Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (Ontario Section)

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (Ontario Section)
Leader	Ted Jolliffe, Donald C. MacDonald
President	Agnes Macphail (chairman), John Mitchell,[1] Samuel Lawrence, Charles Millard,[2] Samuel Lawrence,[3] G.M.A. Grube, Andrew Brewin, Miller Stewart,[4] Theodore Isley
Founded	1932
Dissolved	8 October 1961
Preceded by	United Farmers of Ontario, Independent Labour Party
Succeeded by	Ontario NDP
Headquarters	Toronto, Ontario
Ideology	Social democracy Democratic socialism Agrarianism
Political position	Left-wing
National affiliation	CCF
Colours	Green and Yellow
Politics of Canada Political parties Elections

The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (Ontario Section) – The Farmer-Labor Party of Ontario, more commonly known as the Ontario CCF, was a democratic socialist provincial political party in Ontario that existed from 1932 to 1961. It was the provincial wing of the federal Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF). The party had no leader in the beginning, and was governed by a provincial council and executive. The party's first Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) was elected by voters in the 1934 Ontario general election. In the 1937 general election, no CCF members were elected to the Ontario Legislature. In 1942, the party elected Toronto lawyer Ted Jolliffe as its first leader. He led the party to within a few seats of forming the government in the 1943 general election; instead, it formed the Official Opposition. In that election, the first two women were elected to the Ontario Legislature as CCFers: Agnes Macphail and Rae Luckock. The 1945 election was a setback, as the party lost most of its seats in the Legislature, including Jolliffe's seat. The party again became the Official Opposition after the 1948 general election, and defeated the Conservative premier George Drew in his seat, when Bill Temple unexpectedly won in the High Park constituency. The middle and late 1940s were the peak years for the Ontario CCF. After that time, its electoral performances were dismal, as it was reduced to a rump of two seats in the 1951 election, three seats in the 1955 election, and five seats in the 1959 election. Jolliffe stepped down as leader in 1953, and was replaced by Donald C. MacDonald.

The period between the 1951 defeat and the founding of the Ontario New Democratic Party was one of much internal strife, but MacDonald managed to keep the party together, despite the constant electoral defeats. In October 1961, the party dissolved itself and became part of the New Democratic Party.