# 16th Parliament of Ontario

The 16th Legislative Assembly of Ontario was in session from June 25, 1923, until October 18, 1926, just prior to the 1926 general election. The majority party was the Ontario Conservative Party led by George Howard Ferguson.
The United Farmers of Ontario party, who had held the balance of power in the preceding assembly, lost most of their seats to Conservatives.
The Liberals led by Wellington Hay were recognized as the Official Opposition following the 1923 election by the governing Conservatives, despite the fact that the United Farmers of Ontario had more seats. According to historian Peter Oliver, this was an arbitrary decision without basis in precedent or law. Conservative Premier G. Howard Ferguson used as justification an announcement by UFO general secretary James J. Morrison that the UFO would be withdrawing from party politics, though Oliver argues that this was facetious logic. UFO parliamentary leader Manning Doherty protested the decision, but to no avail. In the course of the parliament, most UFO MLAs reorganized themselves as the Progressive Party under the leadership of first Manning Doherty and then William Raney, with only Beniah Bowman and Leslie Warner Oke continuing as UFO MLAs.
Joseph Elijah Thompson served as speaker for the assembly.

## Members of the Assembly

Listing reflects the UFO/Progressive split in 1924. Italicized names indicate members returned by acclamation.
| Riding | Member | Party | First elected / previously elected |
| Addington | William David Black | Conservative | 1911 |
| Algoma | Arthur Gladstone Wallis | Liberal | 1923 |
| Brant | Harry Corwin Nixon | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Brant South | Morrison Mann MacBride | Labour | 1919 |
| Brockville | Hezekiah Allan Clark | Conservative | 1923 |
| Bruce North | William Henry Fenton | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Bruce South | Malcolm Alex McCallum | United Farmers | 1923 |
| Bruce West | Alexander Patterson Mewhinney | Liberal | 1919 |
| Carleton | Adam Holland Acres | Conservative | 1923 |
| Cochrane | Malcolm Lang | Liberal | 1914 |
| Dufferin | Charles Robert McKeown | Conservative | 1907, 1923 |
| Dundas | Aaron Sweet | Conservative | 1923 |
| Durham East | Albert James Fallis | Conservative | 1923 |
| Durham West | William John Bragg | Liberal | 1919 |
| Elgin East | Michael McKnight | Conservative | 1923 |
| Elgin West | Findlay George MacDiarmid | Conservative | 1898, 1899, 1923 |
| Essex North | Edward Philip Tellier | Liberal | 1923 |
| Essex South | Adolphus T. Armstrong | Conservative | 1923 |
| Fort William | Franklin Harford Spence | Conservative | 1923 |
| Frontenac | Anthony McGuin Rankin | Conservative | 1911 |
| Glengarry | James Alexander Sangster | Liberal | 1923 |
| Grenville | George Howard Ferguson | Conservative | 1905 |
| Grey Centre | Dougall Carmichael | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Grey North | David James Taylor | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Grey South | David Jamieson | Conservative | 1898, 1923 |
| Haldimand | Richard Nixon Berry | Conservative | 1923 |
| Halton | George Hillmer | Conservative | 1923 |
| Hamilton East | Leeming Carr | Conservative | 1923 |
| Hamilton West | Arthur Campbell Garden | Conservative | 1923 |
| Hastings East | James Ferguson Hill | Conservative | 1923 |
| Hastings North | John Robert Cooke | Conservative | 1911 |
| Hastings West | William Henry Ireland | Conservative | 1919 |
| Huron Centre | Ebon Rinaldo Wigle | Conservative | 1923 |
| Huron North | John Joynt | Conservative | 1919 |
| Huron South | Nelson William Trewartha | Conservative | 1923 |
| Kenora | Peter Heenan | Labour | 1919 |
| Kent East | Manning William Doherty | United Farmers | 1920 |
| Kent West | Robert Livingstone Brackin | Liberal | 1919 |
| Kingston | William Folger Nickle | Conservative | 1908, 1922 |
| Lambton East | Leslie Warner Oke | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Lambton West | Wilfred Smith Haney | Conservative | 1923 |
| Lanark North | Thomas Alfred Thompson | Conservative | 1923 |
| Lanark South | Egerton Reuben Stedman | Conservative | 1923 |
| Leeds | Andrew Wellington Gray | Conservative | 1919 |
| Lennox | John Perry Vrooman | Liberal | 1923 |
| Lennox | Charles Wesley Hambly (1924) | Conservative | 1924 |
| Lincoln | Robert Henry Kemp | United Farmers | 1923 |
| London | Adam Beck | Conservative | 1902, 1923 |
| Manitoulin | Beniah Bowman | United Farmers | 1918 |
| Middlesex East | John Willard Freeborn | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Middlesex North | George Adam Elliott | Conservative | 1923 |
| Middlesex West | John Giles Lethbridge | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Muskoka | George Walter Ecclestone | Conservative | 1919 |
| Niagara Falls | William Gore Willson | Conservative | 1923 |
| Nipissing | Henri Morel | Conservative | 1908, 1923 |
| Norfolk North | George David Sewell | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Norfolk South | John Strickler Martin | Conservative | 1923 |
| Northumberland East | James Franklin Beatty Belford | Conservative | 1923 |
| Northumberland West | Samuel Clarke | Liberal | 1898 |
| Ontario North | John Wesley Widdifield | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Ontario South | William Edmund Newton Sinclair | Liberal | 1911, 1919 |
| Ottawa East | Joseph Albert Pinard | Liberal | 1914 |
| Ottawa West | Harold Fisher | Liberal | 1923 |
| Oxford North | David Munroe Ross | United Farmers | 1921 |
| Oxford South | William Henry Chambers | Conservative | 1923 |
| Parkdale | William Herbert Price | Conservative | 1914 |
| Parry Sound | George Vernon Harcourt | Conservative | 1923 |
| Peel | Thomas Laird Kennedy | Conservative | 1919 |
| Perth North | Joseph Dunsmore Monteith | Conservative | 1923 |
| Perth South | McCausland Irvine | Conservative | 1923 |
| Peterborough East | Thomas Dalton Johnston | Conservative | 1923 |
| Peterborough West | William Herbert Bradburn | Conservative | 1923 |
| Port Arthur | Francis Henry Keefer | Conservative | 1923 |
| Prescott | Edmond Proulx | Independent | 1923 |
| Prince Edward | Horace Stanley Colliver | Conservative | 1923 |
| Rainy River | John Fullarton Callan | Labour | 1923 |
| Renfrew North | Alexander Stuart | Conservative | 1923 |
| Renfrew South | John Carty | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Riverdale | George Oakley | Conservative | 1923 |
| Russell | Aurélien Bélanger | Liberal | 1923 |
| Sault Ste. Marie | James Lyons | Conservative | 1923 |
| Simcoe Centre | Charles Ernest Wright | Conservative | 1923 |
| Simcoe East | William Finlayson | Conservative | 1923 |
| Simcoe South | William Earl Rowe | Conservative | 1923 |
| Simcoe West | James Edgar Jamieson | Conservative | 1923 |
| St. Catharines | Edwin Cyrus Graves | Conservative | 1923 |
| Stormont | John Colborne Milligan | Conservative | 1923 |
| Sturgeon Falls | Zotique Mageau | Liberal | 1911 |
| Sudbury | Charles McCrea | Conservative | 1911 |
| Timiskaming | Angus John Kennedy | Conservative | 1923 |
| Toronto Northeast - A | Alexander Cameron Lewis | Conservative | 1920 |
| Toronto Northeast - B | Joseph Elijah Thompson | Conservative | 1919 |
| Toronto Northwest - A | Thomas Crawford | Conservative | 1894 |
| Toronto Northwest - A | William Henry Edwards (1924) | Conservative | 1924 |
| Toronto Northwest - B | Arthur Russell Nesbitt | Conservative | 1923 |
| Toronto Southeast - A | John Allister Currie | Conservative | 1922 |
| Toronto Southeast - B | Edward William James Owens | Conservative | 1911, 1923 |
| Toronto Southwest - A | James Arthur McCausland | Conservative | 1923 |
| Toronto Southwest - B | Frederick George McBrien | Conservative | 1923 |
| Victoria North | James Raglan Mark | Conservative | 1923 |
| Victoria South | Robert John Patterson | Conservative | 1923 |
| Waterloo North | William George Weichel | Conservative | 1923 |
| Waterloo South | Karl Kenneth Homuth | Labour | 1919 |
| Welland | Marshall Vaughan | Conservative | 1923 |
| Wellington East | William Edgar Raney | United Farmers | 1920 |
| Wellington South | Lincoln Goldie | Conservative | 1923 |
| Wellington West | William Clarke Chambers | Conservative | 1911, 1923 |
| Wentworth North | Frank Campbell Biggs | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Wentworth South | Thomas Joseph Mahony | Conservative | 1923 |
| Windsor | Frank Worthington Wilson | Conservative | 1923 |
| York East | George Stewart Henry | Conservative | 1913 |
| York North | William Keith | Conservative | 1923 |
| York West | Forbes Godfrey | Conservative | 1907 |

## Timeline

16th Legislative Assembly of Ontario - Movement in seats held (1923-1926) :
| Party | Party | 1923 | Gain/(loss) due to | Gain/(loss) due to | Gain/(loss) due to | Gain/(loss) due to | Gain/(loss) due to | 1926 |
| Party | Party | 1923 | Party split | Death in office | Resignation as MPP | Byelection gain | Byelection hold | 1926 |
| | Conservative | 75 | | (1) | (2) | 1 | 1 | 74 |
| | United Farmers | 17 | (15) | | (1) | | | 1 |
| | Progressive | – | 15 | | (4) | | | 11 |
| | Liberal | 14 | | (2) | (1) | | | 11 |
| | Labour | 4 | | | (1) | | | 3 |
| | Independent | 1 | | | | | | 1 |
| | Vacant | – | | 2 | 8 | | | 10 |
| Total | Total | 111 | – | (1) | (1) | 1 | 1 | 111 |
Changes in seats held (1923–1926) :
| Seat | Before | Before | Before | Before | Change | Change | Change |
| Seat | Date | Member | Party | Reason | Date | Member | Party |
| Lennox | August 23, 1923 | John Perry Vrooman | █ Liberal | Died in office | October 22, 1923 | Charles Wesley Hambly | █ Conservative |
| Toronto Northwest - A | May 15, 1924 | Thomas Crawford | █ Conservative | Accepted provincial appointment | July 7, 1924 | William Henry Edwards | █ Conservative |
| Simcoe South | April 14, 1925 | William Earl Rowe | █ Conservative | Resigned to run in 1925 federal election | | | █ Vacant |
| Kenora | April 14, 1925 | Peter Heenan | █ Labour | Resigned to run in 1925 federal election | | | █ Vacant |
| Cochrane | April 14, 1925 | Malcolm Lang | █ Liberal | Resigned to run in 1925 federal election | | | █ Vacant |
| Norfolk North | April 14, 1925 | George David Sewell | █ Progressive | Resigned to run in 1925 federal election | | | █ Vacant |
| Grey Centre | April 14, 1925 | Dougall Carmichael | █ Progressive | Resigned to run in 1925 federal election | | | █ Vacant |
| Kent East | April 14, 1925 | Manning William Doherty | █ Progressive | Resigned seat to promote cooperative movement | | | █ Vacant |
| London | August 15, 1925 | Adam Beck | █ Conservative | Died in office | | | █ Vacant |
| Middlesex East | April 8, 1926 | John Willard Freeborn | █ Progressive | Resigned to run in 1926 federal election | | | █ Vacant |
| Manitoulin | April 8, 1926 | Beniah Bowman | █ United Farmers | Resigned to run in 1926 federal election | | | █ Vacant |
| Kent West | October 11, 1926 | Robert Livingstone Brackin | █ Liberal | Died in office | | | █ Vacant |