1964 Ontario Liberal Party leadership election
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| Date | September 17–19, 1964 |
|---|---|
| Convention | Royal York Hotel, Toronto, Ontario |
| Resigning leader | John Wintermeyer |
| Won by | Andy Thompson |
| Ballots | 6 |
| Candidates | 7 |
The Ontario Liberal Party leadership election, 1964, held on September 17–19, 1964 elected Andy Thompson as the leader of the Ontario Liberal Party. Thompson replace John Wintermeyer who resigned after losing his seat in the 1963 provincial election. Thompson won after six ballots against a field of seven other candidates.
Background[edit]
The leadership convention was held to replace John Wintermeyer who resigned after losing his seat in the 1963 provincial election. Four caucus members entered the race. They were Andy Thompson, Robert Nixon, Eddie Sargent, and Joseph Gould. In addition Victor Copps, the mayor of Hamilton, Ontario, Joe Greene a federal MP and Charles Templeton, a popular Toronto evangelist and preacher also entered the race.
Andy Thompson had recently attained notoriety for speaking out against Attorney General Fred Cass's "police bill" and was seen as a leading candidate. The convention was held at the Royal York Hotel from September 17–19. Thompson emerged as the winner on the sixth ballot. While the leadership race generated some enthusiasm, prospects for the party were not good. The Liberals had held office only three times for a total of 13 years since 1900. The party caucus had not changed much since the last leadership election and they had recently lost a by-election. They also failed to elect populist Charles Templeton to office. Thompson would last only two years as leader before resigning due to stress induced health problems.[1]
Ballot results[edit]
| Candidate | 1st ballot | 2nd ballot | 3rd ballot | 4th ballot | 5th ballot | 6th ballot | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Votes cast | % | Votes cast | % | Votes cast | % | Votes cast | % | Votes cast | % | Votes cast | % |
| Andy Thompson | 379 | 27.7 | 408 | 29.7 | 462 | 33.6 | 520 | 38.1 | 539 | 39.9 | 772 | 58.8 |
| Charles Templeton | 317 | 23.1 | 356 | 25.9 | 396 | 28.8 | 422 | 30.9 | 419 | 31.0 | 540 | 41.2 |
| Robert Nixon | 313 | 22.8 | 351 | 25.6 | 356 | 25.9 | 387 | 28.3 | 392 | 29.0 | ||
| Joe Greene | 236 | 17.2 | 211 | 15.4 | 149 | 10.9 | 37 | 2.7 | ||||
| Victor Copps | 61 | 4.5 | 27 | 2.0 | 10 | 0.7 | ||||||
| Eddie Sargent | 51 | 3.7 | 20 | 1.5 | ||||||||
| Joseph Gould | 13 | 0.9 | ||||||||||
| Total | 1,370 | 100.0 | 1,373 | 100.0 | 1,373 | 100.0 | 1,366 | 100.0 | 1,350 | 100.0 | 1,312 | 100.0 |
References[edit]
- ^ Fred Schindler (1965). John Saywell (ed.). Canadian Annual Review of Politics and Public Affairs for 1964. University of Toronto Press. pp. 115–116.