List of Ontario premiers

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This is a list of the premiers of the province of Ontario, Canada, since Confederation in 1867. Like the Canadian federal government, Ontario uses a 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, sometimes called the prime minister, 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.

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.

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

Premiers of Ontario since 1867
Premier (party)			Period	Assembly	Elections (Riding)
	1.	John Sandfield Macdonald (Liberal-Conservative)	Jul. 15, 1867 Dec. 20, 1871	... 1st	Designated Jul. 15, 1867 Elected Sep. 3, 1867 (Coalition)^[1] (Cornwall)
	2.	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]
	3.	Sir Oliver Mowat (Liberal)	Oct. 25, 1872 Jul. 21, 1896	... 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th ...	Party leader: 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
	4.	Arthur Hardy (Liberal)	Jul. 21, 1896 Oct. 20, 1899	... 9th ...	Party Leader Jul. 21, 1896 (Brant South) Re-elected Mar. 1, 1898 (Brant South) Resigned (Retired) Oct. 20, 1899
	5.	Sir George William Ross (Liberal)	Oct. 20, 1899 Feb. 8, 1905	... 10th	Party Leader Oct. 20, 1899 (Middlesex West) Re-elected May 29, 1902 (Middlesex West)
	6.	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
	7.	Sir William Hearst (Conservative)	Oct. 2, 1914 Nov. 14, 1919	...	Party Leader Oct. 2, 1914 (Sault Ste. Marie)
	8.	Ernest Drury (Farmer)	Nov. 14, 1919 Jul. 16, 1923	15th	Elected Oct. 20, 1919 (Coalition)^[3] (Halton)^[4]
	9.	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
	10.	George Stewart Henry (Conservative)	Dec. 16, 1930 Jul. 10, 1934	...	Party Leader Dec. 16, 1930 (York East)
	11.	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
	12.	Gordon Daniel Conant (Liberal)	Oct. 21, 1942 May 18, 1943	... ...	Party Leader Oct. 21, 1942 (Ontario) Resigned (Retired) May 18, 1943
	13.	Harry Nixon (Liberal)	May 18, 1943 Aug. 17, 1943	...	Party Leader May 18, 1943 (Brant)
	14.	George Drew (Progressive Conservative)	Aug. 17, 1943 Oct. 19, 1948	21st 22nd 23rd ...	Elected Aug. 4, 1943 (Minority) (High Park) Re-elected Jun. 4, 1945 (High Park) Re-elected Jun. 7, 1948 (none^[5]) Resigned (Retired) Oct. 19, 1948
	15.	Thomas Kennedy (Progressive Conservative)	Oct. 19, 1948 May 4, 1949	... ...	Party Leader Oct. 19, 1948 (Peel) Resigned (Retired) May 4, 1949
	16.	Leslie Frost (Progressive Conservative)	May 4, 1949 Nov. 8, 1961	... 24th 25th 26th ...	Party Leader 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
	17.	John Robarts (Progressive Conservative)	Nov. 8, 1961 Mar. 1, 1971	... 27th 28th ...	Party Leader Nov. 8, 1961 (London North) Re-lected Sep. 25, 1963 (London North) Re-elected Oct. 17, 1967 (London North) Resigned (Retired) Mar. 1, 1971
	18.	Bill Davis (Progressive Conservative)	Mar. 1, 1971 Feb. 8, 1985	... 29th 30th 31st 32nd ...	Party Leader Mar. 1, 1971 (Peel North) Re-elected Oct. 21, 1971 (Peel North) Re-elected Sep. 18, 1975 (Minority) (Brampton) Re-elected Jun. 9, 1977 (Minority) (Brampton) Re-elected Mar. 19, 1981 (Brampton) Resigned (Retired) Feb. 8, 1985
	19.	Frank Miller (Progressive Conservative)	Feb. 8, 1985 Jun. 26, 1985	... 33rd ...	Party Leader Feb. 8 1985 (Muskoka) Re-elected May 2, 1985 (Minority) (Muskoka) Resigned (The Accord)^[6] Jun. 26, 1985
	20.	David Peterson (Liberal)	Jun. 26, 1985 Oct. 1, 1990	... 34th	Designated Jun. 26, 1985 (Minority) (London Centre) Re-elected Sep. 10, 1987 (London Centre)
	21.	Bob Rae (NDP)	Oct. 1, 1990 Jun. 26, 1995	35th	Elected Sep. 6, 1990 (York South)
	22.	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) Apl. 15, 2002
	23.	Ernie Eves (Progressive Conservative)	Apr. 15, 2002 Oct. 22, 2003	...	Party Leader Apl. 15, 2002 (Dufferin—Peel—Wellington—Grey)
	24.	Dalton McGuinty (Liberal)	Oct. 23, 2003 Incumbent as of Apr. 8, 2007	38th	Elected Oct. 2, 2003 (Ottawa South)

[edit] References

^ Macdonald led a Coalition between the Liberal-Conservative Party and the Liberal Party.
^ Resigned to lead the federal Liberal Party when the "dual mandate" rule was abolished
^ Drury led a Coalition between the United Farmers Party and the Labour Party.
^ Drury did not win a seat in the legislature until a 1920 by-election.
^ Drew won the election for his party, but lost his own seat in High Park and resigned rather than seeking a bi-election.
^ 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.

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

[edit] See also

List of Leaders of the Opposition in Ontario

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

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