High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Ontario New Democratic Party (ONDP) or (NDP), formally known as New Democratic Party of Ontario, is a social democratic political party in Ontario, Canada. It is a provincial section of the federal New Democratic Party. It was formed in October 1961, a few months after the federal party. The ONDP had its first breakthrough with its first leader, Donald C. MacDonald in the 1967 provincial election, when the party elected 20 Members of Provincial Parliament (MPP) to the Ontario Legislative Assembly. After a leadership convention in 1970, Stephen Lewis became leader, and guided the party to Official Opposition status in 1975. After the party`s disppointing performance in the 1977 provincial election, that included losing Official Opposition status, Lewis stepped down and Michael Cassidy became leader in 1978. Cassidy lead the party through one campaign, the 1981 election. The party did badly again, and Cassidy resigned. In 1982, Bob Rae was elected leader. During his time as leader the party was either the balance of power, official opposition, or the Governing Party. The 1990 election saw Rae elected as Premier, just when Canada`s economy was in a recession. The party lost the 1995 election, and Rae stepped down as leader in 1996. Howard Hampton became the leader in 1996, and the lead the party through three elections. Hampton`s period as leader saw the ONDP lose official party status twice: after the 1999 and 2003 elections. He was able to regain party status first time by getting the government to redefine official party status requirements, and the second time after winning a string of by-elections in the mid-2000s. He stepped down as leader in 2009 and was replaced by the current party leader, Andrea Horwath. Following the Ontario general election in 2011, there are 17 NDP MPPs in the legislature.