1898 Ontario general election

The 1898 Ontario general election was the ninth general election held in the province of Ontario, Canada. It was held on March 1, 1898, to elect the 94 Members of the 9th Legislative Assembly of Ontario ("MLAs").

The Ontario Liberal Party, led by Arthur S. Hardy, won an eighth term in office with a clear majority – the Patrons of Industry and the Protestant Protective Association held no sway in this legislature.

The Ontario Conservative Party, led by Sir James P. Whitney, formed the official opposition.

Results
! colspan=2 rowspan=2 | Political party ! rowspan=2 | Party leader ! colspan=5 | MPPs ! colspan=3 | Votes ! Candidates !1894 ! Dissol. !1898 !± !# !% ! ± (pp)


 * style="text-align:left;"|Arthur S. Hardy
 * 91
 * 45
 * 51
 * 6
 * 202,332
 * 47.29%
 * 6.30
 * 6.30


 * style="text-align:left;"|James P. Whitney
 * 90
 * 23
 * 42
 * 19
 * 204,011
 * 47.69%
 * 19.88
 * 19.88


 * style="text-align:left;"|
 * 1
 * 1
 * 1
 * 1,740
 * 0.41%
 * New
 * 0.41%
 * New


 * style="text-align:left;"|Liberal-Patrons
 * style="text-align:left;"|
 * 12
 * 12
 * rowspan="7" colspan="3"|Did not campaign
 * 12
 * rowspan="7" colspan="3"|Did not campaign
 * rowspan="7" colspan="3"|Did not campaign


 * style="text-align:left;"|Conservative–P.P.A.
 * style="text-align:left;"|
 * 5
 * 5
 * 5
 * 5
 * 5


 * style="text-align:left;"|Joseph Longford Haycock
 * 3
 * 3
 * 3
 * 3
 * 3


 * style="text-align:left;"|Conservative-Patrons
 * style="text-align:left;"|
 * 2
 * 2
 * 2
 * 2
 * 2


 * style="text-align:left;"|Liberal-P.P.A.
 * style="text-align:left;"|
 * 2
 * 2
 * style="background-color:#FF8000;"|
 * style="text-align:left;"|Protestant Protective Association
 * style="text-align:left;"|
 * 1
 * 1
 * style="text-align:left;"|Protestant Protective Association
 * style="text-align:left;"|
 * 1
 * 1
 * 1
 * 1
 * 1


 * style="text-align:left;"|
 * 1
 * 1
 * 1
 * 1
 * 1


 * style="text-align:left;"|
 * 18
 * 19,683
 * 4.60%
 * 2.10
 * 19,683
 * 4.60%
 * 2.10
 * 2.10


 * style="text-align:left;"|
 * 1
 * 57
 * 0.01%
 * New
 * 57
 * 0.01%
 * New
 * New


 * colspan="3"|
 * colspan="5"|
 * -style="background:#E9E9E9;"
 * colspan="3" style="text-align:left;"|Total
 * 201
 * 94
 * 94
 * 94
 * 427,823
 * 100.00%
 * colspan="8" style="text-align:left;"|Blank and invalid ballots
 * align="right"|3,601
 * style="background:#E9E9E9;" colspan="2"|
 * -style="background:#E9E9E9;"
 * colspan="8" style="text-align:left;"|Registered voters / turnout
 * 525,795
 * 82.05%
 * 11.75
 * }
 * 525,795
 * 82.05%
 * 11.75
 * }

Synopsis of results

 * = open seat
 * = turnout is above provincial average
 * = winning candidate was in previous Legislature
 * = incumbent had switched allegiance
 * = previously incumbent in another riding
 * = not incumbent; was previously elected to the Legislature
 * = incumbency arose from byelection gain
 * = incumbency arose from prior election result being overturned by the court
 * = other incumbents renominated
 * = previously an MP in the House of Commons of Canada
 * = multiple candidates

! colspan=2 | Political party ! Candidate ! Votes ! % ! Elected ! Incumbent


 * style="text-align:left;"|Alexander Lumsden
 * 4,793 ||26.86
 * style="text-align:center;"|✅


 * style="text-align:left;"|Charles Berkeley Powell
 * 4,548 ||25.49
 * style="text-align:center;"|✅


 * style="text-align:left;"|George O. O'Keefe
 * 4,539 ||25.44
 * style="text-align:center;"|❌
 * style="text-align:center;"|✅

!colspan="3" style="text-align:right;"|Majority
 * style="text-align:left;"|B. Slattery
 * 3,964 ||22.21
 * 9 ||0.05
 * }

MLAs elected by region and riding
Party designations are as follows:

{{legend|#EA6D6A|Liberal}} {{legend|#9999FF|Conservative}} {{legend|#DCDCDC|Independent Conservative}}


 * Northern Ontario
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Algoma East: Charles Franklin Farwell}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Algoma West: James Conmee}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Nipissing: John Loughrin}}


 * Ottawa Valley
 * {{legend|#DCDCDC|Carleton: George Nelson Kidd}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Lanark North: William Clyde Caldwell}}
 * {{legend|#9999FF|Lanark South: Arthur James Matheson}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Ottawa: Alexander Lumsden}}
 * {{legend|#9999FF|Ottawa: Charles Berkeley Powell}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Prescott: Alfred Évanturel}}
 * {{legend|#9999FF|Renfrew North: Andrew Thomas White}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Renfrew South: Robert Adam Campbell}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Russell: Onésime Guibord}}


 * Saint Lawrence Valley
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Brockville: George Perry Graham}}
 * {{legend|#9999FF|Dundas: James Pliny Whitney}}
 * {{legend|#9999FF|Glengarry: Donald Robert McDonald}}
 * {{legend|#9999FF|Grenville: Robert L. Joynt}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Kingston: William Harty}}
 * {{legend|#9999FF|Leeds: Walter Beatty}}
 * {{legend|#9999FF|Stormont: John McLaughlin}}


 * Central Ontario
 * {{legend|#9999FF|Addington: James Reid}}
 * {{legend|#9999FF|Durham East: William Armstrong Fallis}}
 * {{legend|#9999FF|Durham West: William Henry Reid}}
 * {{legend|#9999FF|Frontenac: John S. Gallagher}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Hastings East: Samuel Russell}}
 * {{legend|#9999FF|Hastings North: William John Allen}}
 * {{legend|#9999FF|Hastings West: Marshall Bidwell Morrison}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Lennox: Bowen Ebenezer Aylsworth}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Northumberland East: John Henry Douglas}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Northumberland West: Samuel Clarke}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Peterborough East: Thomas Blezard}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Peterborough West: James Robert Stratton}}
 * {{legend|#9999FF|Prince Edward: William Ryerson Dempsey}}
 * {{legend|#9999FF|Victoria East: John Hilliard Carnegie}}
 * {{legend|#9999FF|Victoria West: Samuel John Fox}}


 * Georgian Bay
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Bruce North: Charles Martin Bowman}}
 * {{legend|#9999FF|Grey North: George Milward Boyd}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Muskoka: Samuel Bridgeland}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Parry Sound: William Rabb Beatty}}
 * {{legend|#9999FF|Simcoe Centre: Alfred Burke Thompson}}
 * {{legend|#9999FF|Simcoe East: Andrew Miscampbell}}
 * {{legend|#9999FF|Simcoe West: James Stoddart Duff}}


 * Wentworth/Halton/Niagara
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Halton: John Roaf Barber}}
 * {{legend|#9999FF|Hamilton East: Henry Carscallen}}
 * {{legend|#9999FF|Hamilton West: Edward Alexander Colquhoun}}
 * {{legend|#9999FF|Lincoln: Elisha Jessop}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Monck: Richard Harcourt}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Welland: William Manley German}}
 * {{legend|#9999FF|Wentworth North: Thomas Atkins Wardell}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Wentworth South: John Dickenson}}


 * Midwestern Ontario
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Brant North: Daniel Burt}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Brant South: Arthur Sturgis Hardy}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Bruce Centre: Andrew Malcolm}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Bruce South: Reuben Eldridge Truax}}
 * {{legend|#9999FF|Dufferin: John Barr}}
 * {{legend|#9999FF|Grey Centre: Isaac Benson Lucas}}
 * {{legend|#9999FF|Grey South: David Jamieson}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Haldimand: Joseph William Holmes}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Huron East: Archibald Hislop}}
 * {{legend|#9999FF|Huron South: Henry Eilber}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Huron West: James Thompson Garrow}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Norfolk North: Edwin Clarendon Carpenter}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Norfolk South: William Andrew Charlton}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Oxford North: Andrew Pattulo}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Oxford South: Angus McKay}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Perth North: John Brown}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Perth South: William Caven Moscrip}}
 * {{legend|#9999FF|Waterloo North: Henry George Lackner}}
 * {{legend|#9999FF|Waterloo South: William Abram Kribs}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Wellington East: John Craig}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Wellington South: John Mutrie}}
 * {{legend|#9999FF|Wellington West: James Tucker}}


 * Southwestern Ontario
 * {{legend|#9999FF|Elgin East: Charles Andrew Brower}}
 * {{legend|#9999FF|Elgin West: Findlay George MacDiarmid}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Essex North: William J. McKee}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Essex South: John Allan Auld}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Kent East: Robert Ferguson}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Kent West: Thomas Letson Pardo}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Lambton East: Henry John Pettypiece}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Lambton West: Frederick Forsyth Pardee}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|London: Francis Baxter Leys}}
 * {{legend|#9999FF|Middlesex East: Thomas D. Hodgins}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Middlesex North: William Taylor}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Middlesex West: George William Ross}}


 * Peel/York/Ontario
 * {{legend|#9999FF|Cardwell: Edward Alfred Little}}
 * {{legend|#9999FF|Ontario North: William Henry Hoyle}}
 * {{legend|#9999FF|Ontario South: Charles Calder}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Peel: John Smith}}
 * {{legend|#9999FF|Toronto East: Robert Allan Pyne}}
 * {{legend|#9999FF|Toronto North: George Frederick Marter}}
 * {{legend|#9999FF|Toronto South: J.J. Foy}}
 * {{legend|#9999FF|Toronto West: Thomas Crawford}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|York East: John Richardson}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|York North: Elihu James Davis}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|York West: William James Hill}}

Seats that changed hands
There were 50 seats that changed allegiance in the election:


 * Conservative to Liberal
 * Algoma West
 * Haldimand
 * Halton
 * Kingston
 * Lanark North
 * Lennox
 * London
 * Northumberland East
 * Perth North
 * York West


 * Liberal/Patrons of Industry to Liberal
 * Bruce Centre
 * Hastings East
 * Kent West
 * Middlesex North
 * Parry Sound
 * Perth South


 * Conservative/PPA to Liberal
 * Lambton West
 * Muskoka


 * Liberal/PPA to Liberal
 * Bruce North


 * Independent-Conservative/PPA to Liberal
 * Lambton East


 * Liberal to Conservative
 * Grey North
 * Hamilton East
 * Hamilton West
 * Hastings West
 * Huron South
 * Ontario North
 * Ontario South
 * Ottawa (1 MLA)
 * Renfrew North
 * Simcoe Centre
 * Victoria West
 * Waterloo North
 * Waterloo South
 * Wentworth North


 * Liberal/Patrons of Industry to Conservative
 * Elgin West
 * Frontenac
 * Glengarry
 * Prince Edward
 * Simcoe West
 * Stormont


 * Conservative/PPA to Conservative
 * Durham West
 * Toronto East
 * Wellington West


 * Patrons of Industry to Conservative
 * Dufferin
 * Grey South
 * Hastings North


 * Conservative/Patrons of Industry to Conservative
 * Cardwell


 * Liberal/PPA to Conservative
 * Middlesex East


 * PPA to Conservative
 * Grey Centre


 * Conservative/Patrons of Industry to Independent-Conservative
 * Carleton

MLAs changing parties
Six members changed their principal affiliation from the previous election: