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Winner Mike Harris | ||
An Ontario general election was held on June 3, 1999, to elect members of the 37th Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, Canada.
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The governing Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, led by Premier Mike Harris, was re-elected to a second majority government.
It was the first election in which the Legislative Assembly of Ontario had a reduced number of seats. Previously, the province's riding boundaries were different from those used in federal elections. In the 1999 election, for the first time, provincial riding boundaries were redrawn to precisely match federal ridings, resulting in 27 fewer seats — and 27 fewer Members of Provincial Parliament — in the legislature. Notably, in a number of ridings this resulted in incumbent MPPs directly facing each other in the new seats; in a few ridings, incumbent MPPs from the same party even had to compete against each other for their own party's nomination.
Campaign
According to a poll released on the eve of the election, the Liberal Party entered the campaign with a lead over the Progressive Conservatives. This poll's accuracy was disputed by many, however, and even Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty cast doubt on it: noting that most polling companies claim to be accurate 19 times out of 20, he suggested that this might have been the 20th. Subsequent polls taken in the early period of the campaign showed the Progressive Conservatives with a commanding lead over the Liberals, in a manner more consistent with pre-election numbers.
Harris' government had delivered large tax cuts and significantly reduced the deficit, but they had also severely cut spending in the process. They had the support of the legendary Tory political machine, bolstered by a group of American experts imported from the United States' Republican Party. They targeted Dalton McGuinty as inexperienced ("Dalton McGuinty is not up to the job" was a Tory campaign slogan), and attacked him for lacking a clear vision. This was successful due to McGuinty having a reputation for being uncomfortable and stiff in the media. During the leader's debates, McGuinty had a poor performance, being unable to explain his party's platform clearly and being compared to fictional serial killer Norman Bates by NDP leader Howard Hampton.
The extensive use of attack ads and wedge issues by the Tories was a new development in Canadian politics, and some commentators worried the election process was becoming Americanized.
The third major party, the Ontario New Democratic Party led by Howard Hampton, spent much the campaign battling the memory of Bob Rae's unpopular government in the early 1990s. Despite Hampton's efforts to reach out to labour, the NDP were substantially weakened as the major unions deserted them in favour of the Liberals, hoping to defeat the Tories by strategic voting.
The province was enjoying strong economic growth at the time which also vindicated the Conservatives' deficit-cutting measures in the public. The Liberal Party managed to recover some support late in the campaign, but it was not enough and the Tories were re-elected with a second consecutive majority government.
Results
Notes:
It is possible that some independent candidates were actually members of these or other unregistered parties.
Constituency results
Note: Expenditure entries are taken from official candidate reports as listed by Elections Ontario. The figures cited are the "Total Candidate's Campaign Expenses Subject to Limitation", and include transfers from constituency associations.
(Note: The official returns list Ray as a candidate of the Ontario Communist Party, rather than the Communist League. This, however, is an error.)
By-elections
Six by-elections were held between the 1999 and 2003 elections.