1914 Ontario general election
The 1914 Ontario general election was the 14th general election held in the Province of Ontario, Canada. It was held on June 29, 1914, to elect the 111 Members of the 14th Legislative Assembly of Ontario (MLAs).
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111 seats in the 14th Legislative Assembly of Ontario 56 seats were needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Ontario Conservative Party, led by Sir James P. Whitney, won a fourth consecutive term in government. Whitney died three months after the election and was succeeded by William Howard Hearst. The Conservatives contested 109 of the 111 ridings, deciding not to have candidates stand in Glengarry (where the Liberal Hugh Munro was acclaimed) and Norfolk North (where the Liberal incumbent Thomas Robert Atkinson was up against a Liberal anti-Temperance candidate). However, dissension within the Tory ranks resulted in a significant number of them campaigning as either independent or temperance candidates.
The Ontario Liberal Party, led by Newton Rowell, formed the official opposition.
Independent Labour MLA Allan Studholme was re-elected in Hamilton East. He had held the seat since a 1906 by-election.
The campaign was seen to turn more significantly on the matter of Regulation 17 (which limited instruction in French-language Catholic separate schools), in comparison to temperance issues, and that worked against the Liberals, who placed Prohibition of sales in bars and clubs as a main plank in their platform.