Legislative Assembly of Ontario

Legislative Assembly of Ontario Assemblée législative de l'Ontario (French)
41st Parliament of Ontario
Type
Type	Unicameral house of the Legislature of Ontario
History
Founded	July 1, 1867 (1867-07-01)
Preceded by	Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada
Leadership
Lieutenant Governor	Hon. Elizabeth Dowdeswell Since September 23, 2014
Speaker	Hon. Dave Levac, Liberal Since November 21, 2011
Premier	Hon. Kathleen Wynne, Liberal Since February 11, 2013
Leader of the Opposition	Patrick Brown, PC Since September 14, 2015
Government House Leader	Hon. Yasir Naqvi, Liberal Since June 24, 2014
Opposition House Leader	Jim Wilson, PC Since September 11, 2015
Structure
Seats	107
Political groups	Governing Party   Liberal (57) Opposition Parties   PC (29)   NDP (20)   Vacant (1)
Elections
Last election	June 12, 2014
Next election	June 7, 2018
Meeting place
Ontario Legislative Building, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Website
www.ontla.on.ca

Governing Party

Opposition Parties

The Legislative Assembly of Ontario is one of two components of the Legislature of Ontario (also known as the Parliament of Ontario), the other being the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario. The Legislative Assembly is the second largest Canadian provincial deliberative assembly by number of members after the National Assembly of Quebec. The Assembly meets at the Ontario Legislative Building at Queen's Park in the provincial capital of Toronto.

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. The Legislature has been unicameral since its inception, with the Assembly currently having 107 seats (increased to 122 as of the 42nd Ontario general election) representing electoral districts ("ridings") elected through a first-past-the-post electoral system across the province.

Like at the federal level in Canada, Ontario uses a Westminster-style parliamentary government, in which members are elected to the Legislative Assembly through general elections, from which the Premier of Ontario and Executive Council of Ontario are appointed based on majority support. The premier is Ontario's head of government, while the Lieutenant Governor, as representative of the Queen, acts as head of state. The largest party not forming the government is known as the Official Opposition, its leader being recognized as Leader of the Opposition by the Speaker.