Dalton McGuinty's Liberals won a commanding majority on October 2, 2003, capturing 72 of 103 seats and ending eight years of Progressive Conservative rule under the Common Sense Revolution. Premier Ernie Eves dropped the writ on September 2 for a 30-day campaign across all 103 ridings. Turnout was 56.5% of eligible voters.

The election was the first time Ontario Liberals had defeated an incumbent Conservative government since Mitch Hepburn in 1934. Eves had succeeded Mike Harris as PC leader and premier in March 2002, inheriting a government battered by the Walkerton water tragedy, the SARS crisis, and a massive power blackout — along with mounting public frustration over cuts to health care and education. McGuinty, who had lost to Harris in 1999, ran a disciplined campaign promising to reinvest in public services, and the PCs never found their footing.

Results

The Liberals won 72 seats with 46.4% of the popular vote — a gain of 37 seats from their 1999 result. The PCs were reduced to 24 seats with 34.6%, losing 35 of their 59 seats. The NDP won 7 seats with 14.7%, down 2 seats from 1999 and falling below the 8-seat threshold for official party status. The Greens fielded 102 of 103 candidates and won 2.8% of the vote but no seats.

The Liberal sweep extended across every region. The PCs were shut out of Toronto entirely — 19 of 22 Toronto ridings went Liberal, 3 went NDP — and lost heavily in the suburban 905 belt. Six PC cabinet ministers were defeated. The Conservatives were reduced to a largely rural rump concentrated in eastern and central Ontario.

Party Leaders

Dalton McGuinty (Liberal) — Born in Ottawa on July 19, 1955, the third of ten children, McGuinty earned a BSc in biology from McMaster University and a law degree from the University of Ottawa before practising law in Ottawa. His father, Dalton McGuinty Sr., served as the Liberal MPP for Ottawa South until his death from a heart attack in March 1990. McGuinty won the Liberal nomination for his father's seat and was elected in the 1990 general election — the only new Liberal elected that night as the party was overwhelmed by Bob Rae's NDP. He won the Liberal leadership on December 1, 1996, at Maple Leaf Gardens, placing fourth on the first ballot but winning on the final ballot after Joseph Cordiano delivered the decisive delegate support to defeat front-runner Gerard Kennedy. He lost to Harris in 1999, with the Liberals winning 35 seats to the PCs' 59, but rebuilt the party over the next four years. His 2003 platform promised to cap class sizes, reduce hospital wait times, and redirect approximately $4.6 billion from PC-era tax cuts to schools and hospitals. On September 11, 2003, he signed the Canadian Taxpayers Federation pledge not to raise taxes — a promise he would break in his first budget with the Ontario Health Premium. He won Ottawa South and became Ontario's 24th premier.

Ernie Eves (PC) — Born in Windsor on June 17, 1946, the son of a factory worker, Eves earned a degree in political science from the University of Toronto and a law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School. He practised law in Parry Sound before winning his first election on March 19, 1981, in Parry Sound riding — by exactly six votes after a judicial recount, earning the nickname "Landslide Eves." He served as Mike Harris's Minister of Finance and Deputy Premier through both terms of the Common Sense Revolution, overseeing the tax cuts and spending reductions that defined the Harris era. When Harris resigned, Eves won the PC leadership on March 23, 2002, and was sworn in as Ontario's 23rd premier on April 15, 2002. He won a by-election in Dufferin-Peel-Wellington-Grey on May 2 to take his seat. His premiership was defined by a series of crises and missteps: the SARS outbreak that killed 44 people and disrupted the GTA health system, the August 14 blackout that left Ontario without power, and the Magna budget — a televised fiscal statement delivered at the Magna International training centre in Brampton instead of the legislature, ruled a contempt of the legislature by the Speaker. Eves won his own riding with the largest PC margin on election night but resigned the leadership in September 2004.

Howard Hampton (NDP) — Born in Fort Frances on May 17, 1952, Hampton studied philosophy and religion at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, where he played varsity ice hockey, before earning education and law degrees. He was first elected in 1987 representing Rainy River and served as Attorney General under Bob Rae until a 1993 cabinet shuffle. He won the NDP leadership on June 22, 1996, defeating front-runner Frances Lankin on the third ballot. Hampton made public ownership of electricity the centrepiece of his 2003 campaign, publishing a book titled "Public Power" that attacked the PC government's plans to privatize Hydro One. He also called for public auto insurance and minimum wage increases. Despite increasing the NDP's popular vote by roughly 2 percentage points, the party lost 2 seats and fell below the 8-seat threshold for official party status. Hampton won Kenora-Rainy River by roughly 8,900 votes.

Frank de Jong (Green) — The party's founding leader since 1993, de Jong ran against Premier Eves in Dufferin-Peel-Wellington-Grey, finishing third ahead of the NDP candidate. The Greens' 2.8% showing was modest but represented steady growth for the young party.

Campaign Issues

The SARS outbreak dominated the spring of 2003. Ontario declared a provincial emergency on March 26 as the respiratory illness spread through Toronto-area hospitals, killing 44 people and infecting hundreds more. Health care workers were quarantined and hospitals activated emergency plans. The crisis exposed gaps in Ontario's public health infrastructure and shook public confidence in the government.

The Northeast blackout on August 14, 2003, cut power across Ontario and much of the northeastern United States. Eves led daily press briefings and initially received a polling bump — which prompted the September 2 election call — but the blackout ultimately highlighted Ontario's failure to invest in electricity generation capacity and renewed debate about the wisdom of privatizing the public utility.

The Magna budget became a symbol of PC arrogance. In March 2003, Finance Minister Janet Ecker delivered the budget at a press conference inside the Magna International training centre in Brampton rather than in the legislature. The Speaker ruled it a contempt of the legislature. The incident reinforced the opposition's narrative that the Conservatives had lost touch with democratic accountability.

The Walkerton water tragedy continued to damage the PC brand three years on. In May 2000, E. coli contamination of the water supply in Walkerton killed seven people and sickened more than 2,300. The subsequent Walkerton Inquiry linked the crisis to government cutbacks in water testing and environmental oversight. The issue was never far from the campaign.

Education and health care funding were McGuinty's strongest ground. He promised to cap primary class sizes at 20, hire thousands of new nurses, and shorten hospital wait times — contrasting the Liberal reinvestment agenda with the PC legacy of spending cuts.

Notable Outcomes

The scale of the PC collapse was historic. The party lost 35 seats, six cabinet ministers went down to defeat, and the Conservatives were eliminated entirely from Toronto. The result ended the Common Sense Revolution era that had begun with Harris's 1995 landslide. Eves personally survived, winning his riding by the largest PC margin, but resigned the leadership in September 2004; John Tory succeeded him.

The NDP's loss of official party status — falling to 7 seats, 5 short of the 12-seat threshold — was a significant blow, though Hampton negotiated a compromise that secured the party additional funding and Question Period access. The result was the NDP's worst seat count since the party's founding in 1961.

An accidental PC press release on September 12 described McGuinty as "an evil reptilian kitten-eater from another planet" — a satirical internal line mistakenly emailed to reporters. The gaffe crystallized the sense that the PC campaign was floundering and became one of the most memorable moments of the election.

McGuinty's majority would prove consequential. Within months he would break his signed tax pledge with the Ontario Health Premium, a decision that defined his reputation for the next decade — and that his opponents would use against him in every subsequent campaign.