Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario

The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario (French: Président de l'Assemblée législative de l'Ontario) is the presiding officer of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.

Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario Président de l'Assemblée législative de l'Ontario
Incumbent Ted Arnott since July 11, 2018
Legislative Assembly of Ontario
Member of	Provincial Parliament
Seat	Queen's Park, Toronto
Formation	December 27, 1867
First holder	John Stevenson

Notable elections

1920

Nelson Parliament was a Liberal who became Speaker when the United Farmers of Ontario and Labour Party formed a coalition government in the 15th Legislative Assembly of Ontario. A considerable number of members in the governing party were either freshly elected or chosen to serve as government ministers (which made them ineligible to be elected).[1] As a result, the Premier, E.C. Drury, looked to the opposition benches for a Speaker, and chose Parliament, who had served as an MPP since 1914. Upon becoming Speaker, Parliament resigned from the Liberal caucus and sat without party affiliation, as a compromise for his election. While this is the normal practice in the British House of Commons, it is the only time it has happened in Ontario.

1977

Jack Stokes was the NDP MPP for Lake Nipigon, and was named Speaker by Progressive Conservative Premier Bill Davis. His election is an example of an instance where a member of an opposing party was elected to the position. Davis was elected to lead a minority government and having an opposition MPP as Speaker was a means of denying the opposition one vote (as the Speaker only votes in the occasion of a tie and then must vote by precedent).

1985

Hugh Edighoffer was elected Speaker following the 1985 provincial election that returned a slim minority Progressive Conservative government under Frank Miller. However, the opposition Liberals and NDP together controlled a majority of seats and elected Edighoffer as Speaker, who was a member of the Liberal Party. Days later, the Miller government was brought down by a Motion of Non-Confidence and, as a result of an accord between the Liberals and the NDP, Liberal leader David Peterson was asked to form a government without the legislature being dissolved and a new election. Edighoffer, a Liberal MPP, remained Speaker for the duration of the Peterson government as well.

2011

There were nine candidates for the position of Speaker in the 40th Ontario legislature, held after the 2011 provincial election returned a minority Liberal government. Liberals Donna Cansfield, Kevin Flynn, Dave Levac and David Zimmer. A fifth candidate, Progressive Conservative MPP Frank Klees withdrew after his bid failed to receive sufficient support from either side of the aisle.

David Zimmer dropped off after the first ballot. On the second ballot, Dave Levac was elected Speaker. The actual vote totals were not released.[2]

2014

Liberal MPP Dave Levac was re-elected to a second term as Speaker at the first session of the 41st Parliament held on July 2, 2014, becoming the first Speaker since Hugh Edighoffer to serve more than one term. Levac defeated NDP MPP Paul Miller and Progressive Conservative Rick Nicholls on the third ballot. NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo was eliminated on the first ballot and Liberal MPP Shafiq Qaadri was eliminated on the second ballot. Actual vote totals were not released.[3]

2018

PC MPP Ted Arnott was elected as Speaker at the first session of the 42nd Parliament held on July 11, 2018 on the first ballot, defeating Randy Hillier, Jane McKenna and Rick Nicholls. Arnott was one of the three longest serving members of the legislature at the time of election.

Election

Chamber of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Speaker's dais is in direct center of image in the front of the chamber.

As with other Speakers that are modeled on the Westminster system, the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly is elected using a secret ballot.[4] Since 1990, the position has been elected by MPPs in this manner. Previously, the Speaker had been appointed directly by the Premier of Ontario after consultation with the Leader of the Opposition and the leader of the third-largest party, and then ratified by the legislature. David Warner was the first Speaker to be elected by his or her peers. This change reflects a similar reform undertaken by the federal House of Commons in 1986.[1]

The Speaker is usually a member of the governing party. The only exceptions have been Jack Stokes, Nelson Parliament and Hugh Edighoffer.

The Speaker is required to perform his or her office impartially,[4] but does not resign from his or her party membership upon taking office.[5] This is identical to the system in place in the federal House of Commons, but stands in contrast to the Speaker of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.[6] The only Speaker of the Legislative Assembly to have resigned his party affiliation upon election was Nelson Parliament, who was elected in 1920.[7]

List of Speakers of the Legislative Assembly

Key:

  Ontario Liberal Party

  Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (and predecessor names)

  Ontario New Democratic Party

Speaker		Term		Legislature(s)	Term Length	Party
1	John Stevenson	27 December 1867	7 December 1871	1	3 years, 345 days	Conservative
2	Richard William Scott	7 December 1871	21 December 1871	2	14 days	Liberal
3	James George Currie	21 December 1871	29 March 1873	2	1 year, 98 days	Liberal
4	Rupert Mearse Wells	7 January 1874	7 January 1880	2, 3	6 years, 0 days	Liberal
5	Charles J. P. Clarke[lower-alpha 1]	7 January 1880	10 February 1887	4, 5	7 years, 34 days	Liberal
6	Jacob Baxter	10 February 1887	11 February 1891	6	4 years, 1 day	Liberal
7	Thomas Ballantyne	11 February 1891	21 February 1895	7	4 years, 10 days	Liberal
8	William Douglas Balfour	21 February 1895	14 July 1896	8	1 year, 144 days	Liberal
9	Francis Eugene Alfred Evanturel	10 February 1897	10 March 1903	8, 9	6 years, 239 days	Liberal
10	William Andrew Charlton	10 March 1903	22 March 1905	10	2 years, 12 days	Liberal
11	Joseph Wesley St. John	22 March 1905	7 April 1907	11	2 years, 16 days	Conservative
12	Thomas Crawford	8 April 1907	7 February 1912	11, 12	4 years, 306 days	Conservative
13	William Henry Hoyle	7 February 1912	16 February 1915	13	3 years, 9 days	Conservative
14	David Jamieson	16 February 1915	9 March 1920	14	5 years, 22 days	Conservative
15	Nelson Parliament	9 March 1920	6 February 1924	15	3 years, 334 days	Independent[lower-alpha 2]
16	Joseph Elijah Thompson	6 February 1924	2 February 1927	16	2 years, 361 days	Conservative
17	William David Black	2 February 1927	5 February 1930	17	3 years, 3 days	Conservative
18	Thomas Ashmore Kidd	5 February 1930	20 February 1935	18	5 years, 15 days	Conservative
19	Norman Otto Hipel	20 February 1935	2 September 1938	19, 20	3 years, 194 days	Liberal
20	James Howard Clark	8 March 1939	22 February 1944	20	4 years, 351 days	Liberal
21	William James Stewart	22 February 1944	21 March 1947	21, 22	3 years, 27 days	Conservative
22	James de Congalton Hepburn	24 March 1947	10 February 1949	22	1 year, 323 days	Conservative
23	Maurice Coleman Davies	10 February 1949	8 September 1955	23, 24	6 years, 210 days	Conservative
24	Alfred Downer	8 September 1955	26 January 1960	25	4 years, 140 days	Progressive Conservative
25	William Murdoch	26 January 1960	29 October 1963	26	3 years, 276 days	Progressive Conservative
26	Donald Hugo Morrow	29 October 1963	14 February 1968	27	4 years, 108 days	Progressive Conservative
27	Frederick McIntosh Cass	14 February 1968	13 December 1971	28	3 years, 302 days	Progressive Conservative
28	Allan Edward Reuter	13 December 1971	22 October 1974	29	2 years, 313 days	Progressive Conservative
29	Russell Daniel Rowe	22 October 1974	17 October 1977	29, 30, 31	2 years, 360 days	Progressive Conservative
30	John Edward "Jack" Stokes	17 October 1977	21 April 1981	31	3 years, 186 days	New Democratic Party
31	John M. Turner	21 April 1981	4 June 1985	32	4 years, 44 days	Progressive Conservative
32	Hugh Alden Edighoffer	4 June 1985	19 November 1990	33, 34	5 years, 168 days	Liberal
33	David William Warner	19 November 1990	26 September 1995	35	4 years, 311 days	New Democratic Party
34	Al McLean	26 September 1995	26 September 1996	36	1 year, 0 days	Progressive Conservative
35	Edward Doyle	26 September 1996	3 October 1996	36	7 days	Progressive Conservative
36	Chris Stockwell	3 October 1996	20 October 1999	36	3 years, 17 days	Progressive Conservative
37	Gary Carr	20 October 1999	19 November 2003	37	4 years, 30 days	Progressive Conservative
38	Alvin Curling	19 November 2003	19 August 2005	38	1 year, 326 days	Liberal
39	Michael A. Brown	11 October 2005	28 November 2007	38	2 years, 48 days	Liberal
40	Stephen Peters	28 November 2007	21 November 2011	39	3 years, 358 days	Liberal
41	Dave Levac	21 November 2011	8 May 2018	40, 41	6 years, 168 days	Liberal
42	Ted Arnott	11 July 2018	Present	42	2 years, 213 days	Progressive Conservative

1. Charles Clarke was also Clerk of the Assembly from 1892-1907, being the only Member to serve as both Speaker and Clerk.
2. Nelson Parliament was a member of the Liberal Party, however the Liberals sat in the opposition in the 15th Parliament. As no one in the governing coalition had experience in the Legislature, Parliament was selected from the Opposition to become Speaker by the Premier; he subsequently resigned his party membership and sat as an independent.

List of current presiding officers

The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly is assisted by four other MPPs who are, along with the Speaker, collectively known as the presiding officers.[8][9] Standing Order 2 of the Legislative Assembly requires that three of the five presiding officers hail from the Official Opposition.[9] The Deputy Speaker is first in line to take the Chair in the absence of the Speaker. The Deputy Speaker is also ex officio the Chair of the Committee of the Whole House. The next three presiding officers are entitled deputy chairs of the Committee of the Whole House.

As with the Speaker, the other presiding officers are required to remain impartial in the Chair, but are not required to resign from their political party. They may participate in debate and vote as with any other member, when not in the Chair.[10]

Title	Incumbent[10]	Party[8]
Speaker of the Legislative Assembly	Ted Arnott	Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
Deputy Speaker and Chair of the Committee of the Whole House	Rick Nicholls	Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
First Deputy Chair of the Committee of the Whole House	Lisa Gretzky	New Democratic Party of Ontario
Second Deputy Chair of the Committee of the Whole House	Jennifer French	New Democratic Party of Ontario
Third Deputy Chair of the Committee of the Whole House	Percy Hatfield	New Democratic Party of Ontario

Residence

The Speaker once had both reception space and an apartment within the Ontario Legislative Building. After the closure of Chorley Park in 1937, the reception space was transferred over to the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, as a non-residential vice regal suite. The Speaker maintains a residence at the Legislature, known as the Speaker's Apartment.

See also

• Speakers of the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada

References

1. brenthollandshow (2014-10-17), Peter Miliken Speaker Of The House Canada Parliament Ottawa Brent Holland Show, retrieved 2019-07-16
2. Howlett, Karen (November 21, 2011). "Dave Levac elected Ontario Speaker". Globe and Mail. Retrieved November 21, 2011.
3. "Levac re-elected Speaker". Belleville Expositor. July 2, 2014. Retrieved July 2, 2014.
4. "Role of the Speaker | Legislative Assembly of Ontario". www.ola.org. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
5. "Current MPPs". Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
6. "Office and Role of Speaker". UK Parliament. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
7. Ontario. Legislative Library; Dale, Clare A. (1992). "Whose servant I am" : speakers of the assemblies of the province of Upper Canada, Canada and Ontario, 1792-1992. Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Toronto : Ontario Legislative Library.
8. "The Speaker". Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
9. "Standing orders | Legislative Assembly of Ontario". www.ola.org. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
10. "Presiding officers and Clerks | Legislative Assembly of Ontario". www.ola.org. Retrieved 2019-07-16.

External links

• The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly from the Ontario Legislative Assembly website. Biography of the current speaker and a history of the office.
• List of past speakers.