Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leadership elections
Open-knowledge reference entry
This page lists the results of leadership elections within the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (known as the Conservative Party of Ontario before 1942).
Before 1920, leaders of the Conservative Party were usually chosen by caucus. In 1914, William Hearst was selected at a meeting of the province's executive council (or cabinet) as James Whitney, the previous leader, had died while holding the office of Premier of Ontario.
All of the party's leadership races before 1990 were determined by delegated conventions. The leadership races of 1990, 2002 and 2004 were determined by a weighted vote of all party members, with each constituency contributing an equal number of "votes" to the total. The 1990 race was decided in one round, while the 2002 race took two. For the 2004 election, the party introduced a preferential balloting system, such that party members would only be required to vote one time.
1920 Conservative Party leadership convention
(Held on December 2, 1920.)
Howard Ferguson won on first ballot
Earl Lawson
George Stewart Henry
(Note: The vote totals were not announced.)
When Ferguson resigned as Premier in 1930, he selected George Henry as his replacement. Henry was subsequently confirmed as party leader at a special Meeting on June 24, 1931.
1936 Conservative Party leadership convention
(Held on May 28, 1936 at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto.)
First ballot:
Earl Rowe 782
George A. Drew 480
William James Stewart 157
Leopold Macaulay 90
Wilfrid Heighington 70
Adam Acres 47
Arthur Ellis 10
Second ballot:
Earl Rowe 1,005
George A. Drew 660
1938 Conservative Party leadership convention
(Held on December 9, 1938, at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto.)
George A. Drew 796
Earl Lawson 413
Wilfrid Heighington 41
Norman Rawson 22
1949 Progressive Conservative leadership convention
(Held on April 27, 1949.)
Leslie Frost 842
Leslie Blackwell 442
Kelso Roberts 121
Dana Porter 65
1961 Progressive Conservative leadership convention
(Held on October 25, 1961.)
1971 Progressive Conservative leadership convention
(Held on February 12, 1971.)
January 1985 Progressive Conservative leadership convention
(Held in Toronto on January 26, 1985.)
When eliminated, McMurtry and Timbrell supported Grossman
November 1985 Progressive Conservative leadership convention
(Held on November 16, 1985.)
First ballot:
Larry Grossman 752
Dennis Timbrell 661
Alan Pope 271
Second ballot:
Larry Grossman 848
Dennis Timbrell 829
1990 Progressive Conservative leadership convention
(Held on May 12, 1990.)
(the non-weighted vote totals were: Harris 8,661, Cunningham 7,189)
The 1990 vote was the first held on the basis of one member one vote with votes weighted so that each riding had equal weight.
The public source identifies “Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leadership elections” as open-knowledge reference entry. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Progressive, Conservative and Party.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leadership elections”, the useful work is to connect “open-knowledge reference entry” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7248703. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1942, 1920, 1914 and 1990.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leadership elections”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leadership elections primary sources, Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leadership elections archive and Progressive research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leadership elections”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leadership elections” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.