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1867 Ontario general election
The 1867 Ontario general election was the first provincial election ("local election" colloquially at the time ) held in the newly created province of Ontario, upon Canadian Confederation to elected the members of Ontario 1st Legislative Assembly. The election took place in conjunction with the first Canadian federal election (called "dominion election" at the time) from late August to September that year, and on the same electoral boundaries.
The partisan make up of the legislature is not as straight forward as the numbers suggest. Political parties in the early days of confederation were characterized by "loose coalitions" that may change from issue to issue. It was clear however, that more than half of the members returned were supportive of the Patent Combination, the coalition ministry of John Sandfield Macdonald, appointed provisionally upon Canada's confederation, while those oppose were in minority, allowing the ministry to continue in government.
The outcome of the first Ontario election tells the story of the political mastery of one John Macdonald and the expediency of another, two erstwhile rivals both from eastern Ontario though with no familial relationship. While the more radical George Brown was the most prominent Liberal (or Reformer, as those in opposition to the Tories were known then) among the fathers of confederation and the principal rival to Canada's founding prime minister John A Macdonald, it was John Sandfield Macdonald leading a Liberal ministry who replaced John A when his Tories ministry was ousted between 1862 and 1864. With the exception of a two-day ministry led by Brown, one of two Macdonalds occupied the English co-premiership in the final decade of the United Province of Canada.
The politics of that final decade was however plagued by division along not just partisan but also religious and language lines. Governments were propped up by disgruntled opposition members with transitory loyalty and therefore were routinely on the verge of collapsing. When the united province's final Liberal ministry (or Reform ministry, the two terms being used interchangeably at the time) led by John Sandfield Macdonald collapsed in May 1864, it was the fourth government to fail in six years. Coming to terms with the unviability of the politics of the United Province, John A Macdonald's Tories (along their partner Parti bleu members in French Canada) and the Clear Grits wing of the Liberals led by George Brown entered into the Great Coalition with the goal of coming up with a sustainable arrangement of confederation. To secure Brown's buy-in, John A Macdonald gave three of the five seats designated for English speakers in his cabinet to the Liberals, a concession he refused to make in 1858 to secure Sandfield Macdonald's support. In opposition were a small faction English-speaking Liberals led by the sidelined Sandfield Macdonald and the Parti rouge from French Canada, opposing not just the government but the confederation project.
Once confederation arrangement were settled, Brown exited the coalition as planned. Recognizing the Conservatives’ extremely weak position in English Canada might prove his political undoing in the new dominion, John A set out to preserve the coalition under the Liberal-Conservative banner. Despite Sandfield Macdonald's vigorous opposition to confederation during earlier negotiations (he did not attend any of the three conferences leading to confederation and thus not among the 36 Fathers of Confederation) once it became inevitable, Sandfield Macdonald avenged his alienations from his Liberal peers by taking his small band of followers into the Liberal-Conservative coalition, and was sworn in on July 15, 1867 as the provisional premier of the newly created province. In the months that followed, the two Macdonalds went "hunting in pairs" and secured electoral mandates in their respective spheres in the concurrent elections.
As a newly created province within a newly created nation, not all rules governing the conduct of election and suffrage were clearly defined. The British North America Act 1867 (known as the Constitution Act, 1867 since the 1982 patriation of Canada's constitution) prescribes a number of ground rules relevant to the first election.
The elections laws of Canada West were updated in 1866, with electors required to meet a property qualification of being an owner or tenant with a property value listed on the assessment roll of $600 in a city, $400 in a town, $300 in an incorporated village, and $100 in a township or police village. Furthermore, urban residents must prove an annual income of at least $250. An estimated 16.5 per cent of the population of Ontario was enfranchised for the 1867 election.
The writ of election was issued on August 7, with election taking place over a number of weeks in August and September, with electoral district polls closing at different dates throughout the period. Under the system each electoral district was required to be polled in one day, but the day did not have to be the same across all electoral districts. Votes were recorded orally. The returned writs were dated (usually a few days after the actual election) as early as August 21 (in Lincoln and Grey North) to as late as September 26 (Middlesex North).
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1867 Ontario general election
The 1867 Ontario general election was the first provincial election ("local election" colloquially at the time ) held in the newly created province of Ontario, upon Canadian Confederation to elected the members of Ontario 1st Legislative Assembly. The election took place in conjunction with the first Canadian federal election (called "dominion election" at the time) from late August to September that year, and on the same electoral boundaries.
The partisan make up of the legislature is not as straight forward as the numbers suggest. Political parties in the early days of confederation were characterized by "loose coalitions" that may change from issue to issue. It was clear however, that more than half of the members returned were supportive of the Patent Combination, the coalition ministry of John Sandfield Macdonald, appointed provisionally upon Canada's confederation, while those oppose were in minority, allowing the ministry to continue in government.
The outcome of the first Ontario election tells the story of the political mastery of one John Macdonald and the expediency of another, two erstwhile rivals both from eastern Ontario though with no familial relationship. While the more radical George Brown was the most prominent Liberal (or Reformer, as those in opposition to the Tories were known then) among the fathers of confederation and the principal rival to Canada's founding prime minister John A Macdonald, it was John Sandfield Macdonald leading a Liberal ministry who replaced John A when his Tories ministry was ousted between 1862 and 1864. With the exception of a two-day ministry led by Brown, one of two Macdonalds occupied the English co-premiership in the final decade of the United Province of Canada.
The politics of that final decade was however plagued by division along not just partisan but also religious and language lines. Governments were propped up by disgruntled opposition members with transitory loyalty and therefore were routinely on the verge of collapsing. When the united province's final Liberal ministry (or Reform ministry, the two terms being used interchangeably at the time) led by John Sandfield Macdonald collapsed in May 1864, it was the fourth government to fail in six years. Coming to terms with the unviability of the politics of the United Province, John A Macdonald's Tories (along their partner Parti bleu members in French Canada) and the Clear Grits wing of the Liberals led by George Brown entered into the Great Coalition with the goal of coming up with a sustainable arrangement of confederation. To secure Brown's buy-in, John A Macdonald gave three of the five seats designated for English speakers in his cabinet to the Liberals, a concession he refused to make in 1858 to secure Sandfield Macdonald's support. In opposition were a small faction English-speaking Liberals led by the sidelined Sandfield Macdonald and the Parti rouge from French Canada, opposing not just the government but the confederation project.
Once confederation arrangement were settled, Brown exited the coalition as planned. Recognizing the Conservatives’ extremely weak position in English Canada might prove his political undoing in the new dominion, John A set out to preserve the coalition under the Liberal-Conservative banner. Despite Sandfield Macdonald's vigorous opposition to confederation during earlier negotiations (he did not attend any of the three conferences leading to confederation and thus not among the 36 Fathers of Confederation) once it became inevitable, Sandfield Macdonald avenged his alienations from his Liberal peers by taking his small band of followers into the Liberal-Conservative coalition, and was sworn in on July 15, 1867 as the provisional premier of the newly created province. In the months that followed, the two Macdonalds went "hunting in pairs" and secured electoral mandates in their respective spheres in the concurrent elections.
As a newly created province within a newly created nation, not all rules governing the conduct of election and suffrage were clearly defined. The British North America Act 1867 (known as the Constitution Act, 1867 since the 1982 patriation of Canada's constitution) prescribes a number of ground rules relevant to the first election.
The elections laws of Canada West were updated in 1866, with electors required to meet a property qualification of being an owner or tenant with a property value listed on the assessment roll of $600 in a city, $400 in a town, $300 in an incorporated village, and $100 in a township or police village. Furthermore, urban residents must prove an annual income of at least $250. An estimated 16.5 per cent of the population of Ontario was enfranchised for the 1867 election.
The writ of election was issued on August 7, with election taking place over a number of weeks in August and September, with electoral district polls closing at different dates throughout the period. Under the system each electoral district was required to be polled in one day, but the day did not have to be the same across all electoral districts. Votes were recorded orally. The returned writs were dated (usually a few days after the actual election) as early as August 21 (in Lincoln and Grey North) to as late as September 26 (Middlesex North).