1971 Ontario general election

The 1971 Ontario general election was held on October 21, 1971, to elect the 117 members of the 29th Legislative Assembly of Ontario (Members of Provincial Parliament, or "MPPs") of the Province of Ontario.

The Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, led by Bill Davis, who had replaced John Robarts as PC leader and premier earlier in the year, won a ninth consecutive term in office, and maintained its majority in the legislature, increasing its caucus in the legislature by eight seats from its result in the previous election.

The Ontario Liberal Party, led by Robert Nixon, lost seven seats, but continued in the role of official opposition.

The social democratic Ontario New Democratic Party, led by Stephen Lewis, lost one seat.

This election marked the first time that the provincial election was held on a Thursday. Subsequently, every provincial election has also been held on a Thursday, with the exception of the 2007 Ontario general election, which was held on a Wednesday.

The electoral franchise was significantly expanded upon the reduction of the voting age from 21 to 18.

Summary
! colspan=2 rowspan=2 | Political party ! rowspan=2 | Party leader ! colspan=4 | MPPs ! colspan=4 | Votes ! Candidates !1967 !1971 !± !# ! ± !% ! ± (pp)


 * style="text-align:left;"|Bill Davis
 * 117 || 69  || 78  || 9  || 1,465,313  || 446,558  || 44.50% || 2.40
 * style="text-align:left;"|Robert Nixon
 * 117 || 28  || 20  || 8 || 913,742  || 146,351  || 27.75% || 3.97


 * style="text-align:left;"|Stephen Lewis
 * 117 || 20  || 19  || 1 || 893,879  || 265,482  || 27.15% || 1.18


 * || 23 || – || – || – || 16,959  || 14,577  || 0.52% || 0.42


 * style="text-align:left;"|William Stewart
 * 5 || – || – || – || 1,620  || 558  || 0.05% || 0.03

! colspan="3" style="text-align:left;" | Total ! " colspan="2"|117 ! " colspan="2"|3,292,717 ! " colspan="2"| 100.00%
 * || 5 || – || – || – || 1,204  || 702 || 0.04% || 0.04
 * 384||117
 * colspan="7" style="text-align:left;" | Rejected ballots
 * 18,059
 * 1,469
 * colspan="2"|
 * colspan="7" style="text-align:left;" | Voter turnout
 * 3,310,776
 * 871,538
 * 73.52
 * 7.34
 * colspan="7" style="text-align:left;" | Registered electors
 * 4,503,142
 * 817,387
 * colspan="2"|
 * }
 * 817,387
 * colspan="2"|
 * }

Synopsis of results

 * = open seat
 * = turnout is above provincial average
 * = winning candidate was in previous Legislature
 * = not incumbent; was previously elected to the Legislature
 * = incumbent had switched allegiance
 * = incumbency arose from byelection gain
 * = previously incumbent in another riding
 * = other incumbents renominated

Seats changing hands
Of the 117 seats, 22 were open because of MPPs who chose not to stand for reelection, and voters in only 19 seats changed allegiance from the previous election in 2018.

Tom Reid (Rainy River) had previously campaigned on the Liberal-Labour ticket, but sat with the Liberal caucus. In 1971, he opted to stand as a Liberal instead.

There were 19 seats that changed allegiance in the election:


 * PC to Liberal
 * Ottawa East
 * York-Forest Hill


 * PC to NDP
 * Nickel Belt


 * Liberal to PC
 * Algoma—Manitoulin
 * Niagara Falls
 * Oxford
 * Dovercourt
 * Humber
 * Scarborough East


 * Liberal to NDP
 * Ottawa Centre
 * Port Arthur
 * Sudbury
 * Parkdale


 * NDP to PC
 * Brantford
 * Oshawa
 * Peterborough
 * Temiskaming
 * Beaches—Woodbine
 * Scarborough Centre