The Attorney General of Ontario is the chief legal adviser to His Majesty the King in Right of Ontario and, by extension, the Government of Ontario.[1] The attorney general is a senior member of the Executive Council of Ontario, and oversees the Ministry of the Attorney General, which is the department responsible for the oversight of the justice system in the province of Ontario.[2]
| Attorney General of Ontario | |
|---|---|
| French: Procureur général de l'Ontario | |
 | |
| Executive Council of Ontario | |
| Style | The Honourable |
| Term length | At His Majesty’s Pleasure |
| Inaugural holder | John Sandfield Macdonald as Attorney General of Ontario |
| Website | Office of the Attorney General |
The attorney general is an elected Member of Provincial Parliament who is appointed by the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario on the constitutional advice of the Premier of Ontario. Doug Downey was appointed attorney general of Ontario on 20 June 2019, replacing Caroline Mulroney.[3][4] Most holders of the office have been practising lawyers, with the exception of Mulroney and Marion Boyd.[5][6]
Authority
editThe attorney general has the authority to represent the provincial government in court personally, but this task is often delegated to crown attorneys, or to crown counsel in civil cases.[2] Previous Attorneys General Ian Scott and Roy McMurtry were both courtroom lawyers before entering politics, and later acted for Ontario in constitutional appeals before the Supreme Court of Canada.[7][8][9]
Responsibilities
editThe Ministry of the Attorney General delivers and administers a wide range of justice services, including:
- administering approximately 115 statutes;
- conducting criminal proceedings throughout Ontario;
- providing legal advice to, and conducting litigation on behalf of, all government ministries and many agencies, boards and tribunals;
- providing advice on, and drafting, all legislation and regulations; and
- coordinating and administering court services throughout Ontario.
The Ontario Crown Attorney's Office, the Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee, the Office of the Children's Lawyer (formerly called the Official Guardian), and the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) all fall within the Ministry's responsibilities. The Ministry also partially funds Legal Aid Ontario, which is administered by an independent board and also receives funding through the Law Foundation of Ontario and from the federal government.
Portfolios
editIn 2008, the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (IPRD), now the Law Enforcement Complaints Agency, was established under the authority of the Attorney General, as a civilian body with powers invested through Public Inquiries Act to investigate complaints about municipal police forces and the Ontario Provincial Police.[10][11][12]
Following the 2013 release of former Supreme Court judge Frank Iacobucci's report on the relationship between Aboriginal peoples and the Ontario justice system,[13] a position of deputy attorney general with responsibility for Aboriginal issues was created.[14][11]
List of attorneys-general
editUpper Canada
edit1. John White (Frontenac County) 1791–1800
2. Robert Isaac Dey Gray 1800–1801
3. Thomas Scott 1801–1806
4. William Firth 1807–1812
5. G. D'Arcy Boulton 1814–1818
6. Sir John Robinson, 1st Baronet, of Toronto 1818–1829, acting AG 1812–1814
7. Henry John Boulton 1829–1833
8. Robert Sympson Jameson 1833–1837, last British-appointed AG
9. Christopher Alexander Hagerman 1837–1840, first Canadian-born AG of Upper Canada
10. William Henry Draper 1840–1841, last AG of Upper Canada
Province of Canada (Canada West)
editIn 1841, the Province of Upper Canada became the District of Canada West in the Province of Canada
11. William Henry Draper 1841–1843
12. Robert Baldwin 1843–1848
13. William Buell Richards 1848–1854
14. John A. Macdonald 1854–1862, 1864–1867
15. John Sandfield Macdonald 1862–1864
After 1867, the attorney general position was split into federal and provincial counterparts:
- Attorney General of Ontario
- Attorney General of Quebec (renamed the Ministry of Justice in 1965)
- Attorney General of Canada
Ontario (since Confederation)
edit| Portrait | Name | Term of office | Tenure | Political party (Ministry) |
Note | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attorney General | ||||||||
| John Sandfield Macdonald | July 16, 1867 | December 20, 1871 | 4 years, 157 days | Liberal- Conservative (MacDonald) |
[a] | |||
| Adam Crooks | December 20, 1871 | October 25, 1872 | 310 days | Liberal (Blake) |
||||
| Oliver Mowat | October 31, 1872 | July 21, 1896 | 23 years, 264 days | Liberal (Mowat) |
[a] | |||
| Arthur Sturgis Hardy | July 21, 1896 | October 21, 1899 | 3 years, 92 days | Liberal (Hardy) |
[a] | |||
| John Morison Gibson | October 21, 1899 | November 22, 1904 | 5 years, 32 days | Liberal (Ross) |
||||
| Francis Robert Latchford | November 22, 1904 | February 8, 1905 | 78 days | |||||
| James Whitney | February 8, 1905 | May 30, 1905 | 111 days | Conservative (Whitney) |
[a] | |||
| James Joseph Foy | May 30, 1905 | October 2, 1914 | 9 years, 206 days | |||||
| October 2, 1914 | December 22, 1914 | |||||||
| Isaac Benson Lucas | December 22, 1914 | November 14, 1919 | 4 years, 327 days | Conservative (Hearst) |
||||
| William Raney | November 14, 1919 | July 16, 1923 | 3 years, 244 days | United Farmers (Drury) |
||||
| William Folger Nickle | July 16, 1923 | October 18, 1926 | 3 years, 94 days | Conservative (Ferguson) |
||||
| William Herbert Price | October 18, 1926 | December 15, 1930 | 7 years, 265 days | |||||
| December 15, 1930 | July 10, 1934 | Conservative (Henry) | ||||||
| Arthur Roebuck | July 10, 1934 | April 14, 1937 | 2 years, 278 days | Liberal (Hepburn-Conant-Nixon) |
[b] | |||
| Paul Leduc | April 15, 1937 | October 12, 1937 | 180 days | [c] | ||||
| Gordon Daniel Conant | October 12, 1937 | May 18, 1943 | 5 years, 218 days | [d] | ||||
| Eric Cross | May 18, 1943 | August 17, 1943 | 91 days | [e] | ||||
| Leslie Blackwell | August 17, 1943 | May 4, 1949 | 5 years, 260 days | PC (Drew-Kennedy) |
||||
| Dana Porter | May 4, 1949 | August 17, 1955 | 6 years, 105 days | PC (Frost) |
||||
| Kelso Roberts | August 17, 1955 | November 8, 1961 | 7 years, 69 days | |||||
| November 8, 1961 | October 25, 1962 | PC (Robarts) | ||||||
| Fred Cass | October 25, 1962 | March 23, 1964 | 1 year, 150 days | |||||
| Arthur Wishart | March 26, 1964 | May 18, 1966 | 6 years, 340 days | |||||
| Minister of Justice and Attorney General | ||||||||
| Arthur Wishart | May 18, 1966 | March 1, 1971 | ||||||
| Allan Lawrence | March 1, 1971 | February 2, 1972 | 338 days | PC (Davis) |
[f] | |||
| Dalton Bales | February 2, 1972 | April 10, 1972 | 2 years, 24 days | |||||
| Attorney General | ||||||||
| Dalton Bales | April 10, 1972 | February 26, 1974 | ||||||
| Bob Welch | February 26, 1974 | July 18, 1975 | 1 year, 142 days (first instance) |
[g] | ||||
| John Clement | January 14, 1975 | October 7, 1975 | 266 days | [g] [h] | ||||
| Roy McMurtry | October 7, 1975 | February 8, 1985 | 9 years, 124 days | [i][j] | ||||
| Bob Welch | February 8, 1985 | May 17, 1985 | 98 days (second instance) (1 year, 240 days in total) |
PC (Miller) |
[k] | |||
| Alan Pope | May 17, 1985 | June 26, 1985 | 40 days | |||||
| Ian Scott | June 26, 1985 | October 1, 1990 | 5 years, 97 days | Liberal (Peterson) |
[l] [m][j] | |||
| Howard Hampton | October 1, 1990 | February 3, 1993 | 2 years, 125 days | NDP (Rae) |
||||
| Minister of Justice and Attorney General | ||||||||
| Marion Boyd | February 3, 1993 | June 26, 1995 | 2 years, 143 days | [n] | ||||
| Attorney General | ||||||||
| Charles Harnick | June 26, 1995 | June 17, 1999 | 3 years, 356 days | PC (Harris) |
[l] | |||
| Jim Flaherty | June 17, 1999 | February 7, 2001 | 1 year, 235 days | [l] | ||||
| David Young | February 8, 2001 | April 15, 2002 | 2 years, 17 days | [l] | ||||
| April 15, 2002 | February 25, 2003 | PC (Eves) | ||||||
| Norm Sterling | February 25, 2003 | October 22, 2003 | 239 days | [l] | ||||
| Michael J. Bryant | October 23, 2003 | October 30, 2007 | 4 years, 7 days | Liberal (McGuinty) |
[l][o] | |||
| Chris Bentley | October 30, 2007 | October 20, 2011 | 3 years, 355 days | [p] | ||||
| John Gerretsen | October 20, 2011 | February 11, 2013 | 2 years, 156 days | |||||
| February 11, 2013 | March 25, 2014 | Liberal (Wynne) | ||||||
| Madeleine Meilleur | June 24, 2014 | June 13, 2016 | 1 year, 355 days | [q][r] | ||||
| Yasir Naqvi | June 13, 2016 | June 29, 2018 | 2 years, 16 days | [s] | ||||
| Caroline Mulroney | June 29, 2018 | June 20, 2019 | 356 days | PC (Ford) |
[q] [t] | |||
| Doug Downey | June 20, 2019 | present | 7 years, 0 days | |||||
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- 1 2 3 4 While Premier
- ↑ Forced to resigned from cabinet over disagreement on handling of the United Auto Workers strike.
- ↑ Interim Attorney General upon Roebuck's resignation, while Minister of Mines
- ↑ Assumed premiership on October 21, 1942 and retained the Attorney General portfolio while Premier; resigned both positions on May 18, 1943.
- ↑ Concurrently Minister of Municipal Affairs
- ↑ Concurrently Provincial Secretary for Justice (January 5, 1972, to September 28, 1972).
- 1 2 Concurrently Provincial Secretary for Justice
- ↑ Interim Solicitor General (February 21, 1975 - July 9, 1975)
- ↑ Concurrently Solicitor General (September 11, 1978 – February 13, 1982)
- 1 2 The building where the ministry's headquarters is located is named jointly after Roy McMurtry and Ian Scott.
- ↑ While Deputy Premier
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Concurrently Minister Responsible for Native Affairs
- ↑ Interim Solicitor General (February 3, 1986 – January 9, 1987; June 6, 1989 – August 2, 1989)
- ↑ First woman to serve as Attorney General; to date the only Attorney General who was not a lawyer by profession
- ↑ Concurrently Minister Responsible for Democratic Renewal (October 23, 2003 – June 29, 2005)
- ↑ Concurrently Minister Responsible for Native Affairs (January 18, 2010 – October 20, 2011)
- 1 2 Concurrently Minister Responsible for Francophone Affairs
- ↑ First francophone to serve as Attorney General
- ↑ First visible-minority and first Muslim to serve as Attorney General.
- ↑ Licensed to practice law in New York; not licensed to practice law in Ontario, and was called to the bar of Ontario in 2023 via entitlement as a former Attorney General three days prior to being appointed King's Counsel.[15]
See also
editReferences
edit- ↑ "Expenditure Estimates for the Ministry of the Attorney General (2025–26)". ontario.ca. 2025-06-04. Archived from the original on 2025-10-14. Retrieved 2025-10-14.
- 1 2 "Administration of Justice Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. A.6". ontario.ca. Archived from the original on 2025-09-23. Retrieved 2025-10-13.
- ↑ Bruton, Bob (2025-02-27). "Downey 'thrilled' to win third term in Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte". Barrie Today. Archived from the original on 2025-04-09. Retrieved 2025-10-13.
- ↑ Dino, Angelica (2025-03-20). "Doug Downey reappointed as Ontario's attorney general". www.canadianlawyermag.com. Archived from the original on 2025-08-12. Retrieved 2025-10-14.
- ↑ Walker, William (1993-02-03). "Rae chops 10 ministries 'leaner' cabinet sworn in". Toronto Star.
- ↑ Casey, Liam; Jones, Allison (2023-07-11). "Ford says he didn't see or approve list of lawyers getting King's counsel designation". CBC News. Archived from the original on 2025-07-01. Retrieved 2025-10-13.
- ↑ "Re: Anti-Inflation Act, 1976 CanLII 16 (SCC)". www.canlii.org. 1976-07-12. Archived from the original on 2020-11-21. Retrieved 2025-10-14.
- ↑ "Re: Resolution to amend the Constitution, 1981 CanLII 25 (SCC)". www.canlii.org. 1981-09-28. Archived from the original on 2025-07-01. Retrieved 2025-10-14.
- ↑ "Reference re Bill 30, An Act to Amend the Education Act (Ont.), 1987 CanLII 65 (SCC)". www.canlii.org. 1987-06-25. Archived from the original on 2022-09-19. Retrieved 2025-10-14.
- ↑ "Gerry McNeilly Nominated As Director Of New Police Review System". news.ontario.ca. 2008-05-02. Archived from the original on 2018-11-21. Retrieved 2018-12-30.
- 1 2 Wallace, Kenyon (2010-07-24). "Police complaint director thrust into limelight". National Post. Retrieved 2018-12-30.
As the province's newly minted Independent Police Review Director, Mr. McNeilly is tasked with handling all public complaints against police in Ontario
- ↑ McNeilly, Gerry (December 2018). "Broken Trust: Indigenous People and the Thunder Bay Police Service" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-12-12. Retrieved 2025-10-13.
- ↑ Talaga, Tanya (2013-02-26). "Ontario's justice system in a 'crisis' for aboriginals: Frank Iacobucci report". Toronto Star. Toronto. Archived from the original on 2013-02-28. Retrieved 2018-12-30.
- ↑ Guttsman, Janet (2016-06-01). "A new portfolio". Canadian Lawyer Magazine. Archived from the original on 2016-04-30. Retrieved 2017-01-04.
- ↑ Gallant, Jacques (2023-07-04). "'Her fake honour': Caroline Mulroney was called to Ontario bar three days before getting 'King's Counsel' title". Toronto Star.
Further reading
edit- Romney, Paul (1986). Mr Attorney: The Attorney General for Ontario in Court, Cabinet, and Legislature 1791–1899. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-1-4875-8118-3.