23rd Parliament of Ontario

The 23rd Legislative Assembly of Ontario was in session from June 2, 1948, until October 6, 1951, just prior to the 1951 general election. The majority party was the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, however its leader, George Drew, lost his seat in the 1948 general election and soon after resigned as party leader to enter federal politics and take the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. He was replaced on October 19, 1948, by Thomas Laird Kennedy who served as premier and interim Progressive Conservative leader until Leslie Frost became party leader and succeeded Kennedy as premier on May 4, 1949.

The official opposition was led by Ted Jolliffe of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF).

M.C. Davies served as speaker for the assembly.^[1]

On April 5, 1951, the Fair Employment Practices Act^[2] and the Female Employees Fair Remuneration Act^[3] were passed. The first act introduced fines and a complaint procedure to deal with discrimination based on race or religion in hiring practices. The second act was intended to ensure that female workers were paid the same wage as a male worker doing the same work for the same employer.^[4]

Members of the Assembly

	Riding	Member	Party	First elected / previously elected
	Addington	John Abbott Pringle	Progressive Conservative	1943
	Algoma—Manitoulin	John Arthur Fullerton	Progressive Conservative	1945
	Beaches	Reid Scott	Co-operative Commonwealth	1948
	Bellwoods	Albert Alexander MacLeod	Labour-Progressive	1943
	Bracondale	Harry Lindley Walters	Co-operative Commonwealth	1948
	Brant	Harry Corwin Nixon	Liberal	1919
	Brantford	George Thomas Gordon	Liberal	1948
	Bruce	T. Kenzie Foster	Liberal	1948
	Carleton	Donald Hugo Morrow	Progressive Conservative	1948
	Cochrane North	John Carrère	Progressive Conservative	1948
	Marcel Léger (1949)	Progressive Conservative	1949
	Cochrane South	Bill Grummett	Co-operative Commonwealth	1943
	Dovercourt	George Eamon Park	Co-operative Commonwealth	1948
	Dufferin—Simcoe	Alfred Wallace Downer	Progressive Conservative	1937
	Durham	John Weir Foote	Progressive Conservative	1948
	Eglinton	Leslie Blackwell	Progressive Conservative	1943
	Elgin	Fletcher Stewart Thomas	Progressive Conservative	1945
	Essex North	Gordon Bennett Ellis	Co-operative Commonwealth	1948
	Essex South	William Murdoch	Progressive Conservative	1943
	Fort William	Charles Winnans Cox	Liberal	1934, 1948
	Glengarry	Osie Villeneuve	Progressive Conservative	1948
	Grenville—Dundas	George Holmes Challies	Progressive Conservative	1929
	Grey North	Mackinnon Phillips	Progressive Conservative	1945
	Grey South	Farquhar Robert Oliver	Liberal	1926[a]
	Haldimand—Norfolk	Charles Hammond Martin	Progressive Conservative	1944
	Halton	Stanley Leroy Hall	Progressive Conservative	1943
	Hamilton Centre	Robert Desmond Thornberry	Co-operative Commonwealth	1943, 1948
	Hamilton East	John Lawrence Dowling	Co-operative Commonwealth	1948
	Hamilton—Wentworth	Russell Temple Kelley	Progressive Conservative	1945
	Hastings East	Roscoe Robson	Progressive Conservative	1943
	Hastings West	Elmer Sandercock	Progressive Conservative	1948
	High Park	William Horace Temple	Co-operative Commonwealth	1948
	Huron	Thomas Pryde	Progressive Conservative	1948
	Huron—Bruce	John William Hanna	Progressive Conservative	1943
	Kenora	James George White	Progressive Conservative	1948
	Kent East	Edward B. McMillan	Liberal	1948
	Kent West	George William Parry	Progressive Conservative	1945
	Kingston	Harry Allan Stewart	Progressive Conservative	1943
	Lambton East	Charles Eusibius Janes	Progressive Conservative	1945
	Lambton West	Bryan Lewis Cathcart	Progressive Conservative	1945
	Lanark	George Henry Doucett	Progressive Conservative	1937
	Leeds	Walter Bain Reynolds	Progressive Conservative	1937
	Hugh Alexander Reynolds (1949)	Progressive Conservative	1949
	Lincoln	Charles Daley	Progressive Conservative	1943
	London	Campbell Carlyle Calder	Liberal	1948
	Middlesex North	Thomas L. Patrick	Progressive Conservative	1943
	Middlesex South	Harry Marshall Allen	Progressive Conservative	1945
	Muskoka—Ontario	George Arthur Welsh	Progressive Conservative	1945
	Niagara Falls	William Houck	Liberal	1934, 1948
	Nipissing	William Bruce Harvey	Progressive Conservative	1948
	Northumberland	William Arthur Goodfellow	Progressive Conservative	1943
	Ontario	T.D. Thomas	Co-operative Commonwealth	1948
	Ottawa East	Aurele Chartrand	Liberal	1945
	Ottawa South	George Harrison Dunbar	Progressive Conservative	1937
	Oxford	Thomas Roy Dent	Progressive Conservative	1943
	Parkdale	Lloyd F. K. Fell	Co-operative Commonwealth	1948
	Parry Sound	Charles Wilson Cragg	Progressive Conservative	1948
	Allister Johnston (1948)	Progressive Conservative	1948
	Peel	Thomas Laird Kennedy	Progressive Conservative	1919, 1937
	Perth	James Frederick Edwards	Progressive Conservative	1945
	Peterborough	Harold Robinson Scott	Progressive Conservative	1943
	Port Arthur	Frederick Oliver Robinson	Co-operative Commonwealth	1943
	Prescott	Louis-Pierre Cécile	Progressive Conservative	1948
	Prince Edward—Lennox	John Donald Baxter	Liberal	1948
	Rainy River	James Melvin Newman	Liberal-Labour	1945
	Renfrew North	Stanley Joseph Hunt	Progressive Conservative	1943
	Renfrew South	James Shannon Dempsey	Progressive Conservative	1945
	Riverdale	Leslie Emery Wismer	Co-operative Commonwealth	1943, 1948
	Russell	Joseph Daniel Nault	Progressive Conservative	1948
	Sault Ste. Marie	George Isaac Harvey	Co-operative Commonwealth	1943
	Simcoe Centre	George Graham Johnston	Progressive Conservative	1943
	Simcoe East	John Duncan McPhee	Progressive Conservative	1943
	St. Andrew	Joseph Baruch Salsberg	Labour-Progressive	1943
	St. David	William David Dennison	Co-operative Commonwealth	1943, 1948
	St. George	Dana Harris Porter	Progressive Conservative	1943
	St. Patrick	Charles Edward Rea	Progressive Conservative	1948
	Stormont	John Lawrence McDonald	Progressive Conservative	1943, 1948
	Sudbury	Welland Stewart Gemmell	Progressive Conservative	1948
	Timiskaming	Calvin Howard Taylor	Co-operative Commonwealth	1943
	Victoria	Leslie Miscampbell Frost	Progressive Conservative	1937
	Waterloo North	John George Brown	Liberal	1948
	Waterloo South	Theodore Henry Isley	Co-operative Commonwealth	1948
	Welland	Harold William Walker	Liberal	1948
	Wellington North	Ross Atkinson McEwing	Liberal	1937
	Wellington South	William Ernest Hamilton	Progressive Conservative	1945
	Wentworth	Joseph Lees Easton	Co-operative Commonwealth	1948
	Windsor—Sandwich	William Griesinger	Progressive Conservative	1945
	Windsor—Walkerville	M.C. Davies	Progressive Conservative	1945
	Woodbine	Bertram Elijah Leavens	Co-operative Commonwealth	1943, 1948
	York East	Agnes Campbell MacPhail	Co-operative Commonwealth	1943, 1948
	York North	Addison Alexander MacKenzie	Progressive Conservative	1945
	York South	Edward Bigelow Jolliffe	Co-operative Commonwealth	1943, 1948
	York West	Charles Hibbert Millard	Co-operative Commonwealth	1943, 1948

Timeline

23rd Legislative Assembly of Ontario - Movement in seats held (1948-1951)

Party		1948	Gain/(loss) due to		1951
			Death in office	Byelection hold
	Progressive Conservative	53	(3)	3	53
	Co-operative Commonwealth	21			21
	Liberal	13			13
	Labor–Progressive	2			2
	Liberal–Labour	1			1
Total		90	(3)	3	90

Changes in seats held (1948–1951)

Seat	Before				Change
	Date	Member	Party	Reason	Date	Member	Party
Parry Sound	August 19, 1948	Charles Cragg	█ PC	Died in office	December 9, 1948	Allister Johnston	█ PC
Cochrane North	October 6, 1948	John Carrère	█ PC	Died in office	June 8, 1949	Marcel Léger	█ PC
Leeds	March 12, 1949	Walter Bain Reynolds	█ PC	Died in office	October 31, 1949	Hugh Reynolds	█ PC

Notes

1. First elected as United Farmers