Year Ontario elections - Share of seats Total2025 1242022 1242018 1242014 1072011 1072007 1072003 1031999 1031995 1301990 1301987 1301985 1251981 1251977 1251975 1251971 1171967 1171963 1081959 981955 981951 901948 901945 90 90 90 90 112 1121923 1111919 111 1111911 1061908 1061905 981902 981898 94 94 911886 901883 881879 88 881871 821867 82 Liberal Progressive/UFO Green   Labour Independent Conservative/PC NDP   CCF Other

Ontario general elections (more commonly and colloquially referred to as Ontario provincial elections) are held for the purpose of determining the government of the province of Ontario, the most populous subnational jurisdiction in Canada through democratic means. A general election was most recently held in February 2025, through which the incumbent Progressive Conservative government led by Premier Doug Ford was re-elected with its third majority mandate.

Like other Westminster-style parliamentary governments, Ontario voters exercise their democratic franchise indirectly by electing local representatives, known as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs), to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, via plurality voting (or the "first-past-the-post" system). All Canadian citizens age eighteen or above who resides in Ontario are entitled to vote in elections held for the electoral district they reside in. Post secondary students temporary residing elsewhere for school may opt to exercise that right in the electoral district of their temporary residence. Former residents of Ontario may also be entitle to vote if they meet specific criteria.

The head of Ontario's government, the Premier of Ontario, is typically the MPP that leads political party with the most seats in the legislature. They are normally "elected" by virtue of being the leader of the political party with a majority of the seats in the legislature, or had secured the needed support from other parties to command the confidence of the legislature.

The province is divided into electoral districts, colloquially known as ridings, primarily but not exclusively, by population distribution. Since the 1926 election, each electoral district elect one MPP to occupy a "seat" at Queen's Park, the moniker for the legislature due to its physical location in said park in downtown Toronto. There are currently 124 seats at Queen's Park. The number of seats has varied over time, from 82 for the first election in 1867, to a high of 130 in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Ontario provincial elections are held on Thursdays. Section 4 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom requires that provincial general election be held no later than five years after the previous election. Since the end of World War II, elections are usually held every three or four years. Fixed date election law adopted in 2003 further regulate timing of Ontario general electionElection Statute Law Amendment Act, 2016, S.O. 2016, c. 33 - Bill 45 until they were repealed in late 2025.News Release -- Ontario Strengthening Provincial Electoral ProcessesCBC News -- Ontario to scrap fixed election dates, raise party donation limit to $5K under new bill

History

Before Confederation Since its formal formation at Canadian confederation in 1867, Ontario has held forty-four general elections. Elections for local legislative assembly members however started a few decades earlier. Soon after Upper Canada was made a separate British Colony from the British Province of Quebec, the first election for the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada was held in 1792. Upper Canada held thirteen elections between 1792 and 1836 before being merged back with Lower Canada to form the Province of Canada in 1840. Eight elections were held between 1841 and 1863 to elect members to its Legislative Assembly.

However, some of the earlier elections were not determinant of the colonial government of the day. The first election that meaningfully determine the executive leadership of the colonial government was held in 1848, when the principle of responsible government was formally implemented in the Province of Canada.

Evolution of election procedure and eligibility Ontario held its first provincial election, then called "local election", in conjunction with Canada's first federal election, then called "dominion election" in late summer of 1867. The election was held on different days in different districts over August and September. Balloting was not done in secret, but was recorded orally in front of election officials and representatives of candidates. Candidates were allowed to run for and to hold seats in the Canadian Parliament and the Ontario legislature simultaneously, or to contest multiple districts in the same election. A number of prominent political figures were members of both the first Canadian parliament and the first Ontario parliament. Though only one person, Liberal Premier Edward Blake, had ever been returned to the legislature by more than one district in a Ontario general election.

To be eligible to vote, one must be a male British subject twenty-one or older. A voter must meet a property qualification of being an owner or tenant with a property valued with a certain minimum value, and an urban voter must further meet an annual income requirement. An estimated 16.5% of Ontario 1.6 million residents were eligible to vote in the first election.

Election laws received a great deal of attention from Ontario political leaders in the early years of the provinces, and improvements were made rapidly. By the second election held in 1871, elections in all electoral district were held on the same day. By the third election held in 1875, Ontario elections were conducted with secret ballots.

By the end of 1872, it was no longer possible for an individual to be an MP and MPP simultaneously, though one could be a candidate in multiple electoral districts for many more decades. While few people have done so in the twentieth century, it remained technically possible and lawful for an individual to stand for elections in multiple districts in Ontario until 1984.

Voting franchise in Ontario elections was expanded to include women in 1917. Their eligibility to stand for office in the subsequent election however remained uncertain in absence of specific legislation until Edwards v Canada (AG) (the Persons Case launch by the Famous Five) was decided in 1929. In the final legislative sittings month prior to the 1919 election, the Women's Assembly Qualification Act, 1919 was enacted to specifically state that women were qualified to be elected to the Legislative Assembly. Liberal Henrietta Bundy Independent Justerna Sears contested that year's election, but it would be more than 20 years later when a was elected to the legislature.

List of general elections

YearTotalseatsPremier following electionConservativeLiberalNDP / CCFUFO/LabourProgressiveGreen OtherNote # % # % # % # % #Pty# 1867 82 John Sandfield Macdonald 50.04150.3 41 48.8 - - - - 1871 Edward Blake 52.4 39 46.7 4352.3 - - - - 1875 88 Sir Oliver Mowat 58.0 37 48.3 51 48.1 - - - - 1879 64.8 31 48.7 57 48.1 - - - - 1883 56.8 37 47.5 5049.4 - - 1.5 1 - 1886 90 63.3 32 47.1 5748.4 - - 3.9 1 - 1890 91 60.4 36 47.9 5551.1 - - - - 1894 94 62.8 32 41.0 5953.2 - - 0.5 - Patrons 3 1898 Arthur Hardy 54.3 43 48.1 51 47.3 - - - - 1902 98 Sir George Ross 51.0 48 50.0 50 47.5 - - - - 1905 Sir James Whitney 71.47053.1 28 46.1 - - - - 1908 106 81.18654.7 19 40.0 - 1 1.7 - - 1911 78.38357.3 22 38.5 - 1 2.4 - - 1914 111 75.78455.3 26 38.6 - 1 1.3 - - 1919 Ernest Drury 51.4 25 34.6 29 27.3 - 56 33.1 - Soldier 1 1923 Howard Ferguson 67.67549.8 14 20.3 - 21 26.9 1 - 1926 112 66.17457.61924.5 - 15 9.4 - 4 1929 82.19258.8 14 32.8 - 6 5.8 - - 1934 90 Mitchell Hepburn 76.7 17 39.8 6950.4 1 7.0 2 1.6 1 - 1937 73.3 23 40.0 6651.9 - 5.3 1 2.4 - - 1943 George A. Drew 42.23835.7 16 31.2 34 31.7 2 1.1 - - 1945 73.36644.2 14 29.8 8 22.4 2 2.8 - - 1948 58.95341.5 14 29.8 21 27.0 2 1.0 - - 1951 Leslie Frost 87.87944.3 8 31.5 2 19.1 1 0.7 - - 1955 98 85.78448.5 11 33.3 3 16.5 - 1.2 - - 1959 72.47146.3 22 36.6 5 16.7 - - - 1963 108 John Robarts 71.37748.92435.1 7 15.5 - - - 1967 117 59.06942.1 28 31.7 20 25.9 - - - 1971 Bill Davis 66.77844.5 20 27.8 19 27.1 - - - 1975 125 40.85136.1 36 34.3 38 28.9 - - - 1977 46.45839.6 34 31.4 33 28.2 - - - 1981 56.07044.4 34 33.7 21 21.2 - - - 1985 David Peterson 38.4 52 36.9 48 37.9 25 23.8 - - - 1987 130 73.1 16 24.7 9547.3 19 25.7 - - - 1990 Bob Rae 56.9 20 23.5 36 32.4 7437.6 - - - 1995 Mike Harris 63.18245.0 30 31.1 17 20.5 - 1 - 1999103 57.35945.1 35 39.9 9 12.6 - - - 2003 Dalton McGuinty 69.9 24 34.7 7246.4 7 14.7 - 2.8 - - 2007 107 66.4 26 31.6 7142.3 10 16.8 - 8.0 - - 2011 49.5 37 35.4 5337.6 17 22.6 - 2.9 - - 2014 Kathleen Wynne 54.2 28 31.2 5838.7 21 23.7 1 4.6 - - 2018 124 Doug Ford 61.37640.5 7 19.6 40 33.6 1 4.6 - - 2022 66.98340.8 8 23.9 31 23.7 1 6.0 1 - 2025 64.58043.0 14 30.0 27 18.6 2 4.8 1 - Year TotalseatsPremier following election %PartyNoteOtherProgressiveConservativeLiberalNDP Green

See also Timeline of Canadian elections List of political parties in Ontario List of Ontario by-elections

References

Sources

Notes

External links Elections Ontario