Recent Election Results
The party's most successful election was the 1990 election, in which the OLP candidates won 24,613 votes or 0.6% of the vote. In the 45 ridings where the OLP ran candidates, the party averaged 547 votes or 1.8% of the total. In eight of the election races, OLP candidates came in fourth behind the PC, Liberal and NDP candidates. Top OLP vote getters were Robert Shapton, 5.1% of the vote in Dufferin-Peel; William Galster, 4.5% in Scarborough-Agincourt; John McLean, 3.4% in Simcoe East; and Daniel Hunt, 3.0% of the vote in Riverdale.
In 1995, under the leadership of John Shadbolt, the party's total vote declined to 6,085 votes. The top candidate was Robert Ede in York Centre, with 1,792 votes (2.3%). Three other candidates – Party Chairman Jean-Serge Brisson, Vice-Chairman Kaye Sargent, and Paul Barker – topped 1.0%.
Shadbolt resigned one day after the 1995 election, and was replaced by George Dance on an interim basis. Sam Apelbaum was chosen as the party's full-time leader at a convention in late 1996.
Thanks in part to the Harris "Common Sense Revolution" and the appearance of the Reform Party of Ontario, the party lost momentum and had trouble finding candidates and ran few in 1999 and 2003. The demise of the Reform Party and the replacement of Mike Harris with Ernie Eves helped the party to regain membership. Changes to the Ontario Election Act, calling for fixed election dates at four year intervals galvanized the party to start preparing well in advance for the 2007 general election. As a result the party fielded 25 candidates and obtained a total of 9,249 votes.
| Year of election | # of candidates | # of seats won | # of votes | % of popular vote |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | 17 | 0 | 4,752 | |
| 1977 | 31 | 0 | 9,961 | |
| 1981 | 12 | 0 | 7,087 | |
| 1985 | 17 | 0 | 12,831 | 0.4% |
| 1987 | 25 | 0 | 13,514 | 0.4% |
| 1990 | 45 | 0 | 24,613 | 0.6% |
| 1995 | 7 | 0 | 6,085 | 0.2% |
| 1999 | 7 | 0 | 2,337 | 0.1% |
| 2003 | 5 | 0 | 1,991 | 0.1% |
| 2007 | 25 | 0 | 9,249 | 0.2% |
| 2011 | 51 | 0 | 19,387 | 0.5% |
1975 results: Bulletin (Ontario Libertarian Party), 1:9 (September 1975), 2.
1977-1981 results: Bulletin (Ontario Libertarian Party), 13:2 (September 1987), 4.]
- September 6, 2012 by-elections:
- Vaughan, 307 votes (1.0%), fifth out of nine candidates.
- Kitchener–Waterloo, 155 votes (0.3%), fifth out of ten candidates.
Read more about this topic: Ontario Libertarian Party
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