Legislative Assembly of Ontario

Further information: Politics of Ontario

Legislative Assembly of Ontario Assemblée législative de l'Ontario
Type
Type	Unicameral
Houses	Legislative Assembly
Leadership
Speaker	Steve Peters, Liberal since November 28, 2007
Government House Leader	Michael Bryant, Liberal since 2007
Opposition House Leader	Elizabeth Witmer, PC since 2007
Structure
Members	107
Political groups	Liberal Party Progressive Conservative Party New Democratic Party
Election
Last election	October 10, 2007
Meeting place
Ontario Legislature, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Web site
www.ontla.on.ca

The Ontario Legislature at Queen's Park

The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (also known as Ontario Legislative Assembly or OntLA), is the legislature of the Canadian province of Ontario. It is located in the Ontario Legislature at Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario.

The British North America Act section 69 stipulates "There shall be a Legislature for Ontario consisting of the Lieutenant-Governor and of One House, styled the Legislative Assembly of Ontario". The Legislative Assembly is unicameral, without an upper house (amalgamating the bicameral lower house of the Legislative Assembly of Canada (lower house) and the upper house of the Legislative Council of Canada), with 107 seats representing ridings elected in a first-past-the-post system across the province.

The Legislative Assembly is informally known as the "Ontario Provincial Parliament". This is because unlike the other Canadian provinces, members of this assembly refer to themselves as "Members of the Provincial Parliament" ("MPPs") as opposed to "Members of the Legislative Assembly" ("MLAs"). Ontario is the only province to do so, in accordance with a resolution passed in the Assembly on April 7, 1938. However, the Legislative Assembly Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. L10 refers only to "members of the Assembly".

The 39th Legislative Assembly of Ontario was elected on October 10, 2007.

Lawmaking

In accordance with the traditions of the Westminster System, most laws originate with the cabinet (Government bills), and are passed by the legislature after stages of debate and decision-making. Although ordinary Members of the Legislature pass few laws they have introduced privately (Private Members' Bills) they nonetheless play an integral role in scrutinizing, debating and amending bills presented to the legislature by cabinet.

Members are expected to be loyal to both their parliamentary party and to the interests of their ridings.

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.

Finally, it is the task of the Legislature to provide the personnel of the executive. As already noted, under responsible government, ministers of the Crown are expected to be Members of the Assembly. When a political party comes to power it will invariably place its more experienced parliamentarians into the key cabinet positions, where their parliamentary experience may be the best preparation for the rough and tumble of political life in government.

Coat of Arms

The Legislative Assembly of Ontario is the first and the only legislature in Canada to have a Coat of Arms separate from the provincial coat of arms.

Green and gold are the principal colours in the shield of arms of the province. The Mace is the traditional symbol of the authority of the Speaker. Shown on the left is the current Mace. On the right is the original Mace from the time of the first parliament in 1792. The crossed Maces are joined by the shield of arms of Ontario.

The crown on the wreath represents national and provincial loyalties; its rim is studded with the provincial gemstone, the amethyst. The griffin, an ancient symbol of justice and equity, holds a calumet, which symbolizes the meeting of spirit and discussion that Ontario's First Peoples believe accompanies the use of the pipe.

The deer represent the natural riches of the province. The Loyalist coronets at their necks honour the original British settlers in Ontario who brought with them the British parliamentary form of government. The Royal Crowns, left 1992, right 1792, recognize the parliamentary bicentennial and represent Ontario's heritage as a constitutional monarchy. They were granted as a special honour by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on the recommendation of the Governor General.

In the base, the maple leaves are for Canada, the trilliums for Ontario and the roses for York (now Toronto), the provincial capital.

The motto "AUDI ALTERAM PARTEM" is one of a series of Latin phrases carved in the Chamber of the Legislative Building. It challenges Members of Provincial Parliament to "Hear the Other Side."

Media

Proceedings of the Legislative Assembly are broadcast to Ontario cable television subscribers as the Ontario Parliament Network.

Party standings

Affiliation		Leader of the Party	Leader in the Legislature	OntLA Status	Members[1]
	Liberal	Dalton McGuinty		Government	71
	PC	John Tory	Bob Runciman	Official Opposition	26
	NDP	Howard Hampton		Third Party	10
Total					107
Government Majority					18

Seating plan

(v • d • e)

List of members

• Cabinet ministers are in bold, leaders are in italics and the Speaker of the Legislature has a dagger next to his name.

Standing committees

Current standing committees through the current Legislative Assembly of Ontario

Mace

The cermonial mace of the Legislature is the third mace to be used in Ontario.

The first mace was first used by the Chamber of Upper Canada's first Parliament in 1702 at Newark and then to York (now Toronto). The primitive wooden mace, painted red and gilt and surmounted by a crown of thin brass strips. It was stolen by American troops during the War of 1812 in 1813. It remained in the United States until 1934 and returned to Ontario. Stored at the Royal Ontario Museum and now located in the Speaker's office.

A second mace was introduced in 1813 and used until 1841. A replacement mace was not purchased until 1845 and then transferred to the Union Parliament and finally to the Canadian Parliament in 1867. This mace was lost in the fire at the Centre Block in 1916. The current mace used in Legislature was purchased in 1867.

Officers of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario

Like the Parliament of Canada, the Legislature has procedural officers:

Clerk of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario is the chief permanent officer of the Legislative Assembly, with the rank and status of a Deputy Minister. He or she is the principal procedural adviser and senior officer of the House, the Clerk's responsibilities include advising the Speaker and Members of the Legislature on questions of procedure and interpretation of the rules and practices of the House.

The other key officer is the Sergeant-at-Arms, who's role is to keep order during meetings in the Legislature and also charged with control of the Ceremonial mace in the Legislature in session.

Other officers of the legislature include the Ombudsman of Ontario, the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario, the Integrity Commissioner of Ontario, Auditor General of Ontario and the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario.

See also

• List of Ontario political parties
• Cabinet of Ontario
• List of Ontario general elections
• List of Ontario Legislative Assemblies
• Category:Ontario MPPs
• Ontario Parliament Network

References

External links

• Legislative Assembly of Ontario official site
• Emporis Listing
• The Mace

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