On this date in 1945 you were probably in a very good mood if you happened to be a provincial Tory supporter in Canada’s largest province.  After all, you had much to celebrate as by the time the polls closed in Ontario that evening, the Tories had crushed the CCF (the precursor of the NDP) and were sending 66 MPPs to Queen’s Park reducing the CFF to only 8 seats, from their previous 34.  The Liberals, with 11 seats, formed the Official Opposition.  When you consider that the Ontario Legislature then had only 90 seats, you get a sense of the magnitude of the Progressive Conservative victory under Premier George Drew.  The election also marked the end of Liberal leader Mitch Hepburn’s political career, with the former Premier (1934-42) losing his own seat (Elgin) to the resurgent Conservatives. Ontario's 14th Premier would continue in office as Ontario’s Premier until 1948.  That year, Drew led his party to a re-election victory but in doing so, lost his own seat.  Colonel Drew then successfully sought the federal PC leadership the same year.  He led Canada’s federal Tories from 1948 to 1956 and then was appointed High Commissioner to Britain. Birthday Alert from Art’s History: Sending out birthday greetings to Alberta MP Mike Lake. caption id="attachment_562460" align="aligncenter" width="440" George Drew served as Premier of Ontario from 1943 to 1948/caption Arthur Milnes is an accomplished public historian and award-winning journalist.  He was research assistant on The Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney’s best-selling Memoirs and also served as a speechwriter to then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper and as a Fellow of the Queen’s Centre for the Study of Democracy under the leadership of Tom Axworthy.  A resident of Kingston, Ontario, Milnes serves as the in-house historian at the 175 year-old Frontenac Club Hotel.