The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA; French: Assemblée législative de l'Ontario) is the legislative chamber vested with the law-making authorities and the oversight of the Government of Ontario, the provincial government of the Canadian province Ontario. It consists of 124 members, known as members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs), elected by Canadian citizens residing in geographical divisions known formally as electoral districts.[1][2] The assembly meets at the Ontario Legislative Building, its home since 1892 located at Queen's Park in the provincial capital of Toronto.[3] Most of the current members of the assembly were elected in the most recent general election held in February 2025.

Legislative Assembly of Ontario

Assemblée législative de l'Ontario
44th Parliament of Ontario
Coat of arms or logo
Type
Type
History
FoundedJuly 1, 1867 (1867-07-01)
Preceded byLegislative Assembly of the Province of Canada (pre-confederation)
Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada (pre-union)
Leadership
Donna Skelly, PC
since April 14, 2025
Doug Ford, PC
since June 29, 2018
Marit Stiles, NDP
since February 4, 2023
Stephen J. Clark, PC
since June 6, 2024
John Vanthof, NDP
since February 3, 2021
Structure
Seats124
Political groups
His Majesty's Government

His Majesty's Loyal Opposition

Parties with official status

Parties without official status

Elections
First-past-the-post
Last election
February 27, 2025
Next election
On or before April 11, 2030
Meeting place
Ontario Legislative Building, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Website
www.ola.org

Formally, the Legislature of Ontario, as in the institution formally vested with the relevant legislative and oversight authorities, is a unicameral legislature consists of two elements: the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario as the representative of the King of Canada in Ontario, and the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.[4][5] Bills passed by the legislative assembly come into effect when they are given royal assent by the lieutenant governor. Given the legislature's unicameral design and the lieutenant governor's limited formal discretionary authority over government matters, the assembly in office is in practice the legislature, and therefore is often referred to as such. It is also often referred to as the Ontario Provincial Parliament due to the members' formal title as MPPs.

The Government of Ontario operates as a Westminster-style parliamentary government in which voters indirectly elect the government through the MPPs elected for individual electoral districts using a first-past-the-post system. The premier of Ontario (the province's head of government) holds office by virtue of their ability to command the confidence of the assembly, by convention (but not necessarily) sitting as an MPP themselves and leading the largest party or a coalition in the assembly. The largest party not forming the government is known as the Official Opposition, its leader being recognized as the Leader of the Opposition.

The legislative assembly is the second largest Canadian provincial deliberative assembly by number of members after the National Assembly of Quebec.

Owing to the location of the Legislative Building on the grounds of Queen's Park, the metonym Queen's Park is often used to refer to both the provincial government and the legislative assembly.[6]

Membership

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Electoral districts

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Members of the legislative assembly are democratically elected to represent residents within defined geographical areas known as electoral districts, or more colloquially, "ridings". Section 4 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom requires that provincial general election be held no later than five years after the previous election. Since the end of World War II, elections have usually been held every three to four years. Like other Westminster-style parliamentary governments, Ontario voters exercise their democratic franchise indirectly by electing local MPPs, via plurality voting (or the "first-past-the-post" system).

The 124 members currently in office together make up the 44th Parliament (or 44th Legislature) of Ontario. Each member represent a single-member electoral district, though some members in previous parliaments have been elected from duo-member districts. For two elections in the late 1800s, voters in Toronto were given two votes each to elect three-members.[7] No member have been elected from multi member district since the 1926 election.

The members of the Ontario assembly are the only provincial legislators in Canada that use the title of Member of Provincial Parliament.[8] The working title was formally adopted via a resolution of the assembly in 1938[9] though members have been informally (though with little consistency) referred to as MPP in the press for much longer. The initially were used along with MLA or MHA (as the assembly of Upper Canada was known as the House of Assembly) interchangeably, leading to much confusions.[10] Toronto MPP Frederick Fraser Hunter introduced a private member's bill to address the matter but it failed to pass, and the resolution was adopted in its stead to adopt the use as a practice. The elected members remain however formally Ontario's members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs), the working title used by provincial legislators in most other provinces[a], in references by legislations including the Canadian constitution.[11][12]

The membership of the legislature grew from eighty-two in 1867 to as many as 130 members between 1987 and 1999. The Fewer Politicians Act, 1996[13] brought the number back down to 103. More importantly, it ended Ontario's redistribution processes and simply adopted the federal electoral boundary in a provincial election following the completion of the federal redistribution process. That was later modified to maintain representation level for Northern Ontario and to increase representation of indigenous communities residing in the sparsely populated far north of the province. For more than 90% of the province however, provincial representation had consistently followed federal representation between 1999 and to 2025. The process of adopting federal boundary stopped at the 2025 election as the incumbent government declined to adopted Representation Order 2023.[14] As of June 2026, the Ford ministry had not indicated when or whether it would resume the adoption of federal boundaries, nor had it proposed any alternative retribution mechanism or plan. Accordingly, representation in the provincial legislature continues to be based on population statistics from the 2011 census.

Qualification and Eligibility

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To sit as a member of the assembly, a person must meet four requirements: be eighteen or older, a Canadian citizen, a resident of Ontario, not otherwise disqualified to sit or to be elected.[15] A person may be disqualified for a variety of reasons, before or after they were elected. and how their disqualification would be effected is dependant on the reasons for their disqualification. For example, Members of the federal parliament (both MPs and senators) are not eligible to stand for election to the legislative assembly. Any MPP elected to the House of Commons or appointed senators automatically have their seated in the legislative assembly vacated.[16] Members of municipal council in the other hand may stand for election, but their municipal seat would be automatically vacated if they are elected. A member is not disqualified by any criminal conviction, but would be by prison sentence of two years or more.[17]

Speaker

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The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario is the MPP elected by the assembly to preside over the assembly and to head the Office of the Assembly, the independent administrative body that provides for the administrative functions of the legislative assembly and the legislative precincts.[18] The formal authorities of both roles, now mostly formalized in legislations, are augmented by many long held customs, constitutional conventions and past adherence to parliamentary sovereignty. Similar to the Speaker of the House of Commons in Ottawa (but unlike their counterpart in Westminster) , the Ontario Speaker refrains from participating in party caucus and in partisan activities, but is not required to resign their party membership. Only one Ontario Speaker, Liberal Nelson Parliament who was nominated in 1920 by the then newly formed United Farmers government to be Speaker in the 15th Parliament, resigned from his party upon taking the speaker's chair.[19] He was also the first Ontario Speaker not from the governing party.[b]

Speakers prior to 1990 were generally named by the government. While the office was subject to election, the elections were conducted via recorded votes on motions tabled in the house usually by the Premier or a senior minister, and were therefore invariably uncontested. Secret ballot was introduced for Speaker election for the first time in 1990. While the only candidate from the governing party, David Warner prevailed, he faced competition from three other candidates.[20][21][22] Just six years later, the legislature elected Chris Stockwell, for the first time declined to elect the candidate with the expressed backing of the Premier.[23] The legislature again declined to elect the candidates preferred by the Premier in 2011 and 2018. In all three instance the candidates backed by the Premier were women, though in the two latter instances, the Premiers backed candidates seeking to oust incumbent Speakers they deemed too independent, and the legislature opted to re-elect the incumbents.

The current speaker is Donna Skelly. Her election in April 2025 made her the first woman to serve as Speaker, thought her election and the election of a woman as speaker was a virtual certainty as her only competition was a woman MPP from the opposition bench, Jennifer French.[24] Speaker Skelly is supported by four other MPPs who served as her deputies. Two of the deputies are members of opposition parties, one of them being Ms. French.

Caucus

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MPPs with the same partisan affiliation form parliamentary caucuses. Caucus with more members than ten percent of the total number of seats are formally recognized in the legislature.[25][26] Recognized opposition party caucus are entitled to a budget for caucus office, additional salary for their caucus officers, receive certain information and notification from the government and place topics for debate on the order papers. Most operational and procedural decisions, from consequential matters such as entitlement to move for want of confidence[27] to routine procedural matters such as allocation of time and committee membership[28] to mundane administration matters such as office space allocation are determined based on the relative sizes of the recognized party caucuses. Members of caucus lacking recognition are mostly treated as independent members and are afforded with very limited access to such entitlements.

Lawmaking

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The southern façade of the Ontario Legislative Building, the meeting place for the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.
Chamber of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in 2023

Formal exercise of authority

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Like the Canadian federal government, Ontario government operates as a Westminster-style parliamentary government. As a fundamental principle of Westminster parliamentary democracy, the concept of responsible government is at the core of the government's legitimacy. The Premier of Ontario, their cabinet as a collective and ministers individually are accountable to the legislature, and may only remain in office with the support of the legislature. In most cases, a new premier emerges to form a new government, formally called a ministry, by nature of being the leader of the party that have won the largest number of seats in the legislature in a general election, or by having secured the leadership of the largest party midway through a parliamentary term. Only twice in Ontario history, in 1871 and 1985, did transition of power occurred immediately following the adoptions of motion of no confidence. In both instances the incumbent governments failed at the earliest opportunity available to opposition to test the government's command of confidence after a general election.

The British North America Act assigned jurisdiction over specific policy areas exclusively to either the federal government or the provincial government. On matters under provincial jurisdiction, the Government of Ontario exercises its authorities independently from the federal government of Canada[29] and is accountable only to the legislature.

Governing in practice

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Most laws originate in the provincial cabinet (government bills) and are passed by the legislature after multiple rounds of debate and decision-making. Backbench legislators may introduce private legislation (private-member bills) or amend bills presented to the legislature by cabinet, playing a role in scrutinizing bills both at the debate as well as committee stages.

In the Ontario legislature, this confrontation provides much of the material for Oral Questions and Members' Statements. Legislative scrutiny of the executive is also at the heart of much of the work carried out by the Legislature's Standing Committees, which are made up of ordinary backbenchers.

A member's day will typically be divided among participating in the business of the House, attending caucus and committee meetings, speaking in various debates, or returning to his or her constituency to address the concerns, problems and grievances of constituents. Depending on personal inclination and political circumstances, some Members concentrate most of their attention on House matters while others focus on constituency problems, taking on something of an ombudsman's role in the process.

Government front bench

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The member of the cabinet (alternatively known in academic literature and government documents as the "ministry", the "executive council" or the "council of ministers") are traditionally drawn from the government caucus. Only one former ministry, the Drury ministry formed in 1919, have drawn their members from more than one party. All other Ontario ministries, including those with only minority mandates, were made up of members from a single party.

Members of the ministry are expected to adhere to the principle of cabinet collective responsibility and vote in support of the government's position on all matters. The government's executive being present as members of the legislature is an inherent conflict in the Westminster system,[c] a conflict explicitly acknowledged in the Legislative Assembly Act with a provision exempting ministers from disqualification.[30]

History

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Members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario convene in 1871.

The Legislative Assembly was established by the British North America Act, 1867 (later re-titled Constitution Act, 1867), which dissolved the Province of Canada into two new provinces, with the portion then called Canada West becoming Ontario. As such, the 1st Parliament of Ontario was one of the three legislative bodies succeeding the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada's 8th Parliament (the other two being the Parliament of Canada and the Quebec National Assembly.)

The first election in 1867 produced a tie between Conservatives led by John Sandfield Macdonald and the Liberals led by Archibald McKellar. Macdonald led a coalition government with the support of moderate Liberals. John Stevenson served as the first speaker for the assembly.[31] Its first session ran from September 3, 1867, until February 25, 1871, just prior to the 1871 general election.

The Legislature has been unicameral since its inception, with the Assembly currently having 124 seats (increased from 107 as of the 42nd Ontario general election) representing electoral districts ("ridings") elected through a first-past-the-post electoral system across the province.

In 1938, the title of Member of the Legislative Assembly was officially changed to Member of Provincial Parliament. Previously, multiple terms were unofficially used in the media and in the Legislature.[5]

Ontario uses the same boundaries as those at the federal level for its Legislative Assembly in Southern Ontario, while seats in Northern Ontario correspond to the federal districts that were in place before the 2004 adjustment. Ontario had separate provincial electoral districts prior to 1999.

In 2020, the Legislative Assembly brought in a tradition that on every first Monday of a month, the members will sing the Royal anthem of Canada "God Save the King" and the national anthem "O Canada".[32]

Members had the option to address the Speaker and conduct official debates in either English or French, until March 2024, when members were allowed "to also address the Speaker in an Indigenous language spoken in Canada", in addition to French and English. They are asked to let the clerk know in advance, to allow for translation and interpretation services to prepare.[33] The first person to do so was Sol Mamakwa, MPP for Kiiwetinoong, speaking in Anishininiimowin, also known as Oji-Cree, on May 28th that year.[34]

Operations

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Officers

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References of officers in relations to the legislative assembly may be in reference to:

  • the five MPPs who serve as presiding officers of the assembly, namely the Speaker, deputy speaker, the first, second and third vice chairs of the committee of the whole house
  • the two senior members of the non-partisan staff of the Office of the Assembly, namely the Clerk of the Assembly and the Sergeant-at-Arms, as recognized by legislation[35]
  • the six independent officers accountable directly to the legislature

Office of the Assembly

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The Office of the Assembly, staffed with non-partisan employees, provides administrative and corporate support to the assembly. It was created in response to recommendations contained in the second report of the of the Ontario Commission on the Legislature.[36] At the time, the Ministry of Government Services serviced the administrative needs of the legislator and paid for the assembly's operation out of the ministry budget. The commission, chaired by Davis's campaign strategist Dalton Camp with former Liberal leader Farquhar Oliver and former federal NDP leader Doug Fisher as commission, highlighted the conflict of interest from the legislature being subject to the financial control of a ministry it was suppose to exercise governance oversight over.[37] It urge the creation of the of a department-like administration with statutory independence from the government for the purpose of servicing the assembly with the Speaker as the executive head and the clerk as the administrative head.[38] It further recommend the establishment of the legislative precinct and charge the Sergeant-at-Arms with the administration the precinct's security.[39]

The Office of the Assembly was created in 1974 with many of the administrative departments proposed by the commission implemented. The Clerk of the Legislative Assembly thus serves the duo-roles of being the principal advisor to the assembly on questions of procedure or interpretation of the rules and practices of the House and the senior permanent officer of the assembly staff responsible for administering the legislature and servicing the legislators. The Sergeant-at-Arms serves both the traditional symbolic role for keeping order inside the chamber while it is session, as symbolized by his custody and control of the ceremonial mace in the legislature, and the practical role of safeguarding the physical security of members against intimation or interference from any sources while presence at the legislative precinct. In accordance to the commission report, the roles of the Clerk and of the Sergeant-at-Arms, along with the independence of the staff they lead, were given formal recognition in the Legislative Assembly Act.[40]

Independent officers of the assembly

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Six officers are appointed by the legislative assembly and report to the legislature through the Speaker rather than to the provincial government.[41] Their offices were created with specific mandates to protect specific public interests and to assist the assembly in exercise oversight over the government.

The Poet Laureate of Ontario also reports to the legislative assembly.[42]

Media

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Regular Legislative Assembly proceedings are broadcast to subscribers of the Ontario Parliament Network in Ontario. A late-night rebroadcast of Question Period is also occasionally aired on TVO, the provincial public broadcaster.[43]

Symbols

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Coat of arms

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The Legislative Assembly of Ontario is the first and only legislature in Canada to have a coat of arms separate from the provincial arms.[44] Prior to 1993, the assembly had used the coat of arms of the Government of Ontario.

A distinct coat of arms for the legisu was adopted in 1993, as part of the celebration of the bicentennial of the first meeting of the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada at Newark (Niagara-on-the-Lake) on 17 September 1792. A petition was made by the then-Speaker, David William Warner, to the Chief Herald of Canada for the granting of a unique coat of arms which would emphasize the distinctive character of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario and distinguish the assembly's identity from the government's.[45] The petition was granted and the new coat of arms was presented by then Governor-General Ramon Hnatyshyn at a ceremony in the Legislative Chamber on 26 April 1993.[46]

Symbolism

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Green and gold are the principal colours used in the arms, as in the coat of arms of Ontario.[47]

Mace

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The first mace used by the Upper Canadian Legislature.

The ceremonial mace of the Legislature is the fourth mace to be used in Upper Canada or Ontario. It acts as a symbol, representing the authority of the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to oversee the proceedings of the assembly.[48]

The first mace was used by the Chamber of Upper Canada's first Parliament in 1792 at Newark (now Niagara-on-the-Lake) and then moved to York (now Toronto).[49] The primitive wooden mace was painted red and gilt, and surmounted by a crown of thin brass strips. It was stolen by American troops as a Prize of War in 1813 at the Battle of York during the War of 1812. The mace was subsequently stored at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It remained in the United States until 1934, when it was returned to Ontario after President Franklin Roosevelt sent an order to Congress to return the mace.[50] It was initially kept at the Royal Ontario Museum for a time, and it is now located in the Main Lobby of the Ontario Legislative Building.[49]

A second mace was introduced in 1813 and used until 1841.

The third mace was not purchased until 1845. In 1849, it was stolen by a riotous mob in Montreal, apparently intent upon destroying it in a public demonstration. However, it was rescued and returned to the Speaker, Sir Allan Macnab, the next day. Later, in 1854, the mace was twice rescued when the Parliament Buildings in Quebec were ravaged by fire. The mace continued to be used by the Union Parliament in Toronto and Quebec until Confederation in 1867, when it was taken to the Parliament of Canada in Ottawa, where it remained in the House of Commons until 1916. When the Parliament Buildings were gutted by fire during that year, the mace could not be saved from Centre Block. All that remained was a tiny ball of silver and gold conglomerate.[49]

The fourth, and current, mace used by the Legislature.

The current mace used in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario was acquired in 1867, after Confederation. It was provided by Charles E. Zollikofer of Ottawa for $200. The four-foot mace is made of copper and richly gilded, a flattened ball at the butt end. Initially, the head of the mace bore the crown of Queen Victoria and in a cup with her royal cypher, V.R. When she was succeeded by Edward VII in 1901, her crown and cup were removed and a new one bearing Edward's cypher on the cup was installed. Eventually, it was replaced with the current cup, which is adorned in gleaming brass leaves.[49]

Through some careful detective work on the part of Legislative Assembly staff, the original cup with Queen Victoria's cypher was recently[when?] found in the Royal Ontario Museum's collection and returned to the Legislature. It is now on display in the Ontario Legislative Building.[49]

In 2009, two diamonds were installed in the mace. The diamonds were a gift to the people of Ontario from De Beers Canada to mark the opening of the Victor Mine near Attawapiskat in northern Ontario. Three diamonds were selected from the first run of the mine. Two stones, one rough and one polished, were set in platinum in the crown of the mace while the third stone, also polished, was put on exhibit in the lobby of the Legislative Building as part of a display about the history of the mace.[49]

The Current legislature

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Party standings

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Ontario general elections most recently took place on February 27, 2025, as a result of which the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, led by Doug Ford, was re-elected and continues to lead the Government of Ontario with a majority mandate.

Affiliation Party
leader
Status Seats
2025 election Current
Progressive Conservative Doug Ford Government 80 79
New Democratic Marit Stiles Official Opposition 27 26
Liberal John Fraser (interim) Third party 14 14
Green Mike Schreiner No party status 2 2
Independent N/A No party status 1 2
Total 124
Government Majority 36 36

Presiding officers

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Leaders

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(Green Party leader Mike Schreiner is an member but is currently not a recognized party leader)

Floor leaders

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Whips

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Front benches

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Seating plan

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The seating chamber for the Legislative Assembly features individual chairs and desks for its members.

The seating chamber is similar in layout to that of the British House of Commons and the original St. Stephen's Chapel in the Palace of Westminster.[51] The Parliament of Ontario, however, may be easily distinguished from this model by its use of individual chairs and tables for members, absent in the British Commons' design.

The legislature's former host building and site, home to the Upper Canada and Union Houses, once boasted of a similar layout.

Note: Bold text designates the party leader.

Membership changes

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Changes in seats held (2025–present)
Seat Date Member Reason Previous Party Party After
Sault Ste. Marie September 22, 2025 Chris Scott Removed from caucus after he was arrested for charges of assault and assault with a weapon.  PC  Independent
Scarborough Southwest February 3, 2026 Doly Begum Resigned from legislature to run in the federal by-election for the equivalent seat as a Liberal  New Democratic Vacant
York—Simcoe June 5, 2026 Caroline Mulroney Resigned  PC Vacant

List of members

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Progressive Conservative New Democratic Liberal Green Independent

Timeline

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Changes in MPPs

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Changes in seats held (2025–present)
Seat Date Member Reason Previous Party Party After
Sault Ste. Marie September 22, 2025 Chris Scott Removed from caucus after he was arrested for charges of assault and assault with a weapon.  PC  Independent
Scarborough Southwest February 3, 2026 Doly Begum Resigned from legislature to run in the federal by-election for the equivalent seat as a Liberal  New Democratic Vacant
York—Simcoe June 5, 2026 Caroline Mulroney Resigned  PC Vacant

Membership changes

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Number of members
per party by date
2025 2026
February 28 September 22 February 3 June 5
Progressive Conservative 80 79 78
New Democratic 27 26
Liberal 14
Green 2
Independent 1 2
Total members 124 123 122
Vacant 0 1 2


Notes

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  1. with the exception of Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador
  2. The party affiliation for Richard William Scott, who served as Speaker for the two weeks that saw the fall of the John Sandfield Macdonald ministry and was immediately appointed to the new Liberal cabinet, is debatable.
  3. In theory, the head of the government may simply appoint ministers into secure their support for the government's position.
  4. since September 2025
  5. Interim Leader of the New Democratic Party and Leader of the Opposition from June 28, 2022 to February 4, 2023.

References

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  1. BNA 1867, s.70.
  2. Ontario 2015, s.2.
  3. Froman 1984, p. v.
  4. BNA 1867, s.69.
  5. 1 2 "Origins of "MPP"". The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Archived from the original on March 10, 2016. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  6. "Legacy of a People's Park". Education Portal. Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Archived from the original on January 21, 2015. Retrieved January 21, 2015.
  7. 48 Victoria. The Franchise and Representation Act, 1885 (10(4)). c.2.{{cite tech report}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  8. "FAQ". Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Members: Do other legislative assemblies in Canada have MPPs?. Retrieved July 5, 2026.
  9. "Thursday, April 7th, 1938" (PDF). Journals of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario. 72 (1st and 2nd session of the 20th legislature): 136. April 7, 1938.
  10. "Origins of 'MPP'". The Speaker: Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Office of the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.
  11. BNA 1867, ss. 70, 84.
  12. Assembly Act 1990.
  13. Fewer Politicians Act, 1996. Annual Statutes of Ontario. Vol. SO 1996. 1996. c.28.
  14. Isaac, Callan; D'Mello, Colin (August 2, 2024). "Ford rules out boundary changes, while some worry 'your vote is going to count for less'". Global News. Retrieved June 27, 2026.
  15. Assembly Act 1990, p. 6.
  16. Assembly Act 1990, p. 7.
  17. Criminal Code, R.S.C., 1985 1985, c. c. C-46), s. 750 (1)
  18. Assembly Act 1990, s.29(1).
  19. Dale, Clare A (1992). "Whose servant I am" : speakers of the assemblies of the province of Upper Canada, Canada and Ontario, 1792-1992. Toronto: Ontario Legislative Library. pp. 213–16. Retrieved August 28, 2014.
  20. "Monday November 19, 1990" (PDF). Journal of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. 123 (1st Session of 35th Parliament): 8. November 19, 1990.
  21. Hall, Chris (November 18, 1990). "3 area MPPs after Speaker's job in legislature's first free vote; Toronto New Democrat is fourth entry in race". The Ottawa Citizen. p. D2.
  22. "Hansard Transcripts 1990-Nov-19 | Legislative Assembly of Ontario".
  23. "MPPs defy Doug Ford, re-elect Ted Arnott as speaker of the Ontario Legislature". Toronto Star. August 8, 2022. Retrieved August 8, 2022.
  24. "Election of Speaker". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Ontario: Legislative Assembly. April 14, 2025. p. 1.
  25. Assembly Act 1990, 62(1).
  26. OLA 2025, 3.
  27. OLA 2025, 46.
  28. OLA 2025, 115(a).
  29. BNA 1867, part VI.
  30. Assembly Act 1990, s.8(2)(a).
  31. "Speakers of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario". Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Archived from the original on August 1, 2014. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
  32. "Indigenous MPP says singing God Save The Queen in legislature 'a step backwards'". CBC News. February 24, 2020. Retrieved April 3, 2026.
  33. Law, Sarah (March 27, 2024). "Ontario MPPs can now speak their own Indigenous languages at Queen's Park". CBC. Retrieved April 3, 2025.
  34. Cecco, Leyland (May 28, 2024). "In historic first, Canada lawmaker addresses legislature in Indigenous language". The Guardian. Retrieved April 3, 2025.
  35. Assembly Act 1990, s.76(b).
  36. Camp 1973, p. 10-17.
  37. Camp 1973, p. 1, 3, 7,.
  38. Camp 1973, p. 10-17, 22-25.
  39. Camp 1973, p. 19-22.
  40. Assembly Act 1990, ss.76-78.
  41. McNaught, Andrew (2000). "The Offices and Commissions of the Legislative Assembly". Ontario Legislative Library. Office of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Archived from the original on February 22, 2001. Retrieved September 9, 2019.
  42. S.O. 2019, c. 16.
  43. "Watch the Legislature in action | Legislative Assembly of Ontario". www.ola.org. Retrieved May 31, 2021.
  44. "Coat of arms". Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Retrieved March 25, 2023.
  45. 1 2 3 4 "The Coat of Arms". OntLA. Archived from the original on June 5, 2017. Retrieved May 16, 2017.
  46. "Coat of arms". Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Retrieved March 25, 2023.
  47. 1 2 3 4 "Arms of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario". Public Register of Arms, Flags and Badges of Canada. Official website of the Governor General. Retrieved March 25, 2023.
  48. "The Mace". Legislative Assembly of Ontario. June 23, 2019.
  49. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "The Mace". speaker.ontla.on.ca. Archived from the original on June 13, 2017. Retrieved May 16, 2017.
  50. "Franklin D. Roosevelt: Message to Congress Requesting Authority to Return a Mace to Canada". www.presidency.ucsb.edu. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
  51. "The Commons Chamber in the 16th Century". UK Parliament. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
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Committees

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Committees are subgroups consist of up to nine MPPs[1] tasked with review of specific legislations or policies as delegated by the legislative assembly. The assembly has two types of committees. Standing committees specifically provided for in the Standing Orders and are struck for the duration of the parliamentary term.[2] Select committees are struck usually by a motion or an order of the assembly to consider a specific bill or issue.

The following are the eight standing committees in the current 44th parliament prescribed by the Standing Orders

As of June 2026, there has been no select committee struck in the 44th parliament. No select committee was struck during the 43rd parliament (2022–25). Two such committees were struck during the 42nd (2018–22):

  • Select Committee on Emergency Management Oversight (terminated at dissolution)
  • Select Committee on Financial Transparency (final report tabled March 26, 2019)

Examples of other select committee from previous parliaments includes

  • Select Committee on Elections (in the 39th parliament, report tabled on June 30, 2009)
  • Select Committee on Mental Health and Addictions (in the 39th parliament, report tabled August 26, 2010)
  • Select Committee on the proposed transaction of the TMX Group and the London Stock Exchange Group (in the 39th parliament, report tabled on April 19, 2011)
  • Select Committee on Developmental Services (in the 40th and 41st parliament, report tabled on July 22, 2014)
  • Select Committee on Sexual Violence and Harassment (41st parliament, report tabled on December 10, 2015)


See also

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Notes

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References

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  • British North America Act, 1867. Statutes of the United Kingdom. Vol. 30-31 Victoria. c. 3.
  • Representation Act, 2015. Statutes of the Province of Ontario. Vol. S.O. 2015. 2015. c. 31, Sched. 1.
  • Legislative Assembly Act,. Statutes of the Province of Ontario. Vol. RSO 1990. c.L.10.
  • Legislative Assembly of Ontario (January 2025). Standing Orders.
  • Froman, Debra, ed. (1984). Legislators and Legislatures of Ontario: A Reference Guide. Vol. 1. Legislative Library, Legislative Assembly of Ontario.
  • Camp, Dalton; Farquhar, Oliver; Fisher, Douglas (December 1973). Report of the Ontario Commission on the Legislature (Report). Vol. 2. Ontario Commission on the Legislature.
  1. OLA 2025, 115(a).
  2. OLA 2025, 110.
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