Dave Levac

David Joseph "Dave" Levac (born April 6, 1954) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He is a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, representing the riding of Brant for the Ontario Liberal Party. He is the current Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, having been elected on November 21, 2011.

Born in in Brantford, Ontario, Levac was educated at Wilfrid Laurier University, Queen's University and Niagara University. He became a teacher in the early 1980s, and a principal in Brantford in 1989. Levac received the Canada 125 Medal in 1993, was named OECTA Distinguished Teacher in 1994 for his work in conflict resolution programs, and was named Brantford's Citizen of the Year in 1997 by readers of the Brantford Expositor. He also served as co-ordinator of Queen Elizabeth II's Royal Visit to Brantford in 1997. He was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002.^[1]

Levac was first elected to public office in the 1999 provincial election, defeating Progressive Conservative Alayne Sokoloski by 956 votes in Brant. His victory was somewhat unexpected, in that most surrounding ridings were won by the Progressive Conservatives in this cycle. The Conservatives won a majority government in this election, and Levac sat as an opposition member for the next four years.

The Liberals won a majority government in the 2003 provincial election and Levac again defeated Sokoloski, this time by over 10,000 votes. Many anticipated that he would be appointed Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services, as he had served as his party's official critic in a number of security-related portfolios since 1999. Instead, that position was given to Monte Kwinter, and Levac was named chief government whip.

On April 9, 2009 Dave Levac, along with cosponsers Cheri DiNovo and Frank Klees passed bill 147 – The Holodomor Memorial Day Act, This was the first piece of legislation in the Province’s history to introduced with Tri-Partisan sponsorship. This historic legislation recognizes the victims of the Ukrainian famine.

On January 25, 2010, Levac was named Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Energy and Infrastructure.

Electoral record

Note: Percentage changes are factored for redistribution. Sources: Official 2007 Poll by Poll Results and 2007 Annual Returns, Candidate and Constituency Associations, Elections Ontario.

Sources: Ontario Election Returns with Statistics from the Records (2003) and Financial Returns, Candidate and Constituency Associations (2003), Elections Ontario.

References

External links

• Dave Levac's official MPP Site
• Dave Levac's Ontario Liberal Party biography
• Ontario Legislative Assembly Parliamentarian History