ontario general election, 1995

The Ontario general election of 1995 was held on June 8, 1995, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of the province of Ontario, Canada. The governing Ontario New Democratic Party, led by Premier Bob Rae, was defeated by voters, who were angry at the mistakes made by the inexperienced NDP, and frustrated by rising taxes and unemployment. Liberal Party, led by Lyn McLeod had been leading in the polls, but was denied victory by voters who were uncomfortable about McLeod's "flip-flopping" on certain issues, including recognition of same-sex civil unions. The Progressive Conservative Party, led by Mike Harris, found success with its "Common Sense Revolution" campaign to cut personal income taxes, social assistance (welfare) rates, and government spending dramatically. Voters gave the Tories a large majority. One Independent candidate was elected: Peter North in Erie riding. North had been elected in 1990 as a New Democrat, but left the NDP and declared his intention to run as a Progressive Conservative. The PC Party did not accept him as a candidate, however, and he ran and won as an independent. The writs for the election were dropped on April 28, 1995.

Results

owspan="2" colspan="2"\|Party	rowspan="2"\|Party Leader	rowspan="2"\|# of candidates	colspan="3"\|Seats	colspan="3"\|Popular Vote
lign="center"\|Previous	align="center"\|After	align="center"\|% Change	align="center"\|#	align="center"\|%	align="center"\|% Change	Progressive Conservative	align=center\|Mike Harris	align=right\|125	align=right\|20	align=right\|82	align=right\| +310%	align=right\|1,870,110	align=right\|44.8%	align=right\|+21.3%	Liberal	align=right\|Lyn McLeod	align=right\|125	align=right\|36	align=right\|30	align=right\| -16.7%	align=right\|1,291,326	align=right\|31.1%	align=right\|-1.3%	New Democratic	align=center\|Bob Rae	align=right\|125	align=right\|74	align=right\|17	align=right\| -77.0%	align=right\|854,163	align=right\|20.6%	align=right\|-17.0%	Family Coalition	align=center\|Donald Pennell	align=right\|55	align=right\|-	align=right\|-	align=right\|-	align=right\|61,657	align=right\|1.5%	align=right\|-0.1%	Natural Law	align=center\|Ron Parker	align=right\|68	align=right\|-	align=right\|-	align=right\|-	align=right\|18,326	align=right\|0.4%	align=right\|+0.4%	Green	align=center\|Frank de Jong	align=right\|37	align=right\|-	align=right\|-	align=right\|-	align=right\|14,108	align=right\|0.4%	align=right\|-0.3%	Libertarian	align=center\|John Shadbolt	align=right\|18	align=right\|-	align=right\|-	align=right\|-	align=right\|6,085	align=right\|0.2%	align=right\|-0.4%	Freedom	align=center\|Jack Plant	align=right\|11	align=right\|-	align=right\|-	align=right\|-	align=right\|4,532	align=right\|0.1%	align=right\|-0.1%	Confederation of Regions	align=center\|	align=right\|6	align=right\|-	align=right\|-	align=right\|-	align=right\|3,971	align=right\|0.1%	align=right\|-1.8%	Communist	align=center\|Darrell Rankin	align=right\|5	align=right\|-	align=right\|-	align=right\|-	align=right\|1,015	align=right\|0.02%	align=right\|-0.08%	colspan="2"\|Independent	align=right\|61	align=right\|-	align=right\|1	align=right\|-	align=right\|33,077	align=right\|0.8%	align=right\|+0.5%
colspan="3"\|Total	align=right\|636	align=right\|130	align=right\|130	align=right\|-	align=right\|4,158,370	align=right\|100%	align=right\|-

Notes: At least five unregistered parties fielded candidates in this election.

The Reform Association of Ontario ran a number of candidates around London and the Kitchener-Waterloo region. Their leader was Kimble Ainslie.

John Steele campaigned as a candidate of the Communist League.

The Ontario Renewal Party ran a number of candidates under the leadership of Diane Johnston. This was the Marxist-Leninist party under a different name.

Amani Oakley and Joe Flexer ran as "Independent Labour" candidates in Toronto with the support of dissident or former members of the Ontario New Democratic Party and with the support of OPSEU in the case of Oakley and the Canadian Auto Workers in the case of Flexer http://www.bolshevik.org/Leaflets/Vote%20Flexer.html.

John Turmel's Abolitionist Party ran at least two candidates.

Candidates from the aforementioned parties appeared on the ballot as independents. It is possible that some candidates listed below as independents actually belonged to these or other parties.