3rd Parliament of Ontario

The 3rd Parliament of Ontario was in session from 18 January 1875 until 25 April 1879, following the 1875 general election in which the Liberal Party was returned as the majority party. Oliver Mowat was again the province's Premier.

The Ontario Liquor Licence Act, 1876 (often referred to as the Crooks Act),^[1] which transferred control of licenses for the sale of alcohol from individual municipalities to commissioners appointed by the province, was passed.

Rupert Mearse Wells served as speaker for the assembly.^[2]

Members of the Legislature

Riding	Member	Party	Comments
Addington	Hammel Madden Deroche	Liberal
Algoma	Simon James Dawson	Liberal	Member until 26 August 1878. Resigned to enter federal politics.
	Robert Adam Lyon	Liberal	Won byelection, was member from 16 September 1878.
Brant	Hugh Finlayson	Liberal
Brant South	Arthur Sturgis Hardy	Liberal
Brockville	Wilmot Howard Cole	Liberal
Bruce North	Donald Sinclair	Liberal
Bruce South	Rupert Mearse Wells	Liberal
Cardwell	John Flesher	Conservative
Carleton	George William Monk	Conservative
Cornwall	Alexander Fraser McIntyre	Conservative	Served 18 January 1875 – 18 June 1875. Election disqualified on 8 June 1875[3]
	John Goodall Snetsinger	Liberal	Defeated McIntyre in byelection 17 July 1875 and served to end of Parliament session.[4]
Dufferin	John Barr	Conservative
Dundas	Andrew Broder	Conservative
Durham East	John Rosevear	Conservative
Durham West	John McLeod	Liberal
Elgin East	John Henry Wilson	Liberal
Elgin West	M.G. Munroe	Conservative	Member until June 1875 when he was unseated in election trial.
	Thomas Hodgins	Liberal	As opponent of Munroe, he won the seat upon conclusion of an election trial. Resigned in 1878 to become a candidate for federal politics.
	David McLaws	Liberal	Won byelection and served from September 1878 until end of Parliament session.
Essex North	James Colebrooke Patterson	Conservative	Member until September 1878 when he resigned to enter federal politics.
	Solomon White	Conservative	Won byelection and was member after September 1878.
Essex South	Lewis Wigle	Conservative
Frontenac	Peter Graham	Conservative	Died in office in January 1877.
	Delino Dexter Calvin	Conservative	Won byelection in 1877 and served to end of Parliament session.
Glengarry	Alexander James Grant	Independent-Liberal
Grenville South	Christopher Finlay Fraser	Liberal
Grey North	Thomas Scott	Conservative	Disqualified in September 1875.[5]
	David Creighton	Conservative	Won byelection and was member from 1 November 1875.
Grey East	Abram William Lauder	Conservative
Grey South	James Hill Hunter	Liberal
Haldimand	Jacob Baxter	Liberal
Halton	William Barber	Liberal	Member until 30 June 1875 after he was unseated in election trial.[6]
	William Durie Lyon	Liberal	Won byelection and was member from 15 November 1875 until end of Parliament session.[7]
Hamilton	James Miller Williams	Liberal
Hastings East	Nathaniel Stephen Appleby	Independent-Conservative
Hastings North	George Henry Boulter	Conservative
Hastings West	Thomas Wills	Conservative
Huron East	Thomas Gibson	Liberal
Huron South	Archibald Bishop	Liberal
Huron West	Alexander McLagan Ross	Liberal
Kent East	Archibald McKellar	Liberal	Member until 25 July 1875 when he retired from politics.
	Daniel McCraney	Liberal	Won byelection in 1875 and was member until end of Parliament session.
Kent West	Alexander Coutts	Conservative
Kingston	William Robinson	Conservative
Lambton East	Peter Graham	Liberal
Lambton West	Timothy Blair Pardee	Liberal
Lanark North	William Mostyn	Conservative
Lanark South	Abraham Code	Conservative
Leeds North and Grenville North	Henry Merrick	Conservative
Leeds South	Robert Henry Preston	Conservative
Lennox	John Thomas Grange	Conservative
Lincoln	Sylvester Neelon	Liberal
London	William Ralph Meredith	Conservative
Middlesex East	Richard Tooley	Conservative
Middlesex North	John McDougall	Conservative
Middlesex West	John Watterworth	Liberal
Monck	Henry Ryan Haney	Liberal	Member until 18 November 1878, having died in office.
	Richard Harcourt	Liberal	Won byelection and was in the Legislature as of January 1879 until the end of the Parliament session.
Muskoka and Parry Sound	John Classon Miller	Liberal
Norfolk North	John Fitzgerald Clarke	Liberal
Norfolk South	Richard Richardson	Conservative
Northumberland East	James Marshall Ferris	Liberal
Northumberland West	William Hargraft	Liberal
Ontario North	Thomas Paxton	Liberal
Ontario South	Nicholas W. Brown	Conservative
Ottawa	Daniel John O'Donoghue	Liberal
Oxford North	Oliver Mowat	Liberal
Oxford South	Adam Oliver	Liberal	Member until 15 July 1875 after he was unseated by election trial.[8]
	Adam Crooks	Liberal	Won byelection in 1875 and was in the Legislature as of December 1875. He served until the end of the Parliament session.[9]
Peel	Kenneth Chisholm	Liberal
Perth North	David Davidson Hay	Liberal
Perth South	Thomas Ballantyne	Liberal
Peterborough East	John C. O'Sullivan	Conservative	Although unseated by election trial on 2 August 1875, he retained this riding.[10]
Peterborough West	George Albertus Cox	Liberal	Unseated in election trial 2 August 1875.[10]
	William Hepburn Scott	Conservative	Won byelection and was member from December 1875.
Prescott	William Harkin	Conservative
Prince Edward	Gideon Striker	Liberal
Renfrew North	Thomas Deacon	Conservative
Renfrew South	James Bonfield	Liberal
Russell	Adam Jacob Baker	Conservative
Simcoe East	John Kean	Conservative
Simcoe South	D'Arcy Edward Boulton	Conservative	Died in office 16 February 1875.
	William McDougall	Independent-Liberal	Won byelection and was member from 1 June 1875 to 9 September 1878. Resigned early to seek seat in federal House of Commons.[11]
	William James Parkhill	Conservative	Won by-election and was member from 1 October 1878.
Simcoe West	Thomas Long	Conservative
Stormont	James Bethune	Liberal
Toronto East	Matthew Crooks Cameron	Conservative	Was member until 9 January 1879 when he retired from politics.
	Alexander Morris	Conservative	Won byelection and was member from January 1879 until the end of Parliament session.
Toronto West	Robert Bell	Conservative
Victoria North	John David Smith	Liberal	Was member until 27 August 1875, after being unseated in election trial.[12]
	Duncan McRae	Conservative	Won byelection.
Victoria South	Samuel Casey Wood	Liberal	Retained seat in August 1875 byelection.[13]
Waterloo North	Moses Springer	Liberal
Waterloo South	John Fleming	Liberal	Died in office 21 January 1877.[14]
	Isaac Master	Liberal	Won byelection after recount and was member from March 1877.[15]
Welland	James George Currie	Liberal
Wellington Centre	Charles Clarke	Liberal
Wellington South	Peter Gow	Liberal	Member until 1876 when he resigned.
	James Massie	Liberal	Won byelection and was in the Legislature as of January 1877 until the end of the Parliament session.
Wellington West	John McGowan	Liberal-Conservative
Wentworth North	Thomas Stock	Conservative	Disqualified in September 1875. Was Conservative member until 30 June 1875.[16]
	James McMahon	Liberal	Won byelection and was in the Legislature as of December 1875 until the end of the Parliament session.
Wentworth South	William Sexton	Liberal
York East	John Lane	Liberal
York North	Joseph Henry Widdifield	Liberal
York West	Peter Patterson	Liberal

Election trials

The early months of this Parliament were marred by election trials in many ridings. Most of these cases challenged the validity of the election results on such charges as bribery or corruption. A common accusation was that of "treating", where candidates or their agents would buy potential electors alcohol or other favours.

The following ridings and candidates were affected:

Riding	Original Candidate	Comment
Cardwell	Flesher	Retained seat.
Cornwall	McIntyre	Unseated - election voided 8 June 1875, then defeated by Snetsinger in byelection.
Dundas	Broder	Retained seat.
Elgin East	Wilson	Retained seat - charges dropped 13 May 1875.[17]
Essex South	Wigle	Retained seat - originally unseated, but appealed.[18][19][20]
Elgin West	M.G. Munroe	Unseated - Hodgins declared the proper member of Legislature after 16 votes declared invalid, leaving Hodgins with a majority of 6 votes.[21][22]
Grey North	Scott	Unseated - original petition dismissed, but reversed on appeal, therefore Scott disqualified. 8-year ban from office.[16]
Grey South	Hunter	Retained seat - charges dismissed 2 July 1875.[23]
Halton	Barber	Unseated.[6]
Hastings West	Wills	Retained seat - charges dismissed.[24]
Lincoln	Neelon	Retained seat - initially unseated, but regained seat.[25]
London	Meredith	Retained seat.
Middlesex North	McDougall	Retained seat - charges dismissed.[26]
Monck	Haney	Retained seat - election initially voided, byelection called which Haney won.[27][28]
Muskoka	Miller	Retained seat - initially unseated, but appeals on some aspects of the election trial were still in progress through November 1875.[25][29][30]
Northumberland East	Ferris	Retained seat.
Ontario North	Paxton	Retained seat - charges dismissed, upheld on appeal, although the original election was still void and required byelection.
Ontario South	Brown	Retained seat - charges dismissed, case appealed, seat retained.[31]
Oxford South	Oliver	Unseated - lost byelection 25 August 1875
Peel	Chisholm	Retained seat.
Perth North	Hay	Retained seat.
Peterborough East	O'Sullivan	Retained seat - although initially unseated in election trial on 2 August 1875.[10]
Peterborough West	Cox	Unseated - 2 August 1875.[10]
Russell	Baker	Retained seat - charges dismissed, byelection called in which Russell won.[32][33]
Simcoe East	Kean	Retained seat.
Simcoe West	Long	Retained seat.
Toronto East	Cameron	Retained seat.
Toronto West	Bell	Retained seat.
Victoria North	Smith	Unseated.
Welland	Currie	Retained seat - Currie won byelection.[34]
Wellington West	McGowan	Unseated - byelection called, McGowan regained seat.[35][36]
Wentworth North	Stock	Unseated - 8-year ban from office.[16]

Source: "What have they gained by it? / Election appeals". The Globe. Toronto, Ontario. 27 September 1875. p. 2..

References

• Ontario Legislative Assembly official website Archived 16 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 9 March 2007

1. 39 Victoria, 3. 26; R.S.O. 1877, c. 181
2. "Speakers of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario". Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Archived from the original on 1 August 2014. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
3. "Cornwall Election Case / The Election Voided Through Bribery by Agents". The Globe. 9 June 1875. p. 1., courts ordered byelection
4. ""News Summary" and "The Cornwall Election / Mr. Snetsinger Returned"". The Globe. 19 July 1875. p. 1.
5. Scott was banned for 8 years from holding any municipal or provincial office, or from voting in a provincial election. "North Wentworth and North Grey". The Globe. 28 September 1875. p. 2.
6. "The Halton Election Trial". The Globe. 17 May 1875. p. 2.
7. Lyon was voted Reform candidate for this riding on 4 October 1875."Halton Reform Convention". The Globe. 11 October 1875. p. 3.
8. "South Oxford Election Trial / Mr Oliver Unseated". The Globe. 16 July 1875. p. 1.
9. "South Oxford". The Globe. 12 August 1875. p. 2.; new election called in August 1875.
10. "The Peterborough Election Trials / Dr O'Sullivan unseated in the East and Mr Cox in the West". The Globe. 3 August 1875. p. 1.
11. "Ontario Legislature". The Globe. 1 October 1878. p. 2.
12. "North Victoria Election Case / Conclusion of the Judgment". The Globe. 20 August 1875. p. 1.
13. "South Victoria / Triumphant return of Hon. S.C. Wood". The Globe. 16 August 1875. p. 2.
14. "Galt / Death of Mr. Fleming MPP". The Globe. 22 January 1877. p. 1.
15. "South Waterloo Election / Recount of the Vote". The Globe. 7 March 1877. p. 1.
16. Stock was banned for 8 years from holding any municipal or provincial office, or from voting in a provincial election. "North Wentworth and North Grey". The Globe. 28 September 1875. p. 2.
17. "East Elgin Petition". The Globe. 13 May 1875. p. 2.
18. "Legal Intelligence ... Before the Chancellor". The Globe. 14 July 1875. p. 2.
19. "South Essex Election Trial / Respondent Unseated for Corrupt Practice of an Agent". The Globe. 14 July 1875. p. 4.
20. "Windsor". The Globe. 15 July 1875. p. 1., noting Wigle's appeal
21. "West Elgin". The Globe. 28 June 1875. p. 4.
22. "West Elgin Election Case". The Globe. 9 June 1875. p. 2., reporting the judgement leaving Hodgins with majority of 6 votes.
23. "South Grey Election Trial / Petition Dismissed". The Globe. 3 July 1875. p. 8.
24. "The West Hastings Election Trial". The Globe. 19 June 1875. p. 8.
25. "Election Trials - Muskoka and Lincoln". The Globe. 18 September 1875. p. 4.
26. "Legal Intelligence... Election Trial". The Globe. 28 September 1875. p. 2.
27. "Monck Election Trial / Dr Haney Unseated". The Globe. 14 May 1875. p. 4.
28. "Monck Elections". The Globe. 23 June 1875. p. 2., Dr Haney (Reform) re-elected.
29. "Muskoka / Mr. Miller Called on to take his Seat". The Globe. 29 November 1875. p. 1.
30. "The Muskoka Election Trial". The Globe. 12 August 1875. p. 2., reporting that 12 of 15 charges in the election trial were dismissed at that point.
31. "South Ontario Election Court / Third Day". The Globe. 14 May 1875. p. 4.
32. "Russel Election". The Globe. 5 June 1875. p. 1.
33. "Russel Election". The Globe. 13 August 1875. p. 1.
34. "Local Elections (editorial)". The Globe. 5 July 1875. p. 2.
35. "West Wellington Election Case". The Globe. 28 June 1875. p. 4.
36. "North Wellington / Return of Mr. McGowan". The Globe. 28 September 1875. p. 1., despite the title (Ontario had no North Wellington riding), the article referred to the byelection in which McGowan won.