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The NDP was founded in 1932 as the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation. The Ontario CCF saw itself as the successor to the 1919-1923 United Farmers of Ontario- Labour coalition that formed the government in Ontario under Ernest C. Drury.
While United Farmer MPPs ended up joining the Ontario Liberal Party, the United Farmers of Ontario (UFO), as an organization, participated in the formation of the Ontario CCF, and was briefly affiliated with the party before deciding to withdraw in 1935 alleging Communist influence in the new party. Many active members of the UFO remained supporters, including Agnes Macphail, who served as president of the Ontario CCF until 1935 when, as a UFO Member of ParliamentA Member of Parliament or MP is a representative elected by the voters of an electoral district to a parliament; in the Westminster system, specifically to the lower house. Australia In Australia, the term Member of Parliament refers specifically to a mem, she was forced to officially resign from the CCF when the UFO withdrew from the party. She was elected to the Legislative Assembly of OntarioThe Legislative Assembly of Ontario is the legislature of the Canadian province of Ontario. It is located at Queen's Park in Toronto. The assembly is also known (informally) as the Ontario Provincial Parliament the reason being that unlike most of the oth as a CCF MPP in 1943. Other prominent CCFers were Graham SpryGraham Spry ( February 20 1900 November 24 1983) was a Canadian intellectual, political activist, business executive and socialist. As a student Spry became an editorial writer at the Manitoba Free Press and was mentored by editor and Canadian nationalist who was the Ontario CCF's chairman from 1934Events January-April January 1 Alcatraz becomes a federal prison. January 7 First Flash Gordon comic strip is published. January 10 Execution of Marinus van der Lubbe January 24 Einstein visits White House January 26 The Apollo Theater opens in Harlem, Ne to 1936Events January-February January 15 The first building to be completely covered in glass is completed in Toledo, Ohio, for the Owens-Illinois Glass Company. January 20 Death of George V of the United Kingdom. His son Edward VIII succeedes him as King of th and Elmore PhilpottElmore Philpott ( May 2 1896 December 9 1964) was a Canadian politician and journalist. Philpott joined the Canadian military during World War I and was badly wounded he needed two canes to help him walk for the rest of his life. He was working as an edit, a former Liberal, who joined the CCF in 1933Centuries: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s Years: 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 See also 1933 in aviation 1933 in film 1933 in literature 1933 in mu and became president of the Ontario Association of CCF Clubs before resigning from the party and rejoining the Liberals in 1935.
The CCF contested its first Ontario provincial election in 1934. It received 7% of the vote, and elected its first member in the Ontario legislature, Samuel Lawrence, in Hamilton East. The Ontario CCF failed to win any seats in the 1937 election.
The party achieved a major breakthrough under its first leader, Ted Jolliffe, in the 1943 election, forming the Official Opposition with 32% of the vote and 34 seats. The CCF was just four seats short of George Drew's Progressive Conservatives, who formed a minority government.
The Tories remained in government for 42 years. The prosperity of the 1950s, combined with the anti-Communist hysteria of the Cold War, caused the CCF's fortunes to decline in the 1950s. The party lost its position as the Official Opposition in 1951 to the Liberals, and was reduced to just two seats.
Donald C. MacDonald became leader in 1953, and spent the next fifteen years rebuilding the party. The CCF changed its named to the New Democratic Party in 1961, when it formed a formal alliance with the labour movement.The Ontario NDP gradually picked up seats through the 1960s. It achieved a breakthrough in 1967, when its popular vote rose from 15% to 26%. The party increased its presence in the legislature from 8 to 20 seats.
Stephen Lewis took over the party's leadership in 1970, and the NDP's popularity continued to grow. In 1975, the governing Conservatives were reduced to a minority government for the first time in thirty years. The NDP became the Official Opposition with 38 seats and 29% of the vote as the result of a brilliant election campaign that forced the Tories to promise to implement the NDP's rent control policies.Hopes were high that the NDP was on the verge of taking power, but in the 1977 election, the Tories under Bill Davis again won a minority government. The NDP lost five seats, and slipped into third place behind the Liberals.
The NDP declined further in the 1981 election under Michael Cassidy, but the party's fortunes turned around under the leadership of Bob Rae.
The 1985 election resulted in a minority legislature: the Tories under Premier Frank Miller won 52 seats, the Liberals won 48, and the NDP 25. The New Democrats entered negotiations with both the Tories and the Liberals. The NDP signed a two-year accord with the Liberals, in which the Liberals would form government with the NDP's support in exchange for the implementation of a number of NDP policies.
Miller resigned, opening the way for Liberal leader David Peterson to form a government. This was not a coalition government as the NDP declined an offer to sit in Cabinet, preferring to remain in opposition.
When the accord expired in 1987, the Liberals called an election and were re-elected with a majority. The NDP returned as the second largest party with Bob Rae becoming Leader of the Opposition.
In 1990, the party was elected to government for the first time by defeating the Liberal government.
Bob Rae became Premier of Ontario during the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. In government, the NDP disappointed supporters by abandoning much of its ambitious program, including the promise to institute a public auto insurance system. As the recession worsened, the NDP implemented what it called the Social Contract — which represented a shift to the right that echoed that on Tony Blair's Labour Party in the United Kingdom. This was a package of austerity measures that;
The Social Contract resulted in a major breach in the NDP's alliance with the labour movement as several unions turned against the party. This split has not yet fully healed, and contributed to the party's defeat in 1995 at the hands of Mike Harris and the Progressive Conservatives. As a result of that election, the NDP again returned to third party status.
Howard Hampton succeeded Rae in 1996. In the 2003 election, despite an energetic campaign that saw an increase in its popular vote to 15%, the party won only seven seats in the Ontario legislature. Because the rules of the Ontario legislature require a party to have eight seats in order to be treated as an official party, the NDP lost official party status and the concommitant speaking and committee membership privileges and research funding. It regained party status when Andrea Horwath won a by-election in Hamilton East on May 13, 2004.