1871 Ontario general election

The 1871 Ontario general election was the second general election held in the province of Ontario, Canada. It was held on March 21, 1871, to elect the 82 Members of the 2nd Parliament of Ontario ("MPPs").

While it is generally accepted that that the Ontario Liberals led by Edward Blake secured a slim edge over the incumbent Conservatives led by Premier John Sandfield Macdonald, such an understanding was partially developed with the benefit of hindsight on a period during which the Liberals' ousted the Sandfield Macdonald ministry, commenced the building of a far more expansive administration, and within a year carried out an orderly transition of its party and the government leadership while largely remained stable and united. In the months following the election however, the incumbent government did not concede it has lost control of the legislature and continued to govern without convening the new parliament. Challenges to the election of a dozen members further muddied the situation and provided additional fodder for Sandfield Macdonald to resist convening the new parliament for eight months and to disregard multiple votes of no confidence. The impasse was resolved on December 19 that year after his Treasurer resigned from cabinet and voted with the opposition.

Neither the outgoing nor the incoming premier remained on the scene for long. The rapid decline of Premier Sandfield Macdonald's health was evident throughout that year. His ministry's demise at the year's end foretold his own in just five months. Matthew Crooks Cameron, his principal lieutenant in government and his most ardent defender in the legislature, assumed leadership of the Conservative Party and of the opposition. Premier Blake served only ten months, resigning in October 1972 to devote his attention to leading the national Liberal Party. He and George Brown convinced their former reform colleague Oliver Mowat to return to politics to succeed him, a move that secured his own legacy as founding head of a 34-year continuous Liberal rule.

The partisan makeup of the new parliament was not remotely as straight forward as the numbers suggest, as candidates' partisan affiliations were not formally registered as they are in modern days. While partisan affiliations were generally more clearly defined than during the 1867 election, there remained candidates who made use of party labels of past affiliations that did not reflect their political allegiance in practice, or were elected without having declared their allegiance.