2003 Ontario general election

The 2003 Ontario general election was held on October 2, 2003, to elect the 103 members of the 38th Legislative Assembly (Members of Provincial Parliament, or "MPPs") of the Province of Ontario, Canada.

2003 Ontario general election

October 2, 2003
103 seats in the 38th Legislative Assembly of Ontario 52 seats were needed in a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Dalton McGuinty Ernie Eves Howard Hampton Party Liberal Progressive Conservative New Democratic Leader since December 1, 1996 March 23, 2002 June 22, 1996 Leader's seat Ottawa South Dufferin—Peel—Wellington—Grey Kenora—Rainy River Last election 35 59 9 Seats won 72 24 7 Seat change 37 35 2 Popular vote 2,090,001 1,559,181 660,730 Percentage 46.4% 34.6% 14.7% Swing 6.6pp 10.5pp 2.1pp
Popular vote by riding. As this is an FPTP election, seat totals are not determined by popular vote, but instead via results by each riding. Click the map for more details.
Premier before election Ernie Eves Progressive Conservative Premier after election Dalton McGuinty Liberal

The election was called on September 2 by Premier Ernie Eves to capitalize on an increase in support for the governing Ontario Progressive Conservative Party in the days following the 2003 North American blackout. The election was won, however, by the Ontario Liberal Party, led by Dalton McGuinty.

Lead up to the campaign

In 1995, the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party or "Tories" under Mike Harris came from third place to upset the front-running Ontario Liberal Party under Lyn McLeod and the highly unpopular governing Ontario New Democratic Party under Bob Rae to form a majority government. The Harris government was far more activist than earlier Ontario PC governments, and over the next two terms moved to cut personal income tax rates by 30%, closed almost 40 hospitals to increase efficiency, cut the Ministry of the Environment staff in half, and undertook massive reforms of the education system, including mandatory teacher testing, student testing in public education, and public tax credits for parents who sent their children to private schools.

In the 1999 provincial election, the Tories were able to ride a strong economy and a campaign aimed at proving rookie Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty was "not up to the job" to another majority government. The Walkerton Tragedy, however, where a contaminated water supply led to the deaths of 7 people and illness of at least 2,300 were linked in part to government environment and regulatory cutbacks, and as a result the government's popularity was badly damaged. A movement to provide tax credits to parents with children in private schools also proved to be unpopular.

In October 2001, Harris announced his intention to resign,[1] and the PC party called a leadership convention for 2002 to replace him. Five candidates emerged: former Finance Minister Ernie Eves who had retired earlier that year, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, Environment Minister Elizabeth Witmer, Health Minister Tony Clement and Labour Minister Chris Stockwell.[1] The resulting leadership election was divisive in the PC Party, with Flaherty adopting a hard-right platform and attacking the front-running Eves as "a pale, pink imitation of Dalton McGuinty" and a "serial waffler". At one point, anti-abortion activists apparently supporting Flaherty distributed pamphlets attacking Tony Clement because his wife worked for hospitals that performed abortions. At the convention, Eves won on the second ballot after Elizabeth Witmer and Tony Clement both endorsed him.

Eves took office on April 15, 2002, and promptly re-aligned his government to the political centre. The party would negotiate a deal with striking government workers, dramatically cancel an IPO of Hydro One, the government's electricity transmission company, and defer planned tax breaks for corporations and private schools for a year. With polls showing the Conservatives moving from a 15-point deficit to a tie in public opinion with the Liberals, the media praising Eves' political reorientation of the government, and the opposition Liberals reeling from the seizure of some of their political turf, the time seemed ripe for a snap election call. Many political observers felt that Eves had the momentum to win an election at that time.

However, several factors likely convinced Eves to wait to call an election. First, in 1990, the Liberals had lost the election in part due to perceptions that they called the election early for purely partisan reasons. Since then, the shortest distance between elections had been four years less five days (Ontario has since moved to fixed date election dates). Second, the PC Party was exhausted and divided from a six-month leadership contest. Third, the move to the centre had created opposition in traditional Conservative support. Financial conservatives and businesses were angered over Eves' cancellation of the hydro IPO. Others felt betrayed that promised tax cuts had not been delivered, seemingly breaking the PCs' own Taxpayer Protection Act, while private school supporters were upset their promised tax credit had been delayed for a year.

In the fall of 2002, the opposition Liberals began a round of attacks on perceived PC mismanagement. First, Jim Flaherty was embroiled in scandal when it was revealed that his leadership campaign's largest donor had received a highly lucrative contract for slot machines from the government.[2] Then, Tourism Minister Cam Jackson was forced to resign when the Liberals revealed he had charged taxpayers more than $100,000 for hotel rooms, steak dinners and alcoholic beverages.[3] The Liberals showed the Tories had secretly given a large tax break to the Toronto Blue Jays, a team owned by prominent Tory Ted Rogers.

At the same time, both the New Democrats and Liberals criticized the government over skyrocketing electricity prices. In May 2002, the government had followed California and Alberta in deregulating the electricity market. With contracting supply due to construction delays at the Pickering nuclear power plant and rising demand for electricity in an unusually warm autumn, the spot price for electricity rose, resulting in consumer outrage. In November, Eves fixed the price of electricity and ended the open market, appeasing consumers but angering conservative free-marketers.

That winter, Eves promised a provincial budget before the beginning of the fiscal year, to help hospitals and schools budget effectively. However, as multiple scandals in the fall had already made the party unwilling to return to Question Period, they wished to dismiss the Legislative Assembly of Ontario until as late as possible in the spring. The budget was instead to be announced at the Magna International headquarters in Newmarket, Ontario, rather than in the Legislature. The move was met with outrage from the PC Speaker Gary Carr, who called the move unconstitutional and would rule that it was a prima facie case of contempt of the legislature. The controversy over the location of the budget far outstripped any support earned by the content of the budget.

The government faced a major crisis when SARS killed several people in Toronto and threatened the stability of the health care system. On April 23, when the World Health Organization advised against all but essential travel to Toronto to prevent the spread of the virus, Toronto tourism greatly suffered.

Downtown Toronto during the 2003 Blackout

When the spring session was finally convened in late spring, the Eves government was forced through three days of debate on the contempt motion over the Magna budget followed by weeks of calls for the resignation of Energy Minister Chris Stockwell. Stockwell was accused of accepting thousands of dollars in undeclared gifts from Ontario Power Generation, an arms-length crown corporation he regulated, when he travelled to Europe in the summer of 2002. Stockwell finally stepped aside after dominating the provincial news for almost a month, and did not seek reelection.

By the summer of 2003, the Progressive Conservatives received an unexpected opportunity to re-gain popularity in the form of the 2003 North American blackout. When the blackout hit, Eves initially received criticism for his late response; however, as he led a series of daily briefings to the press in the days after the blackout, Eves was able to demonstrate leadership and stayed cool under pressure. The crisis also allowed Eves to highlight his principal campaign themes of experience, proven competence and ability to handle the government. When polls began to register a moderate increase for the Conservatives, the table was set for an election call.

Progressive Conservative campaign

In 1995 and 1999, the Progressive Conservatives ran highly focused, disciplined campaigns based on lessons learned principally in US states by the Republican Party. In 1995, the core PC strategy was to polarize the electorate around a handful of controversial ideas that would split opposition between the other two parties. The PCs stressed radical tax cuts, opposition to job quotas, slashing welfare rates and a few hot button issues such as opposing photo radar and establishing "boot camps" for young offenders. They positioned leader Mike Harris as an average-guy populist who would restore common sense to government after ten lost years of NDP and Liberal mismanagement. The campaign manifesto, released in 1994, was titled the "Common Sense Revolution" and advocated a supply-side economics solution to a perceived economic malaise.

In 1999, the PCs were able to point to increased economic activity as evidence that their supply side plan worked. Their basic strategy was to polarize the electorate again around a handful of controversial ideas and their record while preventing opposition from rallying exclusively around the Liberals by undermining confidence in Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty. They ran a series of negative television ads against McGuinty in an attempt to brand him as "not up to the job". At the same time, they emphasized their economic record, while downplaying disruptions in health care and education as part of a needed reorganization of public services that promoted efficiency and would lead to eventual improvements.

Both campaigns proved highly successful and the principal architects of those campaigns had been dubbed the "whiz kids" by the press. David Lindsay, Mike Harris's chief of staff, was responsible for the overall integration of policy, communications, campaign planning and transition to government while Mitch Patten served as campaign secretary. Tom Long and Leslie Noble jointly ran the campaigns, with Long serving as campaign chair and Noble as campaign manager. Paul Rhodes, a former reporter, was responsible for media relations. Deb Hutton was Mike Harris's right arm as executive assistant. Jaime Watt and Perry Miele worked on the advertising. Guy Giorno worked on policy and speechwriting in 1995 and in 1999 was in charge of overall messaging. Scott Munnoch was tour director and Glen Wright rode the leader's bus. Future leader John Tory worked on fundraising and debate prep, and was actually one of two people (the other was John Matheson) to play Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty during preparation for the 1999 leaders' debate. (Andy Brandt and Giorno played NDP leader Howard Hampton.)

Heading into 2003, Tom Long refused to work for Ernie Eves. Most speculated that Long saw Eves as too wishy-washy and not enough of a traditional hard-right conservative. Jaime Watt took Long's position as campaign co-chair and more or less all the same players settled into the same places. A few new faces included Jeff Bangs as campaign manager. Bangs was a long-time Eves loyalist who had grown up in his riding of Parry Sound.

The Progressive Conservatives once again planned on polarizing the electorate around a handful of hot button campaign pledges. However, with their party and government listing in public opinion polls, they found their only strong contrasts were around the experience and stature of Premier Eves. Their campaign slogan "Experience You Can Trust" was designed to highlight Eves' years in office.

The party platform, dubbed "The Road Ahead", was longer and broader than in earlier years. Five main planks would emerge for the campaign:

1. Tax deductions for mortgage payments.
2. Rebate seniors the education portion of their property taxes.
3. Tax credits for parents sending their children to private schools.
4. Banning teachers' strikes by sending negotiations to binding arbitration.
5. A "Made-in-Ontario" immigration system.

Each plank was targeted at a key Tory voting bloc: homeowners, seniors, religious conservatives, parents and law-and-order types.

Eves' campaigning followed a straightforward pattern. Eves would highlight one of the five elements of the platform and then attack Dalton McGuinty for opposing it. For instance, he would visit the middle-class home of a visible minority couple with two kids and talk about how much money they would get under his mortgage deductibility plan. That would be followed by an attack on McGuinty for having a secret plan to raise their taxes. Or he would campaign in a small town assembly plant and talk about how under a "Made-in-Ontario" immigration plan fewer new Canadians would settle in Toronto and more outside the city, helping the plant manager with his labour shortage. Then he would link McGuinty to Prime Minister of Canada Jean Chrétien and say McGuinty supported the federal immigration system that allows terrorists and criminals into the country.

The Tory television advertising also attempted to polarize the election around these issues.

In one of the ads, a voice-over accompanying an unflattering photo of the Liberal leader asks "Ever wonder why Dalton McGuinty wants to raise your taxes?" The ad then points out that McGuinty has opposed Tory plans to allow homeowners a tax deduction on mortgage interest and to give senior citizens a break on their property taxes.

In another ad, the voice-over asks "Doesn't he (McGuinty) know that a child's education is too important to be disrupted by lockouts and strikes?" It says that McGuinty has sided with the unions and rejected the Tory proposal to ban teacher strikes.

Both ads end with the attack "He's still not up to the job."

Armed with a majority, the Tories were hoping to hold the seats they already had, while targeting a handful of rural Liberal seats in hopes of increasing their majority. They campaigned relatively little in Northern Ontario, with the exception of North Bay and Parry Sound, both of which they held.

Liberal campaign

The first half of Dalton McGuinty's 1999 campaign was widely criticized as disorganized and uninspired, and most journalists believe he gave a poor performance in the leaders' debate. However, McGuinty was able to rally his party in the last ten days. On election day, the Liberals won 40% of the vote, their second best showing in almost fifty years. Perhaps more importantly, nine new MPPs were elected, boosting the caucus from 30 to 36, including dynamic politicians like George Smitherman and Michael Bryant.

In 1999, the Liberal strategy had been to polarize the electorate between Mike Harris and Dalton McGuinty. They purposely put out a platform that was devoid of ideas, to ensure the election was about the Tory record, and not the Liberal agenda. To an extent, they succeeded. Support for the NDP collapsed from 21% to just 13%, while the Liberals climbed 9%. However, while they almost cornered the market of those angry at the Tories, they could not convince enough people to be angry at the Tories to win.

The night he conceded defeat, McGuinty was already planning how to win the next election. He set out the themes that the Liberals would build into their next platform. Liberals, he said, would offer "some of those things that Ontarians simply have to be able to count on - good schools, good hospitals, good health care, good education and something else.... We want to bring an end to fighting so we can finally start working together."

McGuinty replaced many of his young staff with experienced political professionals he recruited. The three he kept in key positions were Don Guy, his campaign manager and a pollster with Pollara, Matt Maychak, his director of communications, and Bob Lopinski, his director of issues management. To develop his platform, he added to this a new chief of staff, Phil Dewan, a former policy director for Premier David Peterson and Ottawa veteran Gerald M. Butts. He also sought out Peterson-era Ontario Minister of Labour Greg Sorbara to run for president of the Ontario Liberal Party.

Early on, McGuinty set down three strategic imperatives. First, no tax cuts. This ran against the conventional wisdom of politics that it was necessary to offer tax cuts to win; everyone from Mike Harris to Bill Clinton had campaigned on reducing the tax burden on the middle class. But McGuinty was determined that Ontario voters would accept that the money was needed to restore public health care and education services. Second, a positive tone. McGuinty wanted to avoid the typical opposition leader role of automatically opposing whatever the government announced, and instead, set the agenda with positive alternatives. While attacking the opponent was important, that would be left to caucus surrogates. Third, one big team. At the time, the Ontario Liberal Party was riven into factions. Peterson-era people distrusted more recent arrivals. Jean Chrétien supporters fought with Paul Martin supporters. McGuinty set a tone that divisions were left at the door.

The emphasis on building the team was highly successful as job that in 1999 were done by one person were now assigned to groups of four or six or eight. Dewan brought on board veterans of the Peterson regime such as Sheila James, Vince Borg and David MacNaughton. From Ottawa, campaign veterans such as Warren Kinsella, Derek Kent and Gordon Ashworth signed on to help oust the Ontario Tories from power.

The Liberal strategy was the same as in 1999: polarize the election between the Conservatives and Liberals to marginalize the NDP and then convince enough voters that the Conservatives had to go. With polls showing more than 60% of voters reporting it was "time for a change", the Liberals campaign theme was "choose change". The theme summarized the two-step strategy perfectly: first, boil the election down to a two-party choice and then cast the Liberals as a capable and trustworthy agent of change at a time when voters were fed up with the government.

After the sparse platform of 1999, the 2003 Liberal platform was a sprawling omnibus of public policy crossing five main policy booklets, three supplements aimed at specific geographic or industrial groups and a detailed costing exercise. The principle planks that were highlighted in the election were:

1. Freezing taxes and balancing the books.
2. Improving test scores and lowering class sizes in public schools.
3. Reducing wait times for key health services.
4. Improving environmental protection and quality of life.
5. Repairing the divisions of the Harris-Eves era.

McGuinty backed up his comprehensive platform with a meticulous costing by a forensic account and two bank economists. While the Conservatives had adopted a third-party verification in 1995, they did not in 2003, allowing the Liberals to gain credibility that they could pay for their promises.

In contrast to the Eves campaign, where the leader was both positive and negative message carrier, the Liberals used a number of caucus members to criticize the Harris-Eves government while McGuinty was free to promote his positive plan for change.

The Liberal advertising strategy was highly risky. While conventional wisdom says the only way to successfully respond to a negative campaign is with even more negative ads against the opponent, McGuinty ran only positive ads for the duration of the campaign.

In the pre-writ period, the Liberal advertising featured Dalton McGuinty speaking to the camera, leaning against a tree while snow falls, saying "People hear me say that I'll fix our hospitals and fix our schools and yet keep taxes down. Am I an optimist? Maybe. What I'm not is cynical, or jaded, or tired. I don't owe favours to special interests or old friends or political cronies. Together, we can make Ontario the envy of the world, once again. And, I promise you this, no one will work harder than I will to create that Ontario."

During the first stage of the campaign, the principal Liberal ad featured a tight close-up of Dalton McGuinty as he spoke about his plans for Ontario. In the key line of the first ad, McGuinty looks into the camera and says "I won't cut your taxes, but I'm not going to raise them either."

Geographically, the Liberal campaign was able to rest on a solid core of seats in Toronto and Northern Ontario that were at little risk at the beginning of the election period. They had to defend a handful of rural seats that had been recently won and were targeted by the PCs. However, the principle battlefield of the election was in PC-held territory in the "905" region of suburbs around Toronto, particularly Peel and York districts, suburban seats around larger cities like Ottawa and Hamilton and in Southwestern Ontario in communities like London, Kitchener-Waterloo and Guelph.

NDP campaign

The 1999 NDP campaign received its lowest level of popular support since the Second World War, earning just 12.6% of the vote and losing party status with just nine seats. Several factors led to this poor showing, including a lacklustre campaign, Hampton's low profile, and a movement called strategic voting that endorsed voting for the Liberals in most ridings in order to remove the governing Tories. After the election, there was a short-lived attempt to remove leader Howard Hampton publicly led by leaders of the party's youth wing. However, the majority of party members blamed the defeat on NDP supporters voting Liberal in hopes of removing Harris and the Tories from power. As a result, Hampton was not widely blamed for this severe defeat and stayed on as leader.

Under the rules of the Legislative Assembly, a party would receive "official party status", and the resources and privileges accorded to officially recognized parties, if it had 12 or more seats; thus, the NDP would lose caucus funding and the ability to ask questions in the House. However, the governing Conservatives changed the rules after the election to lower the threshold for party status from 12 seats to 8. The Tories argued that since Ontario's provincial ridings now had the same boundaries as the federal ones, the threshold should be lowered to accommodate the smaller legislature. Others argued that the Tories were only helping the NDP so they could continue to split the vote with the Liberals.

During the period before the election, Hampton identified the Conservative plan for deregulating and privatizing electricity generation and transmission as the looming issue of the next election. With the Conservatives holding a firm market-oriented line and the Liberal position muddled, Hampton boldly focused the party's Question Period and research agendas almost exclusively on energy issues. Hampton quickly distinguished himself as a passionate advocate of maintaining public ownership of electricity generation, and published a book on the subject, Public Power, in 2003.

With the selection of Eves as the PC leader, the NDP hoped that the government's move to the centre in the spring of 2002 would reduce the polarization of the Ontario electorate between the PCs and Liberals and improve the NDP's standing. It was also hoped that the long-standing split between labour and the NDP would be healed as the bitter legacy of the Rae government faded.

The co-chairs of the NDP campaign were Diane O'Reggio, newly installed as the party's provincial secretary after a stint in Ottawa working for the federal party, and Andre Foucault, secretary-treasurer of the Communications Energy and Paperworkers union. The manager was Rob Milling, principal secretary to Hampton. Communications were handled by Sheila White and Gil Hardy. Jeff Ferrier was the media coordinator.

The NDP strategy was to present itself as distinct from the Liberals on the issue of public ownership of public services, primarily in electricity and health care, while downplaying any significant differences between the Liberals and PCs. There was a conscious effort to discourage "strategic voting" where NDP supporters vote Liberal to defeat the Conservatives. The NDP slogan was "publicpower", designed to highlight both the energy issue Hampton had championed and public health care, while promoting a populist image of empowerment for average people.

The NDP campaign was designed to be highly visual and memorable. Each event was built around a specific visual thematic. For instance, in the first week of the campaign, Hampton attacked the Liberal energy platform saying it was "full of holes" and holding up a copy of the platform with oversized holes punched in it. He also illustrated it "had more holes than Swiss cheese" by also displaying a large block of cheese. At another event, Hampton and his campaign team argued that the Liberal positions were like "trying to nail Jello to the wall" by literally attempting to nail Jello to a wall. Hampton also made an appearance in front of the Toronto home of millionaire Peter Munk to denounce Eves' tax breaks, claiming that they would save Munk $18,000 a year.

The first round of NDP ads avoided personal attacks, and cast leader Howard Hampton as a champion of public utilities. In one 30-second spot, Mr. Hampton talks about the effects of privatization of the power industry and the blackout. "For most of us, selling off our hydro was the last straw," he says. The clip is mixed with images of Toronto streets during power failure.

Geographically, the NDP campaign focused on targeting seats in Scarborough and Etobicoke in Toronto, Hamilton, Ottawa and Northern Ontario.

Campaign events

Early weeks

The first week of the campaign was dominated by the Conservatives, who launched a series of highly negative attacks at Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty while highlighting popular elements of their platform. On the first week of the campaign, two polls showed a tight race: a poll done by EKOS for the Toronto Star showed a 1.5% Liberal lead, while a smaller poll done by COMPAS showed a 5% Liberal lead.[4] A poll done by Environics in late June and early July showed a 13-point lead for the Liberals.[5]

As the campaign entered week 2, it was anticipated that the Liberals would push a series of highly negative ads to combat advertising by the Conservatives that attacked Dalton McGuinty. Instead, they went positive and stayed positive throughout the campaign. It was Eves who went on the defensive as the Liberals worked the media to put the Premier on his heels. Stung by years of arrogance by the PC Party toward reporters, the media were quick to pile on.

After the Liberals Gerry Phillips and Gerald M. Butts accused Eves of having no plan to pay for his $10.4 billion in promises, Eves stumbled when he could not provide his own cost for his promises. "I couldn't tell you off the top of my head", he admitted.[6] Then came a story on the front of the Globe and Mail saying that Ontarians would have to pay "millions" in extra premiums because the election call had delayed implementation of new auto insurance regulations promised by Eves on the eve of the campaign.[7] On Wednesday the government was broadsided when – days after a raid at a meat packing plant exposed the sorry state of public health at some abattoirs – leaked documents showed the PC government had been sitting on recommendations to improve meat safety, leading to calls for a public inquiry by the opposition parties.[8] The issue was made worse when Agriculture Minister Helen Johns refused all media calls and had to be literally tracked down in her riding by reporters.

On Thursday, according to the Green party candidate in Nipissing (Mike Harris' old riding), a donor with Tory connections offered him money to bolster his campaign and draw votes away from the Liberals. The allegations were denied by the Tories.[9] The same day, Eves attacked Dalton McGuinty for voting against a bill to protect taxpayers from increased taxes, when it turns out McGuinty in fact voted for that bill.[10]

"Evil reptilian kitten-eater from another planet"

On September 12, the Eves campaign issued a news release that called Dalton McGuinty an "evil reptilian kitten-eater from another planet".[11] The words appeared at the end of the news release. Eves said the epithet was meant as a joke, and acknowledged the words were "over the top", but refused to apologize.[11]

There is speculation the epithet was an obscure reference to an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which McGuinty stated, in a blog post that week, he enjoys watching.[12]

In response, McGuinty said his campaign will not be "sidetracked" by the incident.[11] Despite efforts by two Conservative spies at a Liberal campaign event to shoo away a white kitten,[13] members of the media managed to take photographs of McGuinty holding the kitten, a moment some described as a defining moment of the campaign.[14]

Liberal Party officials made T-shirts that were emblazoned with the words "Call Me An Evil Reptilian Kitten Eater ... But I Want Change".[12] The T-shirts were handed out to party supporters at a rally held that same night.[12]

Later weeks

The Conservatives spent the third week on the defensive and dropping in the polls, unable to recover from the disasters of the second week and fresh new attacks. The Liberals produced documents from the Walkerton Inquiry showing that individual Conservative MPPs were warned about risks to human health and safety resulting from cuts to the Environment Ministry budget. An attack on Dalton McGuinty saying he needed "professional help" forced an apology from the Conservatives to people with mental illness. Tory MPP John O'Toole said the Tory negative campaign was a mistake, putting Eves on the defensive once again. A leaked memo was used by the opposition to accuse the government of threatening public sector workers into not telling the truth at a public inquiry into the government's handling of the SARS crisis. Eves ended the week with another event that backfired, brandishing barbed wire and a get out of jail free card to attack the Liberals as soft on crime. Reporters spent more time focused on Eves' first use of props in the election than on his message.

By the fourth week of the campaign, polls showed the Liberals pulling away from the Conservatives with a margin of at least 10 points. It was widely believed that only a disastrous performance in the leader's debate stood between Dalton McGuinty and the Premier's Office. McGuinty - who had stumbled badly in the 1999 debate - was able to play off low expectations and a surprisingly low-key Eves to earn the draw he wanted. The debate itself was also subject to criticism from the Green Party of Ontario, which denounced a Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission decision not to allow leader Frank de Jong to participate.

The final week of the campaign was marred by more negative attacks from Eves and the Conservatives. At one point, Premier Eves referred to Mr. McGuinty as having a "pointy head", a remark he later conceded was inappropriate.[15] McGuinty was able to extend the bad press from the incident another day when he joked to radio hosts that they needed to be careful "so I won't spear you with my sharp pointy head."[15]

McGuinty spent the last days of the campaign travelling through previously rock solid PC territory in ridings like Durham, Simcoe and Leeds-Grenville to large crowds.[16]

Issues

The campaign was contentious on the issues as well, with both the Liberals and Howard Hampton's New Democrats attacking the Tories' record in office. Various scandals and other unpopular moves reduced public opinion of the Tories going into the race, including the Walkerton water tragedy, the deaths of Dudley George and Kimberly Rogers, the possible sale of publicly owned electric utility Hydro One, the SARS outbreak, the decision to release the 2003 budget at an auto parts factory instead of the Legislature, the widespread blackout in August, and the Aylmer packing plant tainted meat investigation. As one Tory insider put it: "So many chickens came to roost, it's like a remake of The Birds".[17]

One of the most contentious issues was education. All three parties pledged to increase spending by $2 billion, but Premier Eves also pledged to ban teacher strikes, lock-outs, and work-to-rule campaigns during the school year, a move the other parties rejected. Teacher strikes had plagued the previous Progressive Conservative mandate of Mike Harris, whose government had deeply cut education spending.

Tax cuts were also an issue. The Progressive Conservatives proposed a wide range of tax cuts, including a 20-percent cut to personal income taxes, and the elimination of education tax paid by seniors, two moves that would have cost $1.3 billion together. The Liberals and New Democrats rejected these cuts as profligate. The Liberals also promised to cancel some pending Tory tax cuts and to eliminate some tax cuts already introduced.

Assessment

CBC Newsworld declared a Liberal victory minutes after ballot-counting began. Ernie Eves conceded defeat only ninety minutes into the count.

The Liberals won a huge majority with 72 seats, almost 70% of the 106-seat legislature. The Liberals not only won almost every seat in the city of Toronto, but every seat bordering on Toronto as well. All seven seats in Peel region went Liberal, as well as previously safe PC 905 seats such as Markham, Oakville and Pickering—Ajax. The Liberals also made a major breakthrough in Southwestern Ontario, grabbing all three seats in London as well as rural seats such as Perth–Middlesex, Huron–Bruce and Lambton–Kent. If the story of the PC majorities in 1995 and 1999 were the marriage of rural and small-town conservative bedrock with voters in the suburbs, the 2003 election was a divorce of those suburban voters from rural Ontario and a new marriage to the mid-town professionals and New Canadians who make up the Liberal base.

The NDP had a disappointingly confusing election: on one hand, they won seven seats, one fewer than the eight required to keep "official party status", which would give it a share of official Queen's Park staff, money for research, and guaranteed time during Question Period. On the other hand, they increased their share of the popular vote for the first time since 1990. Despite the mixed results, Hampton stayed on as party leader, saying that the party did not blame him for the poor performance. The party was returned to official party status seven months into the session, when Andrea Horwath won a by-election in Hamilton East on May 13, 2004.

The Tories were completely shut out of Toronto, where 19 out of 22 ridings were won by the Liberals, and the remaining three were carried by the New Democrats. Perhaps more ominously for the PCs, they were also shut out of any seats bordering Toronto; only in the outermost suburbs like Aurora and Whitby were high-profile PC cabinet ministers able to retain their seats. With the arguable exception of Elizabeth Witmer, no PC member represented an urban riding.

The 38th Parliament of Ontario opened on November 19, 2003 at 3 p.m. Eastern Time with a Throne Speech in which the McGuinty government laid out their agenda.

Student vote

High school students in every riding in Ontario were allowed to cast ballots in their classrooms as part of a student vote. While their numbers did not count in the official election, they did tell a story all on their own. The student vote reflected change a lot more than the actual result, as well as widespread anti-conservatism. 93 ridings favoured the Liberals in the student vote, nine favoured the New Democrats, and one favoured the Greens, while the Conservatives were shut out. There was also a vote for elementary students.

Provincial results

Party		Party leader	# of candidates	Seats				Popular vote
				1999	Dissolution	Elected	% Change	#	%	% Change
	Liberal	Dalton McGuinty	103	35	36	72	+105.7%	2,090,001	46.4%	+6.6%
	Progressive Conservative	Ernie Eves	103	59	56	24	−59.3%	1,559,181	34.6%	−10.5%
	New Democratic	Howard Hampton	103	9	9	7	−22.2%	660,730	14.7%	+2.1%
	Green	Frank de Jong	102	-	-	-	-	126,651	2.8%	+2.1%
	Family Coalition	Giuseppe Gori	51	-	-	-	-	34,623	0.8%	+0.2%
	Freedom	Paul McKeever	24	-	-	-	-	8,376	0.2%	+0.1%
	Communist	Elizabeth Rowley	6	-	-	-	-	2,187	0.05%	+0.03%
	Libertarian	Sam Apelbaum	5	-	-	-	-	1,991	0.04%	−0.06%
	Confederation of Regions	none (Richard Butson, de facto)	1	-	-	-	-	293	0.01%
	Independent & non-affiliated		24	-	1	-	−100%	13,211	0.3%	−0.3%
	Independent Renewal		10	-	-	-	-	3,402	-	-
	Independent Liberal		1	-	-	-	-	3,259	-	-
	Independent Reform		1	-	-	-	-	586	-	-
	Communist League		1	-	-	-	-	204	-	-
	Other independent		11	-	-	-	-	5,760	-	-
	Vacant				1
Total				103	103	103	-	4,497,244	100%

Notes:

¹ "Before" refers to the party standings in the Legislature at the end of the legislative session, and not to the standings at the previous election.

² Richard Butson was the sole candidate for the Confederation of Regions Party.

³Ten candidates ran as "Independent Renewal" candidates. This was the Marxist-Leninist Party under another name.

⁴Candidates from the Independent Reform Party and Communist League also ran as independents.

⁵Costas Manios ran as an "Independent Liberal" candidate after being denied the opportunity to run for the Liberal Party nomination in Scarborough Centre. Outgoing MPP Claudette Boyer had sat in the house as an "Independent Liberal" from 2001 to 2003.

It is possible that some other candidates listed on the ballot as independents ran for unregistered parties.

Popular vote Liberal   46.47% PC   34.67% New Democratic   14.69% Others   4.17%

Seats summary Liberal   69.90% PC   23.30% New Democratic   6.80%

The following table gives the number of seats each party won, and the number of ridings in which each party came second, third, and fourth:

Party		Seats	Second	Third	Fourth
	Liberal	72	30	1	0
	Progressive Conservative	24	57	22	0
	New Democratic	7	16	78	2
	Green	0	0	2	92
	Family Coalition	0	0	0	7
	Independent	0	0	0	1
	Independent Liberal	0	0	0	1

Riding results

Ottawa

Electoral District	Candidates											Incumbent
		Liberal		PC		NDP		Green		Other
Nepean—Carleton		Rod Vanier 20,878 (35.65%)		John Baird 31,662 (54.06%)		Liam McCarthy 3,828 (6.54%)		Matt Takach 2,200 (3.76%)				John Baird
Ottawa Centre		Richard Patten 22,295 (45.1%)		Joe Varner 11,217 (22.69%)		Jeff Atkinson 11,362 (22.98%)		Chris Bradshaw 3,821 (7.73%)		Stuart Ryan (Comm) 306 (0.62%) Matt Szymanowicz (F) 218 (0.44%) Fakhry Guirguis (Ind) 214 (0.43%)		Richard Patten
Ottawa—Orléans		Phil McNeely 25,300 (50.36%)		Brian Coburn 20,762 (41.32%)		Ric Dagenais 2,778 (5.53%)		Melanie Ransom 1,402 (2.79%)				Brian Coburn
Ottawa South		Dalton McGuinty 24,647 (51.7%)		Richard Raymond 16,413 (34.43%)		James McLaren 4,306 (9.03%)		David Chernushenko 1,741 (3.65%)		John Pacheco (FCP) 562 (1.18%)		Dalton McGuinty
Ottawa—Vanier		Madeleine Meilleur 22,188 (53.53%)		Maurice Lamirande 10,878 (26.24%)		Joseph Zebrowski 6,507 (15.7%)		Raphael Thierrin 1,876 (4.53%)				Claudette Boyer †
Ottawa West—Nepean		Jim Watson 23,127 (47.04%)		Garry Guzzo 20,277 (41.24%)		Marlene Rivier 4,099 (8.34%)		Neil Adair 1,309 (2.66%)		Robert Gauthier (Ind) 353 (0.72%)		Garry Guzzo

Eastern Ontario

Electoral District	Candidates											Incumbent
		Liberal		PC		NDP		Green		Other
Glengarry—Prescott—Russell		Jean-Marc Lalonde 28,956		Albert Bourdeau 10,921		Guy Belle-Isle 2,544		Louise Pattington 1,471				Jean-Marc Lalonde
Hastings—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington		Leona Dombrowsky 21,548		Barry Gordon 13,709		Ross Sutherland 4,286		Adam Scott 1,311		John-Henry Westen (FCP) 673		Leona Dombrowsky
Kingston and the Islands		John Gerretsen 28,877		Hans Westenberg 9,640		Janet Collins 5,514		Eric Walton 3,137		Chris Beneteau (FCP) 735		John Gerretsen
Lanark—Carleton		Marianne Wilkinson 23,466 (38.79%)		Norm Sterling 29,641 (48.99%)		Jim Ronson 3,554 (5.87%)		John Baranyi 2,564 (4.24%)		Jim Gardiner (FCP) 1,275 (2.11%)		Norm Sterling
Leeds—Grenville		Stephen Mazurek 17,667		Bob Runciman 21,443		Steve Armstrong 2,469		Jerry Heath 1,799		Melody Trolly (FCP) 649		Bob Runciman
Prince Edward—Hastings		Ernie Parsons 22,937		John Williams 12,800		Jodie Jenkins 3,377		Joe Ross 628		Trueman Tuck (F) 229		Ernie Parsons
Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke		Derek Nighbor 18,629		John Yakabuski 19,274		Felcite Stairs 5,092		Chris Walker 671				Sean Conway †
Stormont—Dundas— Charlottenburgh		Jim Brownell 19,558		Todd Lalonde 13,948		Matt Sumegi 1,639		Tom Manley 2,098		Gary Besner (Ind) 968		John Cleary †

Central Ontario

Electoral District	Candidates											Incumbent
		Liberal		PC		NDP		Green		Other
Barrie—Simcoe—Bradford		Mike Ramsay 21,998		Joe Tascona 31,529		John Thomson 5,641		Stewart Sinclair 1,278		Roberto Sales (FCP) 441		Joe Tascona
Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound		Dave Hocking 14,881		Bill Murdoch 23,338		Colleen Purdon 4,159		Martin Donald 769		Linda Freiburger (FCP) 1,086 Bill Cook(Ref) 586		Bill Murdoch
Dufferin—Peel—Wellington—Grey		Dan Yake 14,859		Ernie Eves 29,222		Mitchel Healey 3,148		Frank de Jong 3,161		Dave Davies (FCP) 1,202		Ernie Eves
Durham		Garry Minnie 18,590		John O'Toole 23,814		Teresa Williams 6,274		Gordon MacDonald 1,183		Cathy McKeever (F) 707		John O'Toole
Haliburton—Victoria—Brock		Jason Ward 17,171		Laurie Scott 24,297		Earl Manners 7,884		Douglas Smith 1,183		Paul Gordon (FCP) 663 Charles Olito (F) 273		Chris Hodgson †
Northumberland		Lou Rinaldi 20,382		Doug Galt 17,816		Murray Weppler 5,210		Derrick Kelly 1,839				Doug Galt
Peterborough		Jeff Leal 24,626		Gary Stewart 18,418		Dave Nickle 9,796		Tim Holland 1,605		Max Murray (FCP) 414 Bob Bowers (Ind) 178		Gary Stewart
Simcoe—Grey		Mark Redmond 17,505		Jim Wilson 26,114		Leo Losereit 5,032		Geoffrey Maile 875		Steven Taylor (FCP) 801 Philip Bender (Lbt) 411		Jim Wilson
Simcoe North		Paul Sloan 19,713		Garfield Dunlop 23,393		John Niddery 5,515		Nina Pruesse 1,540		Blaine Scott (FCP) 453 Karnail Singh (Ind) 101		Garfield Dunlop
York North		John Taylor 21,054		Julia Munro 24,517		Sylvia Gerl 4,029		Bob Burrows 1,854		Simone Williams (FCP) 497		Julia Munro

Southern Durham & York

Electoral District	Candidates											Incumbent
		Liberal		PC		NDP		Green		Other
Markham		Tony Wong 27,253		David Tsubouchi 21,257		Janice Hagan 2,679		Bernadette Manning 824		Patrick Redmond (FCP) 697		David Tsubouchi
Oak Ridges		Helena Jaczek 31,026		Frank Klees 32,647		Pamela Courtot 4,464		Steven Haylestrom 1,821				Frank Klees
Oshawa		Chris Topple 9,383		Jerry Ouellette 14,566		Sid Ryan 13,547		Karen Tweedle 636		Paul McKeever (F) 518 Dale Chilvers (FCP) 383		Jerry Ouellette
Pickering—Ajax—Uxbridge		Wayne Arthurs 24,970		Janet Ecker 23,960		Vern Edwards 3,690		Adam Duncan 1,946				Janet Ecker
Thornhill		Mario Racco 21,419		Tina Molinari 20,623		Laurie Orrett 2,616		Bridget Haworth 705		Lindsay King (F) 304		Tina Molinari
Vaughan—King—Aurora		Greg Sorbara 36,928		Carmine Iacono 21,744		Mike Seaward 4,697		Adrian Visentin 2,412				Greg Sorbara
Whitby—Ajax		Dennis Fox 22,593		Jim Flaherty 27,240		Dan Edwards 5,155		Michael MacDonald 1,375				Jim Flaherty

Downtown Toronto

Electoral District	Candidates											Incumbent
		Liberal		PC		NDP		Green		Other
Beaches—East York		Monica Purdy 10,070		Angela Kennedy 8,157		Michael Prue 21,239		Tom Mason 1,995				Michael Prue
Davenport		Tony Ruprecht 15,586		Tom Smith 1,977		Jordan Berger 7,243		Mark O'Brien 907		David Senater (Ind) 293 Franz Cauchi (F) 264 Nunzio Venuto (Lbt) 233		Tony Ruprecht
Don Valley West		Kathleen Wynne 23,488		David Turnbull 17,394		Ali Naqvi 2,540		Philip Hawkins 1,239				David Turnbull
Eglinton—Lawrence		Mike Colle 23,743		Corinne Korzen 12,402		Robin Alter 4,351		Mark Viitala 1,236				Mike Colle
Parkdale—High Park		Gerard Kennedy 23,008		Stephen Snell 6,436		Margo Duncan 6,275		Neil Spiegel 2,758		Stan Grzywna (FCP) 591 Karin Larsen (Comm) 349 John Steele (Comm League) 204 Richard (Dick) Field (F) 165		Gerard Kennedy
St. Paul's		Michael Bryant 24,887		Charis Kelso 11,203		Julian Heller 6,740		Peter Elgie 2,266		Carol Leborg (F) 354		Michael Bryant
Toronto Centre—Rosedale		George Smitherman 23,872		John Adams 9,968		Gene Lara 9,112		Gabriel Draven 1,739		Philip Fernandez (Ind Renewal) 324 Silvio Ursomarzo (F) 218		George Smitherman
Toronto—Danforth		Jim Davidson 12,246		George Sardelis 6,562		Marilyn Churley 18,253		Michael Pilling 1,368		Masood Atchekzai (FCP) 217 Mehmet Ali Yagiz (Ind) 73		Marilyn Churley
Trinity—Spadina		Nellie Pedro 12,927		Helena Guergis 4,985		Rosario Marchese 19,268		Greg Laxton 2,362		Judson Glober (Lbt) 756 Nick Lin (Ind Renewal) 256		Rosario Marchese
York South—Weston		Joseph Cordiano 19,932		Stephen Halicki 4,930		Brian Donlevy 6,247		Enrique Palad 794		Mariangela Sanabria (FCP) 475		Joseph Cordiano

Suburban Toronto

Electoral District	Candidates											Incumbent
		Liberal		PC		NDP		Green		Other
Don Valley East		David Caplan 21,327		Paul Sutherland 12,027		Murphy Browne 3,058		Dan Craig 558		Ryan Kidd (FCP) 460 Wayne Simmons (F) 119		David Caplan
Etobicoke Centre		Donna Cansfield 22,070		Rose Andrachuk 17,610		Margaret Anne McHugh 3,400		Ralph M. Chapman 1,584				Chris Stockwell †
Etobicoke—Lakeshore		Laurel Broten 19,680		Morley Kells 14,524		Irene Jones 8,952		Junyee Wang 708		Ted Kupiec (FCP) 480 Janice Murray (Ind Renewal) 225		Morley Kells
Etobicoke North		Shafiq Qaadri 16,727		Baljit Gosal 6,978		Kuldip Singh Sodhi 3,516		Mir Kamal 503		Frank Acri (Ind) 1,990 Teresa Ceolin (FCP) 1,275		John Hastings †
Scarborough—Agincourt		Gerry Phillips 23,026		Yolanda Chan 11,337		Stacy Douglas 2,209		Lawrence Arkilander 566		Tony Ieraci (FCP) 550		Gerry Phillips
Scarborough Centre		Brad Duguid 21,698		Marilyn Mushinski 11,686		Michael Laxer 3,653		Robert Carty 642		Costas Manios (Independent Liberal) 3,259 Joseph Internicola (FCP) 495 Elizabeth Rowley (Comm) 241		Marilyn Mushinski
Scarborough East		Mary Anne Chambers 21,798		Steve Gilchrist 14,323		Gary Dale 5,250		Hugh McNeil 668		Sam Apelbaum (Lbt) 285		Steve Gilchrist
Scarborough—Rouge River		Alvin Curling 23,976		Kevin Moore 9,468		Jean-Paul Yovanoff 2,246		Karen Macdonald 1,326		Mitchell Persaud (FCP) 536		Alvin Curling
Scarborough Southwest		Lorenzo Berardinetti 17,501		Dan Newman 11,826		Barbara Warner 6,688		Andrew Strachan 689		Ray Scott (FCP) 586		Dan Newman
Willowdale		David Zimmer 21,823		David Young 19,957		Yvonne Bobb 3,084		Sharolyn Vettesse 933		Rina Morra (FCP) 442 Vaughan Byrnes (F) 227		David Young
York Centre		Monte Kwinter 18,808		Dan Cullen 7,826		Matthew Norrish 3,494		Constantine Kristonis 1,496				Monte Kwinter
York West		Mario Sergio 16,102		Ted Aver 2,330		Garth Bobb 3,954		Richard Von Fuchs 437		Christopher Black (Comm) 408		Mario Sergio

Brampton, Mississauga & Oakville

Electoral District	Candidates											Incumbent
		Liberal		PC		NDP		Green		Other
Bramalea—Gore—Malton—Springdale		Kuldip Kular 19,306		Raminder Gill 15,549		Cesar Martello 4,931		Ernst Braendli 1,176		Frank Chilelli (Ind Renewal) 868 Howard Cukoff (Comm) 503		Raminder Gill
Brampton Centre		Linda Jeffrey 16,661		Joe Spina 15,656		Kathy Pounder 4,827		Sanjeev Goel 820		Wally Dove (F) 356		Joe Spina
Brampton West—Mississauga		Vic Dhillon 28,926		Tony Clement 26,414		Chris Moise 5,103		Paul Simas 811		Paul Micelli (FCP) 1,122 John G. Purdy (F) 266		Tony Clement
Mississauga Centre		Harinder Takhar 18,466		Rob Sampson 15,846		Michael Miller 3,237		Jeffrey Scott Smith 776		John R. Lyall (FCP) 588		Rob Sampson
Mississauga East		Peter Fonseca 16,686		Carl DeFaria 13,382		Michael Hancock 2,479		Donald Barber 666		Gary Nail (FCP) 358 Pierre Chenier (Ind Renewal) 256		Carl DeFaria
Mississauga South		Tim Peterson 17,211		Margaret Marland 16,977		Ken Cole 3,606		Pamela Murray 949		Alfred Zawadzki (FCP) 555		Margaret Marland
Mississauga West		Bob Delaney 27,903		Nina Tangri 20,406		Arif Raza 4,196		Richard Pereira 1,395		Charles Montano (FCP) 989		John Snobelen †
Oakville		Kevin Flynn 22,428		Kurt Franklin 18,991		Anwar Naqvi 2,858				Theresa Tritt (FCP) 751		Gary Carr †

Hamilton, Burlington & Niagara

Electoral District	Candidates											Incumbent
		Liberal		PC		NDP		Green		Other
Ancaster—Dundas— Flamborough—Aldershot		Ted McMeekin 23,045		Mark Mullins 18,141		Kelly Hayes 5,666		Brian Elder Sullivan 903		Michael Trolly (FCP) 434 Richard Butson (CoR) 293		Ted McMeekin
Burlington		Mark Fuller 19,654		Cam Jackson 21,506		David Laird 3,832		Julie Gordon 1,086		Vic Corvaro (FCP) 523		Cam Jackson
Erie—Lincoln		Vance Badawey 16,290		Tim Hudak 20,348		Julius Antal 3,950		Tom Ferguson 713		Steve Elgersma (FCP) 666		Tim Hudak
Halton		Barbara Sullivan 28,112		Ted Chudleigh 33,610		Jay Jackson 5,587		Matthew Raymond Smith 1,295		Giuseppe Gori (FCP) 1,123		Ted Chudleigh
Hamilton East		Dominic Agostino 16,015		Sohail Bhatti 4,033		Bob Sutton 9,035		Raymond Dartsch 563		Bob Mann (Comm) 380 Kelly Greenaway (Ind Renewal) 378 Michael Izzotti (FCP) 304		Dominic Agostino
Hamilton Mountain		Marie Bountrogianni 23,524		Shakil Hassan 8,637		Chris Charlton 12,017		Selwyn Inniss 494		Eleanor Johnson (FCP) 748		Marie Bountrogianni
Hamilton West		Judy Marsales 15,600		Doug Brown 8,185		Roy Adams 13,468		Jo Pavlov 727		Lynne Scime (FCP) 750 Jamilé Ghaddar (Ind Renewal) 303		David Christopherson †
Niagara Centre		Henry D'Angela 12,526		Ann Gronski 10,336		Peter Kormos 23,289		Jordan McArthur 768				Peter Kormos
Niagara Falls		Kim Craitor 18,904		Bart Maves 15,353		Claude Sonier 4,962		Ryan McLaughlin 1,124				Bart Maves
St. Catharines		Jim Bradley 25,319		Mark Brickell 12,932		John Bacher 3,944		Jim Fannon 1,167		Linda Klassen (FCP) 714		Jim Bradley
Stoney Creek		Jennifer Mossop 24,751		Brad Clark 19,517		Lorrie McKibbon 5,419		Richard Safka 898				Brad Clark

Midwestern Ontario

Electoral District	Candidates											Incumbent
		Liberal		PC		NDP		Green		Other
Brant		Dave Levac 24,236		Alayne Sokoloski 13,618		David Noonan 5,262		Mike Clancy 1,014		John Turmel (Ind) 295		Dave Levac
Cambridge		Jerry Boyle 16,559		Gerry Martiniuk 19,996		Pam Wolf 8,513		Michael Chownyk 983		Al Smith (FCP) 1,001		Gerry Martiniuk
Guelph—Wellington		Liz Sandals 23,607		Brenda Elliott 20,735		James Valcke 6,745		Ben Polley 3,917		Alan John McDonald (FCP) 914		Brenda Elliott
Haldimand—Norfolk—Brant		Rob Esselment 17,151		Toby Barrett 20,109		Paul Steiner 4,720		Graeme Dunn 1,088		Barra Gots (FCP) 548		Toby Barrett
Huron—Bruce		Carol Mitchell 19,879		Helen Johns 16,594		Grant Robertson 4,973		Shelley Hannah 934		Dave Joslin (FCP) 902 Robert Sabharwal (F) 127		Helen Johns
Kitchener Centre		John Milloy 18,280		Wayne Wettlaufer 16,210		Ted Martin 6,781		Luigi D'Agnillo 1,728				Wayne Wettlaufer
Kitchener—Waterloo		Sean Strickland 22,456		Elizabeth Witmer 23,957		Dan Lajoie 6,084		Pauline Richards 1,774		Lou Reitzel (FCP) 949 Owen Alastair Ferguson (Ind) 242 Julian Ichim (Ind Renewal) 153		Elizabeth Witmer
Oxford		Brian Brown 16,135		Ernie Hardeman 18,656		Shawn Rouse 5,318		Tom Mayberry 838		Andre De Decker (FCP) 689 Paul Blair (F) 404 Kaye Sargent (Lbt) 306		Ernie Hardeman
Perth—Middlesex		John Wilkinson 17,017		Bert Johnson 15,680		Jack Verhulst 4,703		John Cowling 1,201		Pat Bannon (FCP) 857 Robert Smink (F) 384		Bert Johnson
Waterloo—Wellington		Deborah Whale 17,344		Ted Arnott 22,550		Richard Walsh Bowers 3,970		Allan Strong 1,203		Gord Truscott (FCP) 978		Ted Arnott

Southwestern Ontario

Electoral District	Candidates											Incumbent
		Liberal		PC		NDP		Green		Other
Chatham-Kent—Essex		Pat Hoy 23,022		Dave Wilkinson 11,586		Derry McKeever 2,893		Jim Burgess 1,069		David Rodman (F) 281		Pat Hoy
Elgin—Middlesex—London		Steve Peters 24,914		Bruce Smith 13,149		Bryan Bakker 4,063		Mark Viitala 1,236		Ray Monteith (F) 671		Steve Peters
Essex		Bruce Crozier 20,559		Patrick O'Neil 11,234		Pat Hayes 12,614		Darren J. Brown 998				Bruce Crozier
Lambton—Kent—Middlesex		Maria Van Bommel 18,533		Marcel Beaubien 15,060		Joyce Jolliffe 4,523		Tim Van Bodegom 1,133		James Armstrong (Ind) 1,053 Wayne Forbes (F) 780		Marcel Beaubien
London North Centre		Deb Matthews 20,212		Dianne Cunningham 13,460		Rebecca Coulter 11,414		Bronagh Joyce Morgan 780		Craig Smith (FCP) 432 Lisa Turner (F) 242		Dianne Cunningham
London—Fanshawe		Khalil Ramal 13,920		Frank Mazzilli 11,777		Irene Mathyssen 12,051		Bryan Smith 568		Mike Davidson (F) 493		Frank Mazzilli
London West		Chris Bentley 25,581		Bob Wood 15,463		Patti Dalton 7,403		Laura Wythe 805		Bill Frampton (F) 460		Bob Wood
Sarnia—Lambton		Caroline Di Cocco 18,179		Henk Vanden Ende 11,852		Glenn Sonier 6,482		Bradley Gray 1,414		Andrew Falby (F) 316		Caroline Di Cocco
Windsor—St. Clair		Dwight Duncan 19,692		Matt Bufton 4,162		Madeline Crnec 10,433		Chris Holt 1,315		Saroj Bains (Ind Renewal) 253		Dwight Duncan
Windsor West		Sandra Pupatello 21,993		Derek Insley 4,187		Yvette Blackburn 7,383		Cary M. Lucier 1,233		Enver Villamizar (Ind Renewal) 386		Sandra Pupatello

Northern Ontario

Electoral District	Candidates											Incumbent
		Liberal		PC		NDP		Green		Other
Algoma—Manitoulin		Mike Brown 14,520		Terry McCutcheon 5,168		Peter Denley 9,459		Ron Yurick 680				Mike Brown
Kenora—Rainy River		Geoff McClain 6,746		Cathe Hoszowski 3,343		Howard Hampton 15,666		Dan King 305				Howard Hampton
Nickel Belt		Alex McCauley 13,759		Dave Kilgour 4,804		Shelley Martel 16,567		Robert Nevin 479				Shelley Martel
Nipissing		Monique Smith 18,003		Al McDonald 14,978		Terry O'Connor 2,613		Jaimie Board 528				Al McDonald
Parry Sound—Muskoka		Dan Waters 13,332		Norm Miller 18,776		Jo-Anne Boulding 3,838		Glen Hodgson 2,277		Charlene Phinney (FCP) 484		Norm Miller
Sault Ste. Marie		David Orazietti 20,050		Bruce Willson 2,674		Tony Martin 11,379		Dan Brosemer 441		Al Walker (FCP) 606		Tony Martin
Sudbury		Rick Bartolucci 24,631		Mila Wong 5,068		Harvey Wyers 4,999		Luke Norton 1,009				Rick Bartolucci
Thunder Bay—Atikokan		Bill Mauro 17,735		Brian McKinnon 5,365		John Rafferty 6,582		Kristin Boyer 762				Lyn McLeod †
Thunder Bay—Superior North		Michael Gravelle 21,938		Brent Sylvester 2,912		Bonnie Satten 4,548		Carl Rose 882				Michael Gravelle
Timiskaming—Cochrane		David Ramsay 18,499		Rick Brassard 6,330		Ben Lefebvre 5,741		Paul Palmer 489				David Ramsay
Timmins—James Bay		Michael Doody 12,373		Merv Russell 2,527		Gilles Bisson 14,941		Marsha Kriss 219				Gilles Bisson

By-elections

Ten by-elections were held between the 2003 and 2007 elections.

Electoral District	Candidates											Incumbent
		Liberal		PC		NDP		Green		Other
Hamilton East May 13, 2004		Ralph Agostino 6,362		Tara Crugnale 1,772		Andrea Horwath 15,185		Raymond Dartsch 449		John Turmel (Ind) 122		Dominic Agostino died March 24, 2004
Dufferin—Peel—Wellington—Grey March 17, 2005		Bob Duncanson 4,621		John Tory 15,633		Lynda McDougall 3,891		Frank de Jong 2,767		Paul Micelli (FCP) 488 Bill Cook (Ind) 164 Philip Bender (Lbt) 135) John Turmel (Ind) 88		Ernie Eves resigned February 1, 2005
Scarborough—Rouge River November 24, 2005		Bas Balkissoon 9,347		Cynthia Lai 4,032		Sheila White 2,425		Steven Toman 167		Alan Mercer (Lbt) 100 Rina Morra (FCP) 93 Wayne Simmons (F) 59		Alvin Curling resigned August 19, 2005
Toronto—Danforth March 30, 2006		Ben Chin 10,636		Georgina Blanas 2,713		Peter Tabuns 13,064		Paul Charbonneau 582		Franz Cauchi (F) 93		Marilyn Churley
Whitby—Ajax March 30, 2006		Judi Longfield 14,529		Christine Elliott 15,843		Julie Gladman 3,204		Nick Boileau 307		Paul McKeever (F) 198		Jim Flaherty
Nepean—Carleton March 30, 2006		Brian Ford 9,457		Lisa MacLeod 17,311		Laurel Gibbons 2,489		Peter Tretter 634				John Baird
Parkdale—High Park September 14, 2006		Sylvia Watson 9,387		David Hutcheon 4,921		Cheri DiNovo 11,675		Frank de Jong 1,758		Stan Grzywna (FCP) 366 Jim McIntosh (Lbt) 162 Silvio Ursomarzo (F) 111 John Turmel (Ind) 77		Gerard Kennedy
York South—Weston February 8, 2007		Laura Albanese 7,830		Pina Martino 1,941		Paul Ferreira 8,188		Mir Kamal 262		Kevin Clarke (Ind) 220 Mohammed Choudhary (Ind) 142 Mariangela Sanabria (FCP) 139 Nunzio Venuto (Lbt) 98 Wayne Simmons (F) 77		Joseph Cordiano
Burlington February 8, 2007		Joan Lougheed 9,365		Joyce Savoline 11,143		Cory Judson 1,310		Frank de Jong 734		Paul Micelli (F) 106 John Turmel (Ind) 90		Cam Jackson
Markham February 8, 2007		Michael Chan 9,080		Alex Yuan 6,420		Janice Hagan 1,492		Bernadette Manning 999		Cathy McKeever (F) 159 Patrick Redmond (FCP) 135 Jay Miller (Lbt) 126		Tony Wong

See also

• Politics of Ontario
• List of Ontario political parties
• Premier of Ontario
• Leader of the Opposition (Ontario)

References

1. "Ontario premier to resign". CBC News. CBC/Radio-Canada. 16 October 2001. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
2. Campbell, Murray. "Inquiry demanded over track's slot permits". The Globe and Mail. The Globe and Mail Inc. 18 January 2003. Retrieved 4 March 2017. Monte Kwinter said he wants the Integrity Commissioner to investigate whether there is any link between this decision and the $80,000 donation to Enterprise Minister Jim Flaherty and another $10,000 to Premier Ernie Eves during the Progressive Conservative leadership campaign by racetrack operator Norm Picov and the companies he owns.
3. Mackie, Richard (3 October 2002). "Minister quits in expense controversy". The Globe and Mail. The Globe and Mail Inc. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
4. "Leaders cast cautious eyes on tight polls". CBC News. CBC/Radio-Canada. 7 September 2003. Archived from the original on 15 April 2005. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
5. "Tories improve in latest poll". CBC Toronto. CBC/Radio-Canada. 18 July 2003. Archived from the original on 12 November 2004. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
6. "Eves draws blank on price of campaign promises". CBC News. CBC/Radio-Canada. 9 September 2003. Archived from the original on 12 November 2004. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
7. Cheney, Peter (10 September 2003). "Election shelves overhaul of auto insurance". The Globe and Mail. The Globe and Mail Inc. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
8. Yourk, Darren (11 September 2003). "McGuinty moves on tax issue". The Globe and Mail. The Globe and Mail Inc. Retrieved 4 March 2017. The Toronto Star obtained a confidential 2002 cabinet document showing that Agriculture Minister Helen Johns and her staff alerted Mr. Eves that the province's meat-inspection system posed a risk to public health. "By doing nothing, he put lives at risk. He rolled the dice and, again, gambled with people's lives. That's not leadership," Mr. Hampton said at a stop in Toronto. The leaked document states that the "current meat inspection legislation and regulations are outdated." It also recommended an array of improvements, including full-time inspectors, national standards, food-handler training and provincial inspection of meat-processing plants now administered by municipalities, the Star reported. The NDP and Liberals have promised a public inquiry following suspension of the licence of an Aylmer meat-packing plant at the centre of two investigations after it was shut down late last month and meat was seized because of alleged illegal processing.
9. Yourk, Darren (11 September 2003). "McGuinty moves on tax issue". The Globe and Mail. The Globe and Mail Inc. Retrieved 4 March 2017. The Eves campaign was also deflecting bribe allegations from a Green Party candidate in the old riding of former premier Mike Harris. Todd Lucier said he was offered money by a "core part of the Mike Harris team" to help him take votes away from the Liberal candidate in the closely contested Nipissing riding. The Tory campaign has denied it had anything to do with the offer.
10. Galloway, Gloria; Smith, Graeme (12 September 2003). "McGuinty scores, Eves stumbles on taxes". The Globe and Mail. The Globe and Mail Inc. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
11. Smith, Greame (13 September 2003). "Kitten-eater controversy litters battle for Ontario". The Globe and Mail. The Globe and Mail Inc. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
12. Kinsella, Warren (2007). "Introduction: Welcome to the War Room". In Carroll, Michael (ed.). The War Room: Political Strategies for Business, NGOs, and Anyone Who Wants to Win. Toronto: The Dundurn Group. p. 39. ISBN 978-1-55002-746-4. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
13. Ireton, Julie (27 September 2003). "Liberals eat up 'kitten' coverage". CBC. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
14. Zerucelli, John (1 June 2012). "Dalton McGuinty Will Always Be a Lawyer". JUST. Magazine. Ontario Bar Association. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
15. "McGuinty confident as Ontario campaign ends". CBC News. CBC/Radio-Canada. 2 October 2003. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
16. Mallan, Caroline (29 September 2003). "McGuinty targets Tory strongholds" (PDF). Toronto Star (via EKOS Politics). Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
17. Mark Winfield, "Blue-green Province: The Environment and the Political Economy of Ontario". UBC Press, 2012

External links

General resources

• Party platforms
• Government of Ontario
• Ontario Legislative Assembly
• CBC - Ontario Votes 2003
• 1999–2011 General Elections Results from Elections Ontario

Parties

Parties with seats in the house prior to dissolution

• Ontario Liberal Party

See also: Liberal Party of Ontario, Ontario New Democratic Party, and Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario

• Ontario New Democratic Party
• Ontario Progressive Conservative Party

Other parties

• Communist Party of Canada (Ontario)
• Ontario Family Party
• Freedom Party of Ontario
• Green Party of Ontario
• Ontario Libertarian Party
• Ontario Provincial Confederation of Regions Party