List of premiers of Ontario

This is a list of the premiers of the province of Ontario, Canada, since Confederation in 1867. Ontario uses a unicameral Westminster-style parliamentary government, in which the premier is the leader of the party that controls the most seats in the Legislative Assembly. The premier acts as Ontario's head of government, while the Queen of Canada acts as its head of state and is represented by the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario. The premier picks a cabinet from the elected members to form the Executive Council of Ontario, and presides over that body.

Members are first elected to the legislature during general elections. General elections must be conducted every four years from the date of the last election. An election may also happen if the Governing party loses the confidence of the legislature, by the defeat of a supply bill or tabling of a confidence motion.

This article only covers the time since the Canadian Confederation was created in 1867. For the premiers of Canada West from 1840 to 1867, see List of Joint Premiers of the Province of Canada. The governments of Upper Canada from 1792 to 1840 were mostly controlled by representatives of the Crown.

Premiers of Ontario since 1867

      Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario       United Farmers of Ontario       Ontario Liberal Party       Ontario New Democratic Party

Premier (party)			Period	Assem- blies	Elections (Riding)
	1st	John Sandfield Macdonald (Liberal-Conservative)	Jul. 15, 1867 Dec. 20, 1871	... 1st	Designated Jul. 15, 1867 Elected Sep. 3, 1867 to a coalition[1] (Cornwall)
	2nd	Edward Blake (Liberal)	Dec. 20, 1871 Oct. 25, 1872	2nd ...	Elected Mar. 21, 1871 (Bruce South) Resigned (moved to federal politics) Oct. 25, 1872[2]
	3rd	Sir Oliver Mowat (Liberal)	Oct. 25, 1872 Jul. 21, 1896	... 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th ...	Designated Oct. 25, 1872 (Oxford North) Re-elected Jan. 18, 1875 (Oxford North) Re-elected Jun. 5, 1879 (Oxford North) Re-elected Feb. 27, 1883 (Oxford North) Re-elected Dec. 28, 1886 (Oxford North) Re-elected Jun. 5, 1890 (Oxford North) Re-elected Jun. 26, 1894 (Oxford North) Resigned (Retired) Jul. 21, 1896
	4th	Arthur Hardy (Liberal)	Jul. 21, 1896 Oct. 20, 1899	... 9th ...	Designated Jul. 21, 1896 (Brant South) Re-elected Mar. 1, 1898 (Brant South) Resigned (Retired) Oct. 20, 1899
	5th	Sir George William Ross (Liberal)	Oct. 20, 1899 Feb. 8, 1905	... 10th	Designated Oct. 20, 1899 (Middlesex West) Re-elected May 29, 1902 (Middlesex West)
	6th	Sir James Whitney (Conservative)	Feb. 8, 1905 Sep. 25, 1914	11th 12th 13th 14th ...	Elected Jan. 25, 1905 (Dundas) Re-elected Jun. 8, 1908 (Dundas) Re-elected Dec. 11, 1911 (Dundas) Re-elected Jun. 29, 1914 (Dundas) Died in office Sep. 25, 1914
	7th	Sir William Hearst (Conservative)	Oct. 2, 1914 Nov. 14, 1919	...	Designated Oct. 2, 1914 (Sault Ste. Marie)
	8th	Ernest Drury (Farmer)	Nov. 14, 1919 Jul. 16, 1923	15th	Elected Oct. 20, 1919 coalition[3] (Halton)[4]
	9th	George Howard Ferguson (Conservative)	Jul. 16, 1923 Dec. 16, 1930	16th 17th 18th ...	Elected Jun. 25, 1923 (Grenville) Re-elected Dec. 1, 1926 (Grenville) Re-elected Oct. 30, 1929 (Grenville) Resigned (changed jobs) Dec. 16, 1930
	10th	George Stewart Henry (Conservative)	Dec. 16, 1930 Jul. 10, 1934	...	Designated Dec. 16, 1930 (York East)
	11th	Mitchell Hepburn (Liberal)	Jul. 10, 1934 Oct. 21, 1942	19th 20th ...	Elected Jun. 19, 1934 (Elgin) Re-elected Oct. 6, 1937 (Elgin) Resigned (Retired) Oct. 21, 1942
	12th	Gordon Daniel Conant (Liberal)	Oct. 21, 1942 May 18, 1943	... ...	Designated Oct. 21, 1942 (Ontario) Resigned (Retired) May 18, 1943
	13th	Harry Nixon (Liberal)	May 18, 1943 Aug. 17, 1943	...	Designated May 18, 1943 (Brant)
	14th	George Drew (Progressive Conservative)	Aug. 17, 1943 Oct. 19, 1948	21st 22nd 23rd ...	Elected Aug. 4, 1943 to a minority (High Park) Re-elected Jun. 4, 1945 (High Park) Re-elected Jun. 7, 1948 (none[5]) Resigned (Retired) Oct. 19, 1948
	15th	Thomas Kennedy (Progressive Conservative)	Oct. 19, 1948 May 4, 1949	... ...	Designated Oct. 19, 1948 (Peel) Resigned (Retired) May 4, 1949
	16th	Leslie Frost (Progressive Conservative)	May 4, 1949 Nov. 8, 1961	... 24th 25th 26th ...	Designated May 4, 1949 (Victoria) Re-elected Nov. 22, 1951 (Victoria) Re-elected Jun. 9, 1955 (Victoria) Re-elected Jun. 11, 1959 (Victoria) Resigned (Stepped down) Nov. 8, 1961
	17th	John Robarts (Progressive Conservative)	Nov. 8, 1961 Mar. 1, 1971	... 27th 28th ...	Designated Nov. 8, 1961 (London North) Re-elected Sep. 25, 1963 (London North) Re-elected Oct. 17, 1967 (London North) Resigned (Retired) Mar. 1, 1971
	18th	Bill Davis (Progressive Conservative)	Mar. 1, 1971 Feb. 8, 1985	... 29th 30th 31st 32nd ...	Designated Mar. 1, 1971 (Peel North) Re-elected Oct. 21, 1971 (Peel North) Re-elected Sep. 18, 1975 to a minority (Brampton) Re-elected Jun. 9, 1977 to a minority (Brampton) Re-elected Mar. 19, 1981 (Brampton) Resigned (Retired) Feb. 8, 1985
	19th	Frank Miller (Progressive Conservative)	Feb. 8, 1985 Jun. 26, 1985	... 33rd ...	Designated Feb. 8 1985 (Muskoka) Re-elected May 2, 1985 to a minority (Muskoka) Resigned (opposition parties sign The Accord)[6] Jun. 26, 1985
	20th	David Peterson (Liberal)	Jun. 26, 1985 Oct. 1, 1990	... 34th	Designated Jun. 26, 1985 to a minority (London Centre) Re-elected Sep. 10, 1987 (London Centre)
	21st	Bob Rae (NDP)	Oct. 1, 1990 Jun. 26, 1995	35th	Elected Sep. 6, 1990 (York South)
	22nd	Mike Harris (Progressive Conservative)	Jun. 26, 1995 Apr. 14, 2002	36th 37th ...	Elected Jun. 8, 1995 (Nipissing) Re-elected Jun. 3, 1999 (Nipissing) Resigned (Retired) Apr. 15, 2002
	23rd	Ernie Eves (Progressive Conservative)	Apr. 15, 2002 Oct. 22, 2003	...	Designated March 23, 2002 (Dufferin—Peel—Wellington—Grey)
	24th	Dalton McGuinty (Liberal)	Oct. 23, 2003 Incumbent as at Oct. 28, 2009	38th 39th	Elected Oct. 2, 2003 (Ottawa South) Re-elected Oct. 10, 2007 (Ottawa South)

Notes

1. ↑ Macdonald led a Coalition between the Liberal-Conservative Party and the Liberal Party.
2. ↑ Resigned to lead the federal Liberal Party when the "dual mandate" rule was abolished
3. ↑ Drury led a Coalition between the United Farmers Party and the Labour Party.
4. ↑ Drury did not win a seat in the legislature until a 1920 by-election.
5. ↑ Drew won the election for his party, but lost his own seat in High Park and resigned rather than seeking a bi-election.
6. ↑ Miller's Progressive Conservatives had more seats than Peterson's Liberals in the 33rd legislature, but Peterson had the formal support of the NDP through a signed accord. The two parties defeated Miller with a Motion of no confidence immediately after the election and formed government under Peterson without an official coalition.

References

• "Ontario". The Canadian Encyclopedia (2000). (1999). Ed. James H. Marsh. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart. 1713. ISBN 0-7710-2099-6. 
• Government of Ontario. "Historical Records". Past & Present MPPs. Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Retrieved on 2007-03-11.

See also

• List of Leaders of the Opposition in Ontario

For more lists of this type, see Lists of incumbents.

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