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The province of Ontario, Canada conducted a general election in September and October 2003, to elect the 103 Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs) in the Ontario Legislative Assembly.

The election was called on September 2 by Premier Ernie Eves and set for October 2, 2003. It was called after the Tories received a jump in the polls after dealing with the 2003 North American blackout.

Campaign

Conduct of the campaign

Many observers considered the campaign notoriously high in mudslinging, even though all sides disavowed this tactic during the televised debate. Both the Liberals and Progressive Conservatives indulged, but many of the most notorious incidents came from the Conservative side. One bizarre incident took place on September 12, when a press release from the Tories referred to Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty as an "evil reptilian kitten-eater from another planet." In another incident towards the end of the campaign, Premier Eves referred to Mr. McGuinty as having a "pointy head," a remark he later conceded was inappropriate. Many observers have commented that the negative tone apparently backfired, creating more sympathy for the Liberal leader.

The Tory campaign was marred by a number of gaffes such as when Ernie Eves failed to know how much his program would cost. These were magnified by a generally unsympathetic media which was poorly treated by the Tory campaign team. An important blow to the Tory campaign was a Frasier Institute study which demonstrated that despite Tory promises Ontario had a fairly severe deficit.

For its part, the Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP) led a theatrical campaign. Leader Howard Hampton made an appearance in front of the Toronto home of millionaire Peter Munk to denounce Eves' tax breaks, claiming that they would save Munk $18 000 a year. He attempted to literally nail Jell-O to a wall to dramatize the elusiveness he accused his opponents of regarding hydro privatization, and used a piece of Swiss cheese, comparing the holey cheese to his opponents' platforms.

Another campaign issue was the treatment of the Green Party of Ontario, which denounced a CRTC decision not to allow it to participate in the leaders' debate.

Issues

The campaign was contentious on the issues as well, with both the Liberals and Howard Hampton's New Democrats attacking the PC record in office. Various scandals and other unpopular moves reduced public opinion of the Tories going into the race, including the Walkerton water tragedy, the death of Dudley George, the possible sale of Hydro One, the SARS outbreak, the decision to release the 2003 budget at an auto plant instead of the Legislature, the blackout in August, and the Aylmer packing plant tainted meat investigation.

One of the most contentious issues was education. All three parties pledged to increase spending by $2 billion; but Premier Eves also pledged to ban teacher strikes, lock-outs, and work-to-rule campaigns during the school year, a move the other parties rejected. Teacher strikes had plagued the previous Progressive Conservative mandate of Mike Harris, whose government had deeply cut education spending.

Tax cuts were also an issue. The Progressive Conservatives proposed a wide range of tax cuts, including a 20-percent cut to personal income taxes and the elimination of education tax paid by seniors, two moves that would have cost $1.3 billion together. The Liberals and New Democrats rejected these cuts as profligate. The Liberals also promised to repeal Tory tax cuts already introduced.

Results

A Liberal victory was declared well in advance of the end of ballot-counting. Ernie Eves conceded only ninety minutes into the count. The NDP had a confusing election: On the one hand they lost 2 seats needed to keep "official status" (which actually means getting a share of official Queen's Park staff etc. something NDP leader, Hampton said he was not worried about), but on the other hand, they increased their share of the popular vote for the first time since 1990, and may be in a better position than the devastated Tories for the next general election.

The Tories were completely shut out of Toronto, of whose 18 ridings 16 went Liberal and 2 elected New Democrats, and also managed to win only one seat in the north of the province. Six Tory cabinet ministers were defeated at the polls, though both Eves and NDP leader Howard Hampton retained their seats.

External links

General resources

• Party platforms
• Government of Ontario
• Ontario Legislative Assembly
• Elections Ontario
• CBC - Ontario Votes 2003

Parties

Parties with seats in the house prior to dissolution

• Ontario Liberal Party (see also Liberal Party of Canada)
• Ontario New Democratic Party (see also New Democratic Party)
• Ontario Progressive Conservative Party (see also Progressive Conservative Party of Canada)

Other parties

• Communist Party of Canada (Ontario)
• Ontario Family Party
• Freedom Party of Ontario
• Green Party of Ontario
• Ontario Libertarian Party
• Ontario Provincial Confederation of Regions Party