ontario general election, 1985

The Ontario general election of 1985 was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, Canada. The Ontario Liberal Party, led by David Peterson, with support from the New Democratic Party, led by Bob Rae, formed a minority government despite having fewer seats than the previously governing Progressive Conservative Party led by Frank Miller. This election ended 42 years of Conservative rule, during which the Tories retained power with the help of the "Big Blue Machine", a group of political professionals, and by governing in a moderate, non-confrontational way. Frank Miller came to the PC leadership with a much more right-wing image than his predecessor, William Davis. Voters were worried that Miller would take the government in a more conservative direction, and many moved their support to Peterson's more moderate Liberals. The Liberals won a marginally larger share of the popular vote than the PCs.

Results

nbsp;	Party	Leader	align="center"\|Previous	Seats won	align="center"\|% change	align="center"\|Popular vote (%)	Progressive Conservative	Frank Miller	align="right"\|70	align="right"\|52	align="right"\|-25.7%	align="right"\| 37.0%	Liberal	David Peterson	align="right"\|34	align="right"\|48	align="right"\|+41.2%	align="right"\| 37.9%	New Democratic	Bob Rae	align="right"\|21	align="right"\| 25	align="right"\|+19.0%	align="right"\| 23.8%	Libertarian	Scott Bell	align="right"\|	align="right"\|-	align="right"\|	align="right"\| 0.4%	Green		align="right"\|	align="right"\|-	align="right"\|	align="right"\| 0.1%	Communist		align="right"\|	align="right"\|-	align="right"\|	align="right"\| 0.1%	Freedom		align="right"\|	align="right"\|-	align="right"\|	align="right"\| 0.1%	Others		align="right"\|	align="right"\|-	align="right"\|	align="right"\| 0.7%
olspan="3"\|Total Seats	align="right"\|125	align="right"\| 125	align="right"\|-	align="right"\| 100%	-

Ontario General Election, 1985

Results

See also