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][verification needed]} 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 Assembly

	Riding	Member	Party	First elected / previously elected	Comments
	Addington	Hammel Madden Deroche	Liberal	1871
	Algoma	Simon James Dawson	Liberal	1875	Member until 26 August 1878. Resigned to enter federal politics.
	Robert Adam Lyon (1878)	Liberal	1878	Won byelection, was member from 16 September 1878.
	Brant	Hugh Finlayson	Liberal	1867
	Brant South	Arthur Sturgis Hardy	Liberal	1873	Provincial Secretary and Registrar in Mowat ministry after March 19, 1877
	Brockville	Wilmot Howard Cole	Liberal	1875
	Bruce North	Donald Sinclair	Liberal	1867
	Bruce South	Rupert Mearse Wells	Liberal	1872	Speaker
	Cardwell	John Flesher	Conservative	1875
	Carleton	George William Monk	Conservative	1871
	Cornwall	Alexander Fraser McIntyre	Conservative	1875	Served 18 January 1875 – 18 June 1875. Election disqualified on 8 June 1875[3]
	John Goodall Snetsinger	Liberal	1872, 1875	Defeated McIntyre in byelection 17 July 1875 and served to end of Parliament session.[4]
	Dufferin	John Barr	Conservative	1875
	Dundas	Andrew Broder	Conservative	1875
	Durham East	John Rosevear	Conservative	1875
	Durham West	John McLeod	Liberal	1867, 1872
	Elgin East	John Henry Wilson	Liberal	1871
	Elgin West	M.G. Munroe	Conservative	1875	Member until June 1875 when he was unseated in election trial.
		Thomas Hodgins	Liberal	1871, 1875	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	1878	Won byelection and served from September 1878 until end of Parliament session.
	Essex North	James Colebrooke Patterson	Conservative	1875	Member until September 1878 when he resigned to enter federal politics.
	Solomon White	Conservative	1878	Won byelection and was member after September 1878.
	Essex South	Lewis Wigle	Conservative	1875
	Frontenac	Peter Graham	Conservative	1875	Died in office in January 1877.
	Delino Dexter Calvin	Conservative	1868, 1877	Won byelection in 1877 and served to end of Parliament session.
	Glengarry	Alexander James Grant	Independent-Liberal	1875
	Grenville South	Christopher Finlay Fraser	Liberal	1872	Provincial Secretary and Registrar in Mowat ministry until July 23, 1875? Commissioner of Public Works in Mowat ministry after March 24, 1874
	Grey East	Abram William Lauder	Conservative	1867
	Grey North	Thomas Scott	Conservative	1867	Disqualified in September 1875.[5]
	David Creighton	Conservative	1875	Won byelection and was member from 1 November 1875.
	Grey South	James Hill Hunter	Liberal	1875
	Haldimand	Jacob Baxter	Liberal	1867
	Halton	William Barber	Liberal	1867	Member until 30 June 1875 after he was unseated in election trial.[6]
	William Durie Lyon	Liberal	1875	Won byelection and was member from 15 November 1875 until end of Parliament session.[7]
	Hamilton	James Miller Williams	Liberal	1867
	Hastings East	Nathaniel Stephen Appleby	Independent-Conservative	1875
	Hastings North	George Henry Boulter	Conservative	1867
	Hastings West	Thomas Wills	Conservative	1875
	Huron East	Thomas Gibson	Liberal	1871
	Huron South	Archibald Bishop	Liberal	1873
	Huron West	Alexander McLagan Ross	Liberal	1875
	Kent East	Archibald McKellar	Liberal	1867	Commissioner of Agriculture and Public Works in Mowat ministry until 25 July 1875 when he retired from politics.
	Daniel McCraney	Liberal	1875	Won byelection in 1875 and was member until end of Parliament session.
	Kent West	Alexander Coutts	Conservative	1875
	Kingston	William Robinson	Conservative	1871
	Lambton East	Peter Graham	Liberal	1875
	Lambton West	Timothy Blair Pardee	Liberal	1867	Commissioner of Crown Lands in Mowat ministry
	Lanark North	William Mostyn	Conservative	1875
	Lanark South	Abraham Code	Conservative	1869
	Leeds North and Grenville North	Henry Merrick	Conservative	1871
	Leeds South	Robert Henry Preston	Conservative	1875
	Lennox	John Thomas Grange	Conservative	1871
	Lincoln	Sylvester Neelon	Liberal	1875
	London	William Ralph Meredith	Conservative	1872	Leader of Opposition after c. October 1878
	Middlesex East	Richard Tooley	Conservative	1871
	Middlesex North	John McDougall	Conservative	1875
	Middlesex West	John Watterworth	Liberal	1872
	Monck	Henry Ryan Haney	Liberal	1872	Member until 18 November 1878, having died in office.
	Richard Harcourt	Liberal	1879	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	1875
	Norfolk North	John Fitzgerald Clarke	Liberal	1871
	Norfolk South	Richard Richardson	Conservative	1875
	Northumberland East	James Marshall Ferris	Liberal	1875
	Northumberland West	William Hargraft	Liberal	1875
	Ontario North	Thomas Paxton	Liberal	1867
	Ontario South	Nicholas W. Brown	Conservative	1875
	Ottawa	Daniel John O'Donoghue	Liberal	1874
	Oxford North	Oliver Mowat	Liberal	1872	Premier and Attorney General in Mowat ministry
	Oxford South	Adam Oliver	Liberal	1867	Member until 15 July 1875 after he was unseated by election trial.[8]
	Adam Crooks	Liberal	1871,[a] 1875	Won byelection in 1875 and was in the Legislature as of December 1875. He served until the end of the Parliament session.[9] Treasurer in Mowat ministry until March 19, 1877; Minister of Education in Mowat ministry after February 19, 1876
	Peel	Kenneth Chisholm	Liberal	1873
	Perth North	David Davidson Hay	Liberal	1875
	Perth South	Thomas Ballantyne	Liberal	1875
	Peterborough East	John C. O'Sullivan	Conservative	1875	Although unseated by election trial on 2 August 1875, he retained this riding.[10]
	Peterborough West	George Albertus Cox	Liberal	1875	Unseated in election trial 2 August 1875.[10]
	William Hepburn Scott	Conservative	1874, 1875	Won byelection and was member from December 1875.
	Prescott	William Harkin	Conservative	1875
	Prince Edward	Gideon Striker	Liberal	1871
	Renfrew North	Thomas Deacon	Conservative	1871
	Renfrew South	James Bonfield	Liberal	1875
	Russell	Adam Jacob Baker	Conservative	1875
	Simcoe East	John Kean	Conservative	1875
	Simcoe South	D'Arcy Edward Boulton	Conservative	1873	Died in office 16 February 1875.
		William McDougall	Independent-Liberal	1875	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	1878	Won by-election and was member from 1 October 1878.
	Simcoe West	Thomas Long	Conservative	1875
	Stormont	James Bethune	Liberal	1872
	Toronto East	Matthew Crooks Cameron	Conservative	1867	Leader of the Opposition until c. 1878. Served as member of legislative assembly until 9 January 1879 when he retired from politics.
	Alexander Morris	Conservative	1879	Won byelection and was member from January 1879 until the end of Parliament session.
	Toronto West	Robert Bell	Conservative	1875
	Victoria North	John David Smith	Liberal	1875	Was member until 27 August 1875, after being unseated in election trial.[12]
	Duncan McRae	Conservative	1875	Won byelection.
	Victoria South	Samuel Casey Wood	Liberal	1871	Retained seat in August 1875 byelection.[13] Commissioner of Agriculture in Mowat ministry after July 23, 1875: Treasurer in Mowat ministry after March 19, 1877
	Waterloo North	Moses Springer	Liberal	1867
	Waterloo South	John Fleming	Liberal	1875	Died in office 21 January 1877.[14]
	Isaac Master	Liberal	1877	Won byelection after recount and was member from March 1877.[15]
	Welland	James George Currie	Liberal	1871
	Wellington Centre	Charles Clarke	Liberal	1871
	Wellington South	Peter Gow	Liberal	1867	Member until 1876 when he resigned.
	James Massie	Liberal	1876	Won byelection and was in the Legislature as of January 1877 until the end of the Parliament session.
	Wellington West	John McGowan	Liberal-Conservative	1874
	Wentworth North	Thomas Stock	Conservative	1875	Disqualified in September 1875. Was Conservative member until 30 June 1875.[16]
	James McMahon	Liberal	1875	Won byelection and was in the Legislature as of December 1875 until the end of the Parliament session.
	Wentworth South	William Sexton	Liberal	1867
	York East	John Lane	Liberal	1875
	York North	Joseph Henry Widdifield	Liberal	1875
	York West	Peter Patterson	Liberal	1871

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..

Notes

1. Toronto West