomarzo (F)
111
John Turmel (Ind)
77
Gerard Kennedy
York South—Weston
February 8, 2007
Laura Albanese
7,830
Pina Martino
1,941
Paul Ferreira
8,188
Mir Kamal
262
Kevin Clarke (Ind)
220
Mohammed Choudhary (Ind)
142
Mariangela Sanabria (FCP)
139
Nunzio Venuto (Lbt)
98
Wayne Simmons (F)
77
Joseph Cordiano
Burlington
February 8, 2007
Joan Lougheed
9,365
Joyce Savoline
11,143
Cory Judson
1,310
Frank de Jong
734
Paul Micelli (F)
106
John Turmel (Ind)
90
Cam Jackson
Markham
February 8, 2007
Michael Chan
9,080
Alex Yuan
6,420
Janice Hagan
1,492
Bernadette Manning
999
Cathy McKeever (F)
159
Patrick Redmond (FCP)
135
Jay Miller (Lbt)
126
Tony Wong

See also

General resources

Parties

Parties with seats in the house prior to dissolution

Other parties

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