Ontario Progressive Conservative Party

2007 Ontario General Election

Jay Makarenko — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 10:08:38 -0600

On October 10, 2007, Ontario voters returned Dalton McGuinty and the Ontario Liberal Party to government. McGuinty and the Liberals won a strong majority government, taking 71 of the 107 seats in the provincial legislature, as well as 42 percent of the popular vote. This article provides an overview of the 2007 general election, including a summary of the previous election, by-elections, and public opinion polls; background information on the three major political parties; and results of the election.

Ontario Electoral Backgrounder

Previous elections and pre-election polls

Ontario Liberal Party: 2007 Election Overview

Leader bio and election platform of the Liberals

Ontario PC Party: 2007 Election Overview

Leader bio and election platform of the Progressive Conservative

Ontario NDP: 2007 Election Overview

Leader bio and election platform of the New Democrats

Minor Parties in the 2007 Ontario Election

List and links to minor political parties in the election

Results of the 2007 General Election

Liberals win a majority government

Sources and Links for More Information

List of article sources and links for more on this topic

Ontario Electoral Backgrounder

Previous elections and pre-election polls

Results of 2003 General Election

The previous general election in Ontario was held in 2003, in which Dalton McGuinty and the Ontario Liberal Party won a majority government. The win was a major one for the Liberals, ending eight years of rule by the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party. Below is a summary of results from the 2003 general election.

Political Party	Popular Vote	Seats Won	Status
Liberal Party	46.45	72	Majority Government
Progressive Conservative Party	34.64	24	Official Opposition
New Democratic Party	14.70	07	-
Other	4.21	-	-

Party Standings Prior to 2007 Election

Prior to the calling of the 2007 general election, and the dissolution of the Ontario Legislative Assembly, party standings in the Assembly were as follows:

Political Party	Seats	Status in Assembly
Liberal Party	67	Government
Progressive Conservative Party	25	Official Opposition
New Democratic Party	10	Opposition party
Vacant	1	-

Much of the change in seat distribution since the 2003 election was the result of several provincial by-elections. Of the 10 by-elections held between 2003 and 2007, four were won by the NDP, three by the Liberals, and three by the PC Party (Elections Ontario, Past Election Results).

Pre-election Public Opinion Polls

Public opinion polls conducted prior to the election have shown a small lead for the Ontario Liberal Party, with the party’s level of support hovering around 40 percent. The Ontario PC Party is showing the second largest amount of support, between 33 and 35 percent. Support for the other major party, the NDP, ranges between 13 and 19 percent.

For more information on Ontario pre-election public opinion polling:

Ontario Liberal Party: 2007 Election Overview

Leader bio and election platform of the Liberals

Dalton McGuinty: Leader of the Liberal Party

Dalton McGuinty is currently Ontario’s Premier and the leader of the Ontario Liberal Party. He was born in Ottawa, Ontario, in 1955. He received a law degree from the University of Ottawa, and a science degree from McMaster University. McGuinty is married to his wife Terri, and together they have four children. Before entering politics, McGuinty practised law and taught business law at Carleton University. He was first elected to the Ontario Legislature in 1990, representing the riding of Ottawa South, and was elected leader of the Ontario Liberal Party in 1996. In 2003, his Liberal Party won the provincial government, with McGuinty becoming premier.

Liberal Party 2007 Election Platform

Moving Forward Together, the Liberal Party platform, centres on five key policy areas: education, the economy, health care, the environment, and families. Highlights of Moving Forward Together are as follows.

Regarding education, the Liberal Party promises the following initiatives:

Continue to improve the funding formula: invest an additional $3.1 billion annually by 2011 and require a funding formula review by 2010.
Double the funding for the Community Use of Schools program, so that space for after-school activities is affordable for all Ontario families and free in communities that need it most.
Make homework help available online and after school.
Create a $150 million Every Student Fund for students in grades 4–8 as the next step toward closing the gap in supports for elementary students.
Make schools healthier: ban trans fats from all school cafeterias, prescribe a healthier menu that conforms to the new Canada Food Guide, and create an Ontario Fitness Challenge program to fight childhood obesity.
Provide a new textbook and technology grant of $300 for university and college students to help them get started each year at school.
Introduce a special distance grant for students from remote areas.
Provide parents with a grant at the beginning of the school year instead of making them wait for the post-secondary education tax credit payable at the end of the year.
Work with the federal government to give students twice the amount of time before they must start repaying their student loans, so they have a chance to get established in their new careers.
Increase new apprenticeships by a full 25 percent.

In the area of the economy, the Liberals have made the following commitments:

Expand the Next Generation Jobs Fund to $1.15 billion to support job creation in areas of great potential for Ontario.
Establish Investment Ontario Inc., an independent investment attraction agency modeled on successful efforts in countries like Ireland.
Add a new Second Career strategy to the Rapid Re-Employment and Training Service, to help Ontarians who have suffered job loss build new skills and find new employment.
Help rural communities prosper by increasing the Rural Economic Development fund by 50 percent.
Increase funding for the Northern Heritage Fund to $100 million per year; to reflect the key role northern communities play in creating Ontario’s prosperity.
Help newcomers upgrade their skills by expanding the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) to include books, language courses and bridging programs.
Increase English as a Second Language funding for schools
Build a comprehensive poverty reduction strategy around the Ontario Child Benefit. This includes working with partners to develop indicators and targets to measure and address child poverty. The first step will be to support dental services for low-income Ontario families.
Building on the Liberals’ first-term successes in education and Best Start, appoint an Early Learning Advisor to advise the Premier on developing and funding a full-day pre-school program.
Create a long-term strategy for affordable housing.
Continue to balance the budget and pay down the provincial debt.
Help Ontario businesses stay competitive by eliminating the capital tax and reducing provincial property taxes on business.

For health care, the Liberal Party has committed to continuing investment in universal public health care, with a focus on preventive health care and making the system more patient-friendly. Specific initiatives include:

Expand the province’s progress on wait times to more services; specifically, emergency room visits, children’s surgery and general surgery.
Deliver access to a family doctor to 500,000 more Ontarians.
Deliver 50 more Family Health Teams over the next four years, targeting areas in rural and northern Ontario, where doctors are harder to find.
Hire 9,000 more nurses, meet the goal to have 70 percent of nurses working full time, guarantee jobs for new nursing grads, invest in healthy work environments for nurses and establish 25 more nurse-led clinics.
Support Ontario seniors who want to stay in their own homes with an easy-to-access basket of services, improve the level of care in long-term care homes with 2,000 new nurses, build 35,000 long-term care beds over 10 years, and provide financial support for those caring for elderly family members.
Help the growing number of Ontarians living with diabetes through a mix of prevention, technology, personal planning, and access to specialized resources and health professionals.
Improve breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening rates and cover the cost of both the PSA test to detect prostate cancer and the HPV vaccine to prevent cervical cancer.
Provide tax incentives to encourage Ontarians to stay active in their daily lives, including a break on provincial sales tax on bicycles and bike helmets and tax credits for families with children enrolled in organized physical activities.

In the context of environmental policy, the Liberal Party is committed to the following initiatives:

Introduce the province’s first long-term energy plan in a generation, which will include a reducing reliance on coal-generated energy.
Build more rapid transit in the province.
Reduce emissions that cause climate change by 6 percent below 1990 levels by 2014, 15 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 and 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.
Provide rebates and tax incentives for Ontarians to buy energy efficient appliances and make energy-saving investments in their home.
Eliminate inefficient, old light bulbs.
Provide financial assistance to communities to help save energy and reduce emissions that cause climate change.
Create a tough new toxic reduction law that requires companies that emit toxic pollution to reduce their emissions over time.
Work with Cancer Care Ontario and the Ontario Medical Association to identify, target, and reduce the number of cancer-causing agents released into Ontario’s environment.
Ban the cosmetic use of pesticides across the province.
Implement the Endangered Species Act, beginning with a plan to protect large-scale areas for caribou habitat in the Boreal Forest.
Consider applications by regional and county governments to grow the Greenbelt.
Create stronger protections for threatened lakes like Lake Simcoe and provide funding to clean up hot spots in the Great Lakes, like Randle Reef in Hamilton.

Finally, in the area of families, the Liberal Party has made the following election promises:

Help families with the cost of taking care of an aging parent or relative at home.
Expand the new home tax credit to all first-time homebuyers, to help young Ontarians starting out.
Create a new homeowners grant for seniors who have trouble paying their property taxes, to help them stay at home.
Obtain Ontario’s fair share of new federal funding for new police. Use that money to hire at least 1,000 additional officers, half of them municipal officers and half frontline Ontario Provincial Police officers.
Continue to press the federal government to ban handguns.
Keep dangerous offenders off Ontario’s streets. Increase the number of applications for dangerous offender status, keep closer watch on dangerous offenders when they are released, and work with the federal government to make it more difficult for dangerous to get out of prison in the first place.
Make sure families can depend on modern infrastructure, by investing at least $60 billion over the next 10 years in critical infrastructure such as public transit, roads and bridges, water systems, waste solutions, and cultural and community recreational facilities.
Preserve the unique character of small-town Ontario by redeveloping historic downtowns through a new partnership.
In the first year of the Liberal Party’s next mandate, create a new long weekend in February.
Help people have families by making fertility monitoring available earlier in life, so people know whether or not they are likely to have a problem having children and make treatment and adoption more accessible and affordable for people.
Ensure that military families qualify for all provincial services immediately upon taking residence in Ontario by exempting them from the 90-day waiting period faced by most newcomers to the province.

Ontario PC Party: 2007 Election Overview

Leader bio and election platform of the Progressive Conservative

John Tory: Leader of the PC Party

Going into the 2007 general election, John Tory is the leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party. Tory was born on May 28, 1954. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Trinity College at the University of Toronto, followed by a law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School at the University of Toronto. From 1972-79, Tory worked as a radio reporter, interviewer, and newscaster for Rogers Broadcasting Ltd. From 1995-99, and from 1999-2003, Tory served as the President and CEO of Rogers Cable Inc. He also spent many years as a managing partner in one of Ontario’s largest law firms, Tory Tory DesLauriers & Binnington, from 1980-81 and 1986-95. In 2004, he was elected leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, and was elected to the provincial legislature shortly thereafter.

PC Party 2007 Election Platform

The PC Party election platform is outlined in a party document titled For A Better Ontario: Leadership Matters. In that document, the PC Party makes a wide range of election promises in several different policies areas. The following highlights some of the Party’s key election commitments stated in For A Better Ontario.

Regarding health care, the PC Party has promised the following:

Guarantee growth in health funding. John Tory will significantly increase health care investments so that by the fourth year of a PC government, spending will be $8.5 billion more than current annual spending by the McGuinty Liberals. Hospitals and health care providers will be informed well in advance how much money they will get every year.
Improve access to services, decrease wait times, and increase capacity by working with both public- and private-sector partners.
Help ensure Ontario has enough doctors by implementing a comprehensive long-term physician recruitment strategy.
Invest in training and education programs for health care professionals in under-serviced communities. The physician and specialist shortages in these areas will also be reduced using technology to improve remote access and improve the quality of care.

In the area of education, the PC Party platform includes the following initiatives:

Improve the education funding formula and keep it updated. Provide short-term help to schools in financial trouble, smaller and rural schools in danger of closing, and schools that need more flexibility to meet local needs such as more ESL funding.
Move to a better, more sensible way to reduce class sizes. The key is allowing local flexibility so that school boards can decide the best way to use their resources.
Provide stable, long-term funding so that educators can plan for the future with confidence.
Expand standardized testing. Standardized tests are an effective measure of how students measure up to Ontario’s standards, as long as such tests supplement, but never replace, hands-on evaluation by a teacher.
Ensure a safe, secure learning environment for students and staff in Ontario’s schools. Create a secure system for students and parents to report incidents to their schools, and work with schools on a system for mandatory responses. Local parent councils will be allowed to make decisions about funding school safety and anti-violence programs, so that local needs are met.
Continue to invest in early childhood education, building on the success of the early learning centres.
Ensure English as a Second Language (ESL) programs help those who need it.
Take action to bring faith-based schools into the public system, by creating an opportunity for non-Catholic, faith-based schools to choose to join the publicly funded education system the same way Catholic schools have already done.

The PC Party platform also makes several commitments with regard to making communities safer. These include:

Focus on key areas where crime is growing or is of greatest public concern. These include drugs, violent youth crime, and white collar crime.
Strengthen programs that focus on early intervention and prevention, starting from the belief that hope and opportunity can overcome social alienation and temptation to get into crime.
Keep more dangerous offenders behind bars by using special prosecutors who will navigate the complex process of getting a dangerous-offender order in place.
Demand that the federal government improve the National Sex Offender Registry by automatically adding designated offenders, and making the registry available 24/7 to law enforcement officers.
Appoint more Justices of the Peace as soon as possible, to avoid having more charges thrown out of court because there is no JP available.
Enhance the openness of the justice system through a Truth and Transparency in the Justice System Act that would require annual public reports on the activities of Ontario’s courts.
Work with the federal government to increase police on the streets.
Improve information sharing between police forces so that cases do not fall between the cracks, and work with communities to provide the latest information and education programs for law enforcement.
Work with the police to enhance 24/7 policing, recognizing that most crimes now take place between midnight and 4:00 a.m.

The PC Party also promises to fight poverty in the province through several policies and programs:

House the homeless by granting municipal agencies the flexibility to use their funding to find permanent housing for the homeless.
Grow the supply of co-operative housing.
Increase the minimum wage to a realistic level that allows Ontarians at that income level to live in dignity.
Break down the barriers that keep many skilled immigrants in poverty, including faster recognition of foreign credentials and more help for new Ontarians to settle in their new homes and to upgrade their skills and education.
Provide equal protection for vulnerable people. Crimes against vulnerable people, whether they are drug addicts, prostitutes, the homeless or anyone else, must be seen as equally important in the eyes of our justice system.
Work with Ontario’s Aboriginal peoples to address the deplorable conditions in many Aboriginal communities.

In the area of taxation and government finance, the PC Party promises the following:

Lower levels of taxation in the province, while committing to a balanced budget
Phase out the provincial health tax.
Put a 5 percent cap on annual property assessment increases for as long as an individual owns her or his home.

In the context of government reform, the PC Party is committed to the following policies (PC Party, For A Better Ontario…):

Reforming Ontario’s provincial parliament, based on four principles: (1) enhancing the role of the individual MPP; (2) making government more accountable by using the legislature more effectively; (3) encouraging greater emphasis on consensus as opposed to confrontation to improve the productivity of the Legislature and respect for MPPs and the parliamentary process; and (4) encourage more diversity and gender balance through family- and MPP-friendly reforms.
Adopt new accountability practices. Appoint chief financial officers, just like the position in corporations with responsibility for tracking and managing money. Create an independent Legislative Budget Office that will prevent the government from distorting budget numbers, while demonstrating more accountability to elected parliamentarians.
Make the regulatory process more transparent, so that proposed regulations are pre-published for public review, not just passed in secret by the Cabinet.

In the area of economic policy, the PC Party promises the following:

Reduce the regulatory burden on small businesses, by adopting British Columbia’s model of regulatory review. This would require government to justify every new regulation created.
Join the inter-provincial free trade agreement between British Columbia and Alberta, and explore a similar arrangement with Quebec.
Remove barriers to investment by favouring taxes that are predictable and share the burden as broadly and progressively as possible.
Build a new economic foundation for the North through the creation of a 25-year plan to support innovation and economic development in the North.
Improve Canada-U.S. border crossings and work with the United States to find an alternative to the US’s new passport requirements that are hurting both economies.

Ontario NDP: 2007 Election Overview

Leader bio and election platform of the New Democrats

Howard Hampton: Leader of the NDP

Howard Hampton is the leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party in the 2007 election. He was born in 1952. Hampton is married to Shelley Martel, and they have two children. He earned his law degree from the University of Ottawa, a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Toronto, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. Prior to entering politics, Hampton worked as a labour lawyer for the Canadian Labour Congress and in private practice in Fort Frances. He also worked for the Blakeney government in Saskatchewan, and as a teacher in southern and northern Ontario. Hampton was first elected to the Ontario legislature in 1987. Under Premier Bob Rae, he served as the Minister of Natural Resources and as Attorney General of Ontario. He was elected leader of the party in 1996.

NDP 2007 Election Platform

The NDP election platform focuses on fighting for a fair deal for working families. In this context, the NDP has outlined a set of initiatives in the areas of taxation, social spending, and the environment. These include:

Increase investment in health care, education, and other public services working families need.
Immediately increase the minimum wage to $10/hour, with subsequent increases to match inflation.
Help working families by keeping property taxes down, freezing transit fares, and reducing home energy bills by providing energy efficiency and conservation incentives (loans and grants) for home retrofits.
Implement a Fair Tax Plan that would ensure that all pay their fair share of taxes. This would include maintaining the current level of manufacturing and small business taxes, while bringing in a modest increase in the General Corporate Tax rate (from 14 to 14.5 percent). Also, for individuals making $150,000 or more, create a new provincial personal income tax bracket that is two per cent higher than the existing upper rate.
Commit to protecting good jobs and ensuring that manufacturing plants are not shut down at the expense of workers’ benefits, pensions, and severance.
Establish a Right-to-Know law that ensures families know what toxins and other environmental hazards are in their food, air, ground and water.
Fight global warming by shutting down Ontario’s biggest polluter – the Nanticoke coal plant – by 2011, and investing in safe, green, renewable energy instead of nuclear mega-schemes.
Fast-track public transit expansion – including new investments in light rail and GO Transit – to reduce greenhouse gases the quickest.

Minor Parties in the 2007 Ontario Election

List and links to minor political parties in the election

While the Liberal, Progressive Conservative, and New Democratic parties are the major political parties in the election, there are several minor parties participating. These include:

Results of the 2007 General Election

Liberals win a majority government

The Ontario Liberals won a strong majority government in the 2007 general election, taking 71 of the 107 seats in the provincial legislature (CBC, October 11, 2007). This nearly equaled their total of 72 seats in the 2003 general election. The Liberals also picked up 42 percent of the popular vote (a small decrease from their 46 percent in 2003) (CBC, October 11, 2007). The Liberal victory was of historical significance, as it marked the first time in 70 years that the provincial Liberals had won back-to-back majority governments in Ontario.

The Progressive Conservative Party came in second and formed the Official Opposition, winning 26 seats and 31 percent of the vote(CBC, October 11, 2007). In the 2003 general election, the Party won 24 seats and 34 percent of the vote. Of note, John Tory, the Party’s leader, failed to win his riding in the 2007 election, meaning that he will not be able to sit in the provincial legislature until another election or by-election is held.

The New Democratic Party came in third, with 10 seats and 16 percent of the vote(CBC, October 11, 2007). This represented an upswing for the Party from the 2003 general election, in which it won 7 seats and 14 percent of the vote. Finally, the Green Party failed to win any seats in the election. The Party, however, did manage to get 8 percent of the popular vote(CBC, October 11, 2007).

Sources and Links for More Information

List of article sources and links for more on this topic

Sources Used for this Article

“Ontario Votes 2007.” CBC. 11 October 2007. <http://www.cbc.ca/ontariovotes2007/>
“Registered Political Parties in Ontario.” Elections Ontario. 14 September 2007. <http://www.elections.on.ca/en-CA/CandidatesAndParties/PoliticalParties/RegisteredPoliticalPartiesinOntario.htm>
“Past Election Results.” Elections Ontario. 14 September 2007. <http://www.elections.on.ca/en-CA/Tools/PastResults.htm>
“Health Tax Rebate.” Ontario New Democratic Party. 14 September 2007. <http://ontariondp.com/node/1636>
“$10 Minimum Wage – Roll Back McGuinty’s $40,000 Pay Raise.” Ontario New Democratic Party. 14 September 2007. <http://ontariondp.com/node/1639>
“Protect Children and the Environment.” Ontario New Democratic Party. 14 September 2007. <http://ontariondp.com/node/1643>
“For a Better Ontario: Leadership Matters.” Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. 14 September 2007. <http://www.leadershipmatters.ca/resources/Plan_for_Ontario’s_Future_060907.pdf>
“Moving Forward, Together: The Ontario Liberal Plan, 2007 – Highlights.” Ontario Liberal Party. 14 September 2007. <http://server.ontarioliberal.ca/OLPFinal/upload/dir/Highlights.MovingForwardTogether.ENG.pdf>

List of Links for More Information

John Tory

Greg Farries — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 08:29:36 -0600

John Tory is Leader of the Official Opposition and of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario. He served as Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for Dufferin—Peel—Wellington—Grey from 2005-07. Tory was unsuccessful in his bid to unseat provincial Liberal incumbent Kathleen Wynne in the riding of Don Valley West in the election held October 10, 2007.

His first bid for the Premiership was unsuccessful. His “faith-based education” proposal, which entailed providing public funding for other faith-based schools (in addition to the Catholic school system), became a focal point of the provincial election campaign. It proved to be a highly contested election issue, generating so much media attention and pressure that Tory ultimately stated that, if elected, he would hold a free vote on the issue.

Despite serving as Party Leader since only 2004, Tory has a longstanding involvement in politics as an organizer and fundraiser. He has been actively involved in the PC Party for more than 35 years. He has been held a variety of positions in election campaigns for key Progressive Conservatives (former Prime Ministers, Premiers and key cabinet ministers) at both the federal and provincial levels. In 2003, he ran as a mayoral candidate in the City of Toronto – a race he lost to David Miller. From 1981 to 1985, he served in the Office of the Premier of Ontario Bill Davis as Principal Secretary to the Premier and Associate Secretary of the Cabinet. He joined the Ontario Young Progressive Conservative Association in 1969.

Tory became Leader of the PC Party of Ontario after a distinguished career as a businessman, lawyer, and journalist. He served as President and CEO, first of Rogers Media and then Rogers Cable, successfully positioning Rogers as an industry leader. Prior to that Tory was a lawyer in his father’s law firm, Tory Tory DesLauriers & Binnington; he served as partner, managing partner, and member of the Executive Committee. In the 1970s, Tory worked as a journalist at Toronto radio stations owned by Rogers Broadcasting Ltd.

Born on May 28, 1954, Tory was raised and educated in Toronto. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toronto’s Trinity College, and a law degree from York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School. Tory married his wife Barbara Hackett in 1978. They have four children: John, Christopher, Susan, and George.

Tory has also been very active in volunteer and community service, working for such organizations as the Salvation Army, the University of Toronto, and the Canadian Paraplegic Association. He also served as League Commissioner for the Canadian Football League for four years. In 2002, he was named Volunteer Fundraiser of the Year in Ontario.

2003 Ontario General Election

Jay Makarenko — Mon, 01 Sep 2003 00:00:00 -0600

On October 2, 2003, Ontario voters changed the landscape of politics in their province by electing Dalton McGuinty and the Ontario Liberal Party to government. The election results ended eight years of rule by the Progressive Conservatives, first under Premier Mike Harris, and later under Premier Ernie Eves. This article provides an overview of the history, issues, party leaders and platforms, and results of the 2003 Ontario provincial election.

Ontario Electoral Backgrounder

Previous elections and pre-election party standings/polls

2003 Ontario Progressive Conservative Party

Leader and key policies of the Progressive Conservative Party

2003 Ontario Liberal Party

Leader and key policies of the Liberal Party

2003 Ontario New Democratic Party

Leader and key policies of the New Democratic Party

2003 Ontario Election Results

Liberal Party wins a majority government

Links to More Information

List of links for more on this topic

Ontario Electoral Backgrounder

Previous elections and pre-election party standings/polls

1999 General Election Results

The last Ontario general election was held in 1999. In that election, the Progressive Conservative Party won its second majority government. Progressive Conservative Party leader Mike Harris was re-elected Premier of Ontario.

Political Party	Seats	Result
Progressive Conservatives	59	Majority Government
Liberals	35	Official Opposition
New Democratic Party	09
Source: Elections Ontario – Results and Statistics

Provincial By-elections (1999-2003)

In 2000, one by-election was held, in which the Liberal candidate won the seat.

Constituency: Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Aldershot

Candidate	Party	% Vote
Ted McMeekin	Liberal	58.75
Priscilla De Villiers	PC	30.09
Jessica Brennan	NDP	6.78
Source: Elections Ontario – Results and Statistics

In 2001, three by-elections were held, with the Progressive Conservative Party, the Liberal Party, and the NDP each winning one seat.

Constituency: Parry Sound-Muskoka

Candidate	Party	% Vote
Norm Miller	PC	49.30
Evelyn Brown	Liberal	34.31
Joanne R. Bury	NDP	3.39
Source: Elections Ontario – Results and Statistics

Constituency: Vaughan-King-Aurora

Candidate	Party	% Vote
Greg Sorbara	Liberal	61.24
Joyce Frustaglio	PC	33.94
Mike Seaward	NDP	1.97
Source: Elections Ontario – Results and Statistics

Constituency: Beaches-East York

Candidate	Party	% Vote
Michael Prue	NDP	49.66
Bob Hunter	Liberal	36.44
Mac Penney	PC	9.99
Source: Elections Ontario – Results and Statistics

In 2002, two by-elections were held, with the Progressive Conservatives taking both seats.

Constituency: Dufferin-Peel-Wellington-Grey

Candidate	Party	% Vote
Ernie Eves	PC	46.59
Josh Matlow	Liberal	35.74
Doug Wilcox	NDP	8.02
Source: Elections Ontario – Results and Statistics

Constituency: Nipissing

Candidate	Party	% Vote
Al McDonald	PC	45.54
George Maroosis	Liberal	45.48
Wendy Young	NDP	5.93
Source: Elections Ontario – Results and Statistics

Pre-election Public Opinion Polls

In June 2003, Ipso-Reid released a poll indicating a large lead in support for the Liberal Party, with the Progressive Conservatives and New Democrats in second and third place, respectively. The following are some of the results from that poll.

Party Support
Liberals	48%
Progressive Conservatives	35%
New Democrats	14%

Make Best Premier
PC Eves	39%
LIB McGuinty	28%
NDP Hampton	15%

Opinion of PC Premier Eves
Improved	15%
Stayed the Same	48%
Worsened	32%
Opinion of NDP Leader Hampton
Improved	13%
Stayed the Same	66%
Worsened	8%
Opinion of LIB Leader McGuinty
Improved	20%
Stayed the Same	60%
Worsened	12%

Source: Ipso-Reid Ontario Politics Poll

Party Standings Prior to the Election

Prior to the election, the Progressive Conservatives held a majority government in the Ontario Legislature, with the Liberal Party as the Official Opposition. Ernie Eves, leader of the Progressive Conservative Party, was the Premier of Ontario at the time of dissolution.

Political Party	Seats	Result
Progressive Conservatives	56	Majority Government
Liberals	36	Official Opposition
New Democratic Party	09
Independent	01
Vacant	01
(Current as of July 07, 2003) Source: Legislative Assembly of Ontario Website

2003 Ontario Progressive Conservative Party

Leader and key policies of the Progressive Conservative Party

Leader of the Progressive Conservative Party

Ernie Eves was born in Windsor, Ontario, in 1946. He attended the University of Toronto and Osgoode Hall Law School at York University. He was called to the bar in 1972 and was made a Queen’s Counsel in January 1983. Mr. Eves is the father of a daughter, Nathalie. He was first elected to the Ontario legislature in 1981 as the member for Parry Sound. Mr. Eves has served as Deputy Minister, Minister of Finance, Government House Leader, Minister of Community and Social Services and Minister of Skills Development, and the Provincial Secretary for Resources Development with primary responsibility for native affairs. In 2001, Mr. Eves left politics and entered the private sector. In March 2003, following the resignation of Make Harris as Premier and Progressive Conservative Party leader, Mr. Eves was elected party leader. In April 2002 he became Premier of Ontario.

Progressive Conservative Party Platform

In the area of economic policy, the Ontario PC Party made the following commitments:

Tax deductions: Introduce a mortgage interest tax deduction to help homeowners, a property tax break for seniors, greater tax deductions for caregivers, and more tax relief for job-creating businesses.
Government finances: Continue to balance the budget and pay down Ontario’s debt.
Labour and Energy: Sensible labour laws and reliable, affordable energy to keep the economy strong.
Taxpayer rights: Create the Taxpayer Protection Act and new standards for accountability to protect Ontario taxpayers.

Regarding health care and education policy, the Ontario PC Party promised the following:

Shorter waits: Provide shorter waiting times for priority services such as surgery and MRI scans, guaranteed to be within recommended medical limits.
Investment: Invest more money into facilities and doctors and nurse recruitment.
Standardized testing: Introduce standardized tests and other reforms to make sure every student has an equal opportunity for success.
Prohibition of strikes: Prohibit education strikes, lockouts and work-to-rule job action during the school year.

In regard to social policy and communities, the Ontario PC Party committed the following:

Crime: Introduce tougher laws, more resources and funding for more police, probation, and parole officers. Specifically, provide funding for at least another 1,000 front-line police officers across Ontario.
Immigration: Negotiate an immigration deal with the federal government to give Ontario the power to bring in the necessary skilled immigrants, and to secure provincial borders against criminals and terrorists.
Homelessness: Introduce Shared Care Teams of outreach workers, nurses, doctors, and psychiatrists to bring health and mental health services to homeless people. These Shared Care Teams will have the power to remove people from the streets and take them into care when it is necessary for their protection.
Social Service Abuse: Prevent illegal immigrants and deportees from using the Ontario Health Insurance Plan, end legal aid for refugee and immigrant claims, and crack down on welfare fraud.
Highways and Transit Investment: Commit to investing in highways and transit to meet growing transportation demands. Also commit to being sensitive to the environment when planning and implementing highway and transit projects.

2003 Ontario Liberal Party

Leader and key policies of the Liberal Party

Leader of the Liberal Party

Dalton McGuinty was born in Ottawa, Ontario, in 1955. He received a law degree from the University of Ottawa, and a science degree from McMaster University. Mr. McGuinty is married to his wife Terri, and together they have four children. Before entering politics, Mr. McGuinty practised law and taught business law at Carleton University. He was first elected to the Ontario Legislature in 1990, representing the riding of Ottawa South. Mr. McGuinty was elected Leader of the Ontario Liberal Party in 1996.

Liberal Party Platform

In economic policy, the Ontario Liberals promised the following:

Government finances: Freeze taxation levels and strengthen investment in core public services.
New investment: Attract new investment in key job-creating sectors, including the auto industry, agriculture, and small business.
Labour training: Increase accessibility to post-secondary education, freeze tuition and double the number of apprenticeships.
Trade: Expand trade relationships and invest in faster, more efficient, border crossings while maximizing security.

In health care and education, the Ontario Liberal Party made the following commitments:

Medicare Act: Pass a Commitment to Medicare Act that will make universal, public medicare the law in Ontario.
Shorter waits: Guarantee waiting times for treatment, expand critical diagnostic services, and open 1600 new hospital beds.
Accountability and transparency: Give the Provincial Auditor the authority to audit all health care agencies and deliverers.
Senior health: Reverse the 15 percent hike in nursing home fees. Invest in home care and set high standards for nursing homes.
Commitment to prevention: Increase investment in prevention programs to keep Ontarians healthy, thereby reducing pressure on the health care system.
Reject the Progressive Conservative Party’s strategy of supporting private schools. Introduce programs and support for struggling schools and to help schools innovate. Offer public school choice so parents can decide which public school is right for their children.
Include a real cap of 20 students per class in the early grades. Provide teaching mentors in schools to aid other teachers.
Ensure that all students have the opportunity to experience a full range of learning that includes music, art and drama, as well as sports and other extracurricular activities. These are essential parts of a well-rounded education.
Introduce an Excellence for All Plan that guarantees that within the first Liberal mandate, 75 percent of students will meet or exceed the provincial standard on province-wide tests.

In the area of government, the Ontario Liberals promised the following initiatives:

Election reform: Commit to a more inclusive political process in Ontario. Hold elections on fixed dates and introduce Internet voting.
Democratic reform: Make institutions more democratic by freeing Members of the legislature to represent their constituents, mandating public consultation on all major legislation, and requiring Ministers to attend Question Period.
Campaign finance reform: Impose strict limits on money raised and spent in politics.

In the area of social policy and communities, the Liberals made the following commitments:

Introduce a Best Start program, in which parents will be entitled to assistance with their childcare costs paid to caregivers who register with the government, undergo a background check, and receive ongoing training.
Pollution: Clean up air, protect water, and crack down on polluters.
Urban sprawl: Address gridlock, contain sprawl and preserve green space.
Housing: Provide real protection for tenants and invest in affordable housing.
Crime: Invest in more police and prosecutors.
Northern/Rural: Introduce new programs to support rural communities and northern development.

2003 Ontario New Democratic Party

Leader and key policies of the New Democratic Party

Leader of the New Democratic Party

Howard Hampton was born in 1952. He is married to Shelley Martel, and together they have two children. He earned his law degree from the University of Ottawa, a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Toronto, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. Prior to entering politics, Mr. Hampton worked as a labour lawyer for the Canadian Labour Congress and in private practice in Fort Frances. He also worked for the Blakeney government in Saskatchewan, and as a teacher in southern and northern Ontario. Mr. Hampton was first elected to the Ontario legislature in 1987. Under Premier Bob Rae, Mr. he served as the Minister of Natural Resources and as Attorney General of Ontario. He was elected leader of the party in 1996.

New Democratic Party Platform

In social and economic policy, the NDP made the following commitments:

Labour: Increase the minimum wage to $8 an hour, prohibit scabs (those hired to replace striking workers) and treat injured workers fairly.
Child care: Reduce child care fees to $10 a day for children aged 18 months to five years in non-profit, regulated child care, and create 20,000 new child care spaces.
Pensions: Protect pensions from inflation, and allow employees to transfer their pensions from job to job.
Stable funding: Create dedicated Education Excellence Fund for education funding.
Public school support: No public funds for private schools.
Post-secondary education: Cut tuition by 10 percent and ensure that no student is denied a quality education or training for financial reasons.

In health care policy, the NDP committed the following:

Home care: Extend public home care, create 100 new Community Health Centres and cut long-term care user fees.
Public health care support: Cancel plans for private MRI/CT clinics and privately built hospitals, and put funds back into public health care.

In the area of communities, the NDP promised the following:

Public hydro support: Stop hydro privatization and deregulation and ensure clean, reliable public power at cost.
Clean water: Keep the province’s public drinking water and protect water from source to tap.
Affordable housing: Freeze rents for two years. Build at least 32,000 units of affordable housing and increase shelter allowances.
Transportation: Lower transit fares, shorten waits, and reduce gridlock with a dedicated transportation trust fund.

2003 Ontario Election Results

Liberal Party wins a majority government

The Liberal Party soundly defeated the incumbent Progressive Conservatives, winning a large majority government. As a result, Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty became the new Premier of Ontario. The Liberals managed to end the PC Party’s eight-year rule, forming only the second Liberal majority government in 65 years.

Results of Election
Political Parties	Popular Vote	Seats Won	Status
Liberal Party	46.45	72	Majority Government
Progressive Conservative Party	34.64	24	Official Opposition
New Democratic Party	14.70	07	-
Other	4.21	-	-

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