Ontario.

• Author: Day, Trevor
• Position: Legislative Reports - Conference notes

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Summer 2007 was a quiet time at Queen S Park as the Legislative Assembly was prorogued on June 5 and all focus shifted to the future general election legislated to occur on October 10.

During the break, however, the David C. Onley was installed as Ontario's 28th Lieutenant Governor on September 5. A champion of disability issues, he was Canada's first senior newscaster with a visible disability. He has chaired the Government of Ontario's Accessibility Standards Advisory Council, and served on both the SkyDome Accessibility Council and Air Canada Centre Accessibility Committee.

Mr. Onley had little time to settle in before being called upon to dissolve the 38th Parliament on September 10, and issue the writs for the 39th provincial general election.

The election resulted in the Liberal Party under Dalton McGuinty winning re-election, and little change in the composition of the House. The Liberals took 71 seats (up 3), the Progressive Conservatives under John Tory took 26 seats (up 1) and the New Democratic Party of Howard Hampton kept 10 seats in a Legislative Assembly that had grown by 4 seats due to the realignment of electoral districts.

While the election did not produce a dramatic change from the previous Parliament, it was the first time in 70 years that the Liberal Party won back-to-back majorities in Ontario. This was last accomplished under Premier Mitchell Hepburn in 1937.

The race in the riding of Don Valley West was likely the most observed of the election. It pitted 2 highly respected parliamentary incumbents against each other, the Leader of...