# 15th Parliament of Ontario

The 15th Legislative Assembly of Ontario was in session from October 20, 1919, until May 10, 1923. The parliament was elected in the 1919 Ontario general election and was dissolved prior to the 1923 general election. The leading party in the chamber after the election was the United Farmers of Ontario (UFO). It formed a coalition government with 11 Labour MLAs and three Independent candidates of varying stripes.
The coalition held a slight majority of the seats and the parties it represented had taken about 34 percent of the vote in the 1919 election. The rest of the votes had been split between the Conservatives, the Liberals and others, many of which were unsuccessful candidates. (Under the first-past-the-post system, any votes cast for unsuccessful candidates are simply disregarded.)
The UFO derived a benefit from winning many rural seats where the number of votes involved were less than in the urban districts. In Brant North the UFO candidate won while receiving only 3,600 votes while in Ottawa West the Conservative candidate took 9,000 votes to win his seat.
The party approached Ernest Charles Drury, who had not run in the election, to serve as party leader and premier. Drury had not run in the 1919 election and was elected in a by-election held in Halton in 1920. He made it known that the coalition government party should be known by the name "The People's Party."
Most of the seats the United Farmers won were taken at the expense of the Conservative party, who had formed the government in the preceding assembly and would again regain power in 1923.
Nelson Parliament served as speaker for the assembly.
The power wielded by the UFO-Labour coalition enabled the passage of progressive Labour and farmer legislation. The government created the first Department of Welfare for the province and brought in allowances for widows and children, a minimum wage for women and standardized adoption procedures. The government also expanded Ontario Hydro and promoted rural electrification, created the Province of Ontario Savings Office - a provincially owned bank that lent money to farmers at a lower rate - began the first major reforestation program in North America, and began construction of the modern highway system.
The government was a strict enforcer of the Ontario Temperance Act, enacted in 1916, and Prohibition stayed in force until 1927.
The 1923 election saw the UFO-Labour coalition government defeated by a re-energized Conservative Party. The UFO vote stayed solid as compared to 1919 but the UFO suffered under First past the post and took about half the seats it was due.
In 1924 (after the 1923 election), the provincial treasurer Peter Smith was found guilty of conspiracy to defraud the government following a series of events known as the Ontario Bond Scandal.
In the waning days of the UFO-Labour government, the government attempted to reform the province's electoral system (to introduce proportional representation) but the effort failed, in part due to Conservative opposition. The UFO suffered under the First past the post electoral system used in the 1923 election, taking just about half the seats they were due proportionally.

## Members of the Assembly

Italicized names indicate members returned by acclamation.
| Riding | Member | Party | First elected / previously elected |
| Addington | William David Black | Conservative | 1911 |
| Algoma | Kenneth Spencer Stover | Liberal | 1919 |
| Brant | Harry Corwin Nixon | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Brant South | Morrison Mann MacBride | Labour | 1919 |
| Brockville | Donald McAlpine | Liberal | 1919 |
| Bruce North | William Henry Fenton | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Bruce South | Frank Rennie | Liberal | 1919 |
| Bruce West | Alexander Patterson Mewhinney | Liberal | 1919 |
| Carleton | Robert Henry Grant | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Cochrane | Malcolm Lang | Liberal | 1914 |
| Dufferin | Thomas Kerr Slack | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Dundas | William H. Casselman | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Durham East | Samuel Sandford Staples | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Durham West | William John Bragg | Liberal | 1919 |
| Elgin East | Malcolm MacVicar | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Elgin West | Peter Gow Cameron | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Essex North | Alphonse George Tisdelle | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Essex South | Milton C. Fox | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Fort William | Henry Mills | Labour | 1919 |
| Frontenac | Anthony McGuin Rankin | Conservative | 1911 |
| Glengarry | Duncan Alexander Ross | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Grenville | George Howard Ferguson | Conservative | 1905 |
| Grey Centre | Dougall Carmichael | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Grey North | David James Taylor | Liberal-United Farmers | 1919 |
| Grey South | George Mansfield Leeson | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Haldimand | Warren Stringer | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Halton | John Featherstone Ford | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Halton | Ernest Charles Drury (1920) | United Farmers | 1920 |
| Hamilton East | George Grant Halcrow | Labour | 1919 |
| Hamilton West | Walter Rollo | Labour | 1919 |
| Hastings East | Henry Ketcheson Denyes | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Hastings North | John Robert Cooke | Conservative | 1911 |
| Hastings West | William Henry Ireland | Conservative | 1919 |
| Huron Centre | John M. Govenlock | Labour | 1919 |
| Huron North | John Joynt | Conservative | 1919 |
| Huron South | Andrew Hicks | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Kenora | Peter Heenan | Labour | 1919 |
| Kent East | James B. Clark | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Kent East | Manning William Doherty (1920) | United Farmers | 1920 |
| Kent West | Robert Livingstone Brackin | Liberal | 1919 |
| Kingston | Arthur Edward Ross | Conservative | 1911 |
| Kingston | William Folger Nickle (1922) | Conservative | 1908, 1922 |
| Lambton East | Leslie Warner Oke | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Lambton West | Jonah Moorehouse Webster | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Lanark North | Hiram McCreary | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Lanark South | William J. Johnston | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Leeds | Andrew Wellington Gray | Conservative | 1919 |
| Lennox | Reginald Amherst Fowler | Conservative | 1918 |
| Lincoln | Thomas A. Marshall | Liberal | 1898 |
| London | Hugh Allen Stevenson | Labour | 1919 |
| Manitoulin | Beniah Bowman | United Farmers | 1918 |
| Middlesex East | John Willard Freeborn | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Middlesex North | James C. Brown | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Middlesex West | John Giles Lethbridge | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Muskoka | George Walter Ecclestone | Conservative | 1916 |
| Niagara Falls | Charles Fletcher Swayze | Labour | 1919 |
| Nipissing | Joseph Marceau | Liberal | 1919 |
| Norfolk North | George David Sewell | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Norfolk South | Joseph Cridland | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Northumberland East | Wesley Montgomery | United Farmers | 1919 |
| 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 | Hammett Pinhey Hill | Conservative | 1919 |
| Oxford North | John Alexander Calder | Liberal | 1918 |
| Oxford North | David Munroe Ross (1921) | United Farmers | 1921 |
| Oxford South | Albert Thomas Walker | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Parkdale | William Herbert Price | Conservative | 1914 |
| Parry Sound | Richard Reese Hall | Liberal | 1919 |
| Peel | Thomas Laird Kennedy | Conservative | 1919 |
| Perth North | Francis Wellington Hay | Liberal | 1916 |
| Perth South | Peter Smith | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Peterborough East | Ernest Nicholls McDonald | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Peterborough West | Thomas Tooms | Labour | 1919 |
| Port Arthur | Donald McDonald Hogarth | Conservative | 1911 |
| Prescott | Gustave Évanturel | Liberal | 1911 |
| Prince Edward | Nelson Parliament | Liberal | 1914 |
| Rainy River | James Arthur Mathieu | Conservative-Liberal | 1911 |
| Renfrew North | Ralph Melville Warren | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Renfrew South | John Carty | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Riverdale | Joseph McNamara | Soldier | 1919 |
| Russell | Damase Racine | Liberal | 1905 |
| Russell | Alfred Goulet (1922) | Liberal | 1922 |
| Sault Ste. Marie | James Bertram Cunningham | Labour | 1919 |
| Simcoe Centre | Gilbert Hugh Murdoch | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Simcoe East | John Benjamin Johnston | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Simcoe South | Edgar James Evans | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Simcoe West | William Torrance Allen | Conservative | 1917 |
| St. Catharines | Frank Howard Greenlaw | Labour | 1919 |
| Stormont | James William McLeod | Liberal | 1919 |
| Sturgeon Falls | Zotique Mageau | Liberal | 1911 |
| Sudbury | Charles McCrea | Conservative | 1911 |
| Timiskaming | Thomas Magladery | Conservative | 1914 |
| Toronto Northeast - A | Henry John Cody | Conservative | 1918 |
| Toronto Northeast - A | Alexander Cameron Lewis (1920) | Conservative | 1920 |
| Toronto Northeast - B | Joseph Elijah Thompson | Conservative | 1919 |
| Toronto Northwest - A | Thomas Crawford | Conservative | 1894 |
| Toronto Northwest - B | Henry Sloane Cooper | Liberal | 1919 |
| Toronto Southeast - A | John O'Neill | Liberal | 1919 |
| Toronto Southeast - A | John Allister Currie (1922) | Conservative | 1922 |
| Toronto Southeast - B | James Walter Curry | Liberal | 1919 |
| Toronto Southwest - A | Herbert Hartley Dewart | Liberal | 1916 |
| Toronto Southwest - B | John Carman Ramsden | Liberal | 1919 |
| Victoria North | Edgar Watson | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Victoria South | Frederick George Sandy | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Waterloo North | Nicholas Asmussen | Independent Liberal | 1919 |
| Waterloo South | Karl Kenneth Homuth | Labour-United Farmers | 1919 |
| Welland | Robert Cooper | Liberal | 1919 |
| Wellington East | Albert Hellyer | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Wellington East | William Edgar Raney (1920) | United Farmers | 1920 |
| Wellington South | Caleb Henry Buckland | Conservative | 1919 |
| Wellington West | Robert Neil McArthur | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Wentworth North | Frank Campbell Biggs | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Wentworth South | Wilson A. Crockett | United Farmers | 1919 |
| Windsor | James Craig Tolmie | Liberal | 1914 |
| York East | George Stewart Henry | Conservative | 1913 |
| York North | Thomas Herbert Lennox | Conservative | 1905 |
| York West | Forbes Godfrey | Conservative | 1907 |

## Timeline

15th Legislative Assembly of Ontario - Movement in seats held (1919-1923) :
| Party | Party | 1919 | Gain/(loss) due to | Gain/(loss) due to | Gain/(loss) due to | Gain/(loss) due to | 1923 |
| Party | Party | 1919 | Death in office | Resignation as MPP | Byelection gain | Byelection hold | 1923 |
| | United Farmers | 44 | | (3) | 1 | 3 | 45 |
| | Liberal | 27 | (2) | (1) | | 1 | 25 |
| | Conservative | 25 | | (2) | 1 | 2 | 26 |
| | Labour | 11 | | | | | 11 |
| | Independent-Liberal | 1 | | | | | 1 |
| | Farmer–Labour | 1 | | | | | 1 |
| | Farmer-Liberal | 1 | | | | | 1 |
| | Soldier | 1 | | | | | 1 |
| Total | Total | 111 | (2) | (6) | 2 | 6 | 111 |
Changes in seats held (1919–1923) :
| Seat | Before | Before | Before | Before | Change | Change | Change |
| Seat | Date | Member | Party | Reason | Date | Member | Party |
| Kent East | January 9, 1920 | James B. Clark | █ United Farmers | Resignation | February 9, 1920 | Manning William Doherty | █ United Farmers |
| Halton | January 10, 1920 | John Featherstone Ford | █ United Farmers | Resignation | February 16, 1920 | Ernest Charles Drury | █ United Farmers |
| Wellington East | February 4, 1920 | Albert Hellyer | █ United Farmers | Resignation | February 23, 1920 | William Edgar Raney | █ United Farmers |
| Toronto Northeast - A | March 3, 1920 | Henry John Cody | █ Conservative | Resignation | November 8, 1920 | Alexander Cameron Lewis | █ Conservative |
| Kingston | November 18, 1921 | Arthur Edward Ross | █ Conservative | Elected to federal seat | February 6, 1922 | William Folger Nickle | █ Conservative |
| Oxford North | November 18, 1921 | John Alexander Calder | █ Liberal | Resignation | December 19, 1921 | David Munroe Ross | █ United Farmers |
| Russell | December 2, 1921 | Damase Racine | █ Liberal | Died in office | October 23, 1922 | Alfred Goulet | █ Liberal |
| Toronto Southeast - A | January 6, 1922 | John O'Neill | █ Liberal | Died in office | October 23, 1922 | John Allister Currie | █ Conservative |