Dalton McGuinty
Encyclopedia
Dalton James Patrick McGuinty, Jr., MPP
(born July 19, 1955) is a Canadian lawyer, politician and, since October 23, 2003, the 24th and current Premier
of the Canadian province of Ontario
.
McGuinty is generally regarded as holding moderate views on economic issues, with his first budget raising personal taxes and planning to eliminate the province's tax on the capital of corporations. He holds liberal views on social issues, supporting abortion
rights and same-sex marriage
.
First elected to the premiership in 2003, with his reelection in 2007 McGuinty became the first Ontario Liberal to serve two terms as premier since Mitchell Hepburn
nearly 70 years earlier. In 2011, he became the first Liberal premier to secure a third consecutive term since Sir Oliver Mowat, after successfully contending that year's provincial election.
, Ontario
. His parents are politician and professor Dalton McGuinty, Sr.
and full-time nurse Elizabeth McGuinty (née Pexton). Being the son of a Francophone
mother and an Anglophone
father, McGuinty is bilingual
. McGuinty is the second Roman Catholic to hold the premiership. He grew up in an Irish Canadian
family with nine brothers and sisters, with younger brother David
representing the riding of Ottawa South
in the Canadian House of Commons
since 2004.
An alumnus of St. Patrick's High School
in Ottawa, he studied biology
and earned a B.Sc.
from McMaster University
. He then took his LL.B from the University of Ottawa
before practising law in Ottawa.
Since 1980, he has been married to high school sweetheart Terri McGuinty, an elementary school teacher. The couple have one daughter and three sons.
until his death in 1990. Dalton Jr. won the Ontario Liberal Party
's nomination for Ottawa South for the provincial election of 1990
, and was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario
as the MPP for his father's former riding.
The Liberal government of David Peterson
was unexpectedly defeated by the social democratic
Ontario New Democratic Party
(NDP) in that election, and McGuinty was the only rookie Liberal MPP elected. In opposition, McGuinty served as the Liberal Party's critic for Energy, Environment and Colleges and Universities. He was re-elected in Ottawa South in the 1995 provincial election
without much difficulty, which saw the Liberals maintain their status as the official opposition amid a provincial swing from the NDP to the Progressive Conservatives.
, Murray Elston
, and Bob Chiarelli
. He was elected leader at the party's 1996 leadership convention
in a surprise victory over front-runner Gerard Kennedy
. McGuinty thus became the Leader of the Opposition
at Queen's Park.
Kennedy, a former head of Toronto
's Daily Bread
food bank
, was popular on the progressive-wing of the party, while McGuinty built his core support on its establishment and pro-business right-wing which some nicknamed the "anything-but-Kennedy movement". McGuinty was fourth on the first and second ballots but he was not far behind third-place finisher Dwight Duncan
. He then overtook Duncan and Joe Cordiano on the third and fourth ballots, respectively, receiving the support of their delegates to win a fifth ballot over Kennedy. McGuinty holds the distinction of being the only Canadian party leader to win his party's leadership after finishing fourth on the first ballot.
s, and was described as ineffective by the province's tabloid press. The governing Progressive Conservatives played up McGuinty's low profile by defining him as "not up to the job" in a series of television advertisements. His internal management of the Liberal Party was also criticized by some.
McGuinty's performance in the early weeks of the 1999 provincial election
was also widely criticized, and he was generally regarded as having performed poorly in the election's only leaders' debate. He was also criticized when, in response to a question by late CITY-TV
journalist Colin Vaughan
, he described Mike Harris as a "thug".
McGuinty's Liberals nevertheless won support from many progressive voters who had previously supported the Ontario New Democratic Party
, but who hoped to defeat the governing Conservatives by strategic voting. The Progressive Conservative was re-elected Party were reelected, but McGuinty was able to rally his party in the election's closing days and drew 40% of the popular vote for the Liberals, the party's second-best performance in fifty years. The Liberal Party also increased its seat total in the Legislature from 30 to 36. McGuinty himself faced a surprisingly difficult re-election in Ottawa South, but defeated his Progressive Conservative opponent by about 3,000 votes.
as party president. McGuinty also rebuilt the party's fundraising operation, launching the Ontario Liberal Fund. In preparation for the 2003 election
, the party adopted a platform that emphasized lowering class sizes in schools, hiring more nurses, increasing environmental protections, and "holding the line" on taxes. McGuinty also made an effort to improve his debating skills and received coaching from Democratic Party trainers in the United States
.
McGuinty's chances of forming government were improved by a number of controversies involving the governing PC Party, including the fallout over the shooting death of native protester Dudley George at Ipperwash, the deaths of seven people from tainted water in Walkerton
, and the decision to provide tax credits to parents who sent their children to private schools. Harris resigned in the fall of 2001, following the then-Premier's high profile testimony at the Walkerton Inquiry and the PC government's defeat in a by-election
in Vaughan—King—Aurora
.
Harris's successor, Ernie Eves
, received a short boost in the polls from his attempts to move the PC Party to the centre. However, Eves was never able to gain control of the political agenda, and appeared indecisive and reactive on issues ranging from electricity restructuring to taxes. In 2003, Eves reversed his move to the centre and campaigned on a right-wing agenda.
The 2003 North America blackout
gave Eves increased exposure and rallied some support for his party. He called an election immediately after the blackout, and polling showed that the previous Liberal lead had narrowed to a tie in the first week. The rise in Tory support was short-lived. The Liberals took a commanding lead in the campaign's second week, and remained in that position until election day.
Voters regarded the Progressive Conservative government as unnecessarily confrontational and divisive, and some of the Liberal Party's strength was based in a promise to change the combative tone of government. The Progressive Conservatives ultimately played into this strategy by running a series of negative advertisements against McGuinty throughout the campaign. However, they also undercut their own strategy by accidentally distributing a press release which described McGuinty as an "evil reptilian kitten-eater from another planet".
In contrast, Liberal Party's advertising remained positive, selling the merits of changing governments and arguing their preparedness for office. McGuinty undertook a series of choreographed events, including signing a taxpayer's protection pledge not to raise taxes, and appearing on the popular sports show "Off the Record", where he received an endorsement from Canadian Idol
winner Ryan Malcolm
. At the same time, caucus members like George Smitherman
carried the party's negative message in critiquing the PC Party record.
McGuinty was able to maintain his party's standing in the polls in the last stages, preventing Eves from making up ground during the leader's debate. On election day, the Liberal were elected to a majority government
, winning 72 of the Ontario Legislature's 103 seats. The PC Party fell to 24 seats, while the NDP lost official party status in the legislature. (It regained that status a few months later by winning a by-election.)
Following the election, the McGuinty government asked former Provincial Auditor Erik Peters
to examine the province's finances. Peters revealed that the out-going Conservative administration had left a hidden deficit of at least $5.6 billion. The Conservatives questioned Peters's methodology, and suggested that the McGuinty government was overstating the province's financial difficulties to break or delay some of its campaign spending promises.
The new government called the Legislature back in session in late 2003. The government brought in auto insurance reforms (including a price cap), rolled-back a series of corporate and personal tax cuts that had been scheduled for 2004, passed legislation that enshrined publicly-funded healthcare into provincial law, hired more meat and water inspectors, opened up the provincially-owned electricity companies to Freedom of Information laws and enacted a ban on partisan government advertising.
On May 18, 2004, Provincial Finance Minister Greg Sorbara
released the McGuinty government's first budget, the first year of a four year plan focused on tackling four deficits the Liberals claim the previous Tories left behind: the "health deficit", the "education deficit", the "infrastructure deficit" and the "fiscal deficit".
This budget was focused on health care. At its core was a large infusion of new money into hospitals specifically to shorten wait times in key areas: knee and hip replacements, cancer treatment, cardiac treatment, cataracts, and MRI and CT scans. The government also brought in free immunizations for children, 150 new Family Health Teams to improve access to physicians, almost 100,000 new home care spaces for Ontario's elderly, almost 4,000 new long-term care beds, and $200 million more to improve public health and fight potential outbreaks like SARS and West Nile Virus
.
To pay for this plan, the Liberals imposed a controversial new Health Premium of $300 to $900, staggered according to income. This violated a key Liberal campaign pledge not to raise taxes, and gave the government an early reputation for breaking promises. The Liberals defended the premium by arguing that the previous government had a hidden deficit, and McGuinty claimed he needed to break his campaign pledge on taxation to fulfill his promises on other fronts. His own finance critic of the time, Gerry Phillips
, had predicted that the Tories' projected balanced budget would in fact result in a $5 billion deficit in a meeting of the Standing Committee of Estimates of the Legislature
on June 3, 2003. Liberal MPP Monte Kwinter
also predicted a $5 billion deficit
As a result, the Liberals dropped badly in polls and McGuinty fell behind Ernie Eves in the category of preferred premier. The party later recovered in popular support, but the broken promise has created a lasting difficulty for McGuinty's administration.
The Ontario Health Premium also became a major issue in the early days of the 2004 federal election
, called a week after the Ontario budget. Many believe that the controversy hampered Liberal
Prime Minister
Paul Martin
's bid for re-election.
Also controversial was the elimination of coverage for health services not covered by the Canada Health Act including eye examinations and physical therapy. Other elements of the McGuinty government's first budget were a four-year plan to tackle the deficit, funding for 1,000 new teachers, a transfer of two cents of the existing gas tax to municipalities to help fund transit, and a three per cent increase to those on social assistance, the first increase in ten years.
Soon after the federal election, McGuinty attended a First Ministers' Meeting on health-care reform that resulted in a new agreement for a national health accord. This Accord saw the provinces receive new federal funding in exchange for providing reports on such things as waiting times for surgeries.
McGuinty's government ended the year by releasing "Progress Report 2004: Getting Results for Ontario". This work focused on health, education, and economic growth, and set targets to achieve before the next election (including reducing the high school drop out rate, increasing participation in post-secondary education and reducing wait times for specific medical procedures).
s, the government also moved to ban the dogs. Some Ontarians were critical of this issue since it was seen as moving the responsibility for safety away from owners and over toward the animals. People who owned pitbulls previous to the ban were allowed to keep them but they have to be muzzled in public and sterilized to prevent them from breeding. The "importing" and breeding of pitbulls in Ontario was banned, while all pitbulls being held in shelters were euthanized or sent to research facilities.
During early 2005, McGuinty called the Legislature back for a rare winter session to debate and pass several high-profile bills. The government legislated a "greenbelt"
around Toronto
. The size of Prince Edward Island, the Greenbelt protects a broad swath of land from development and preserves forests and farmland. In response to court decisions, the McGuinty Liberals updated legislation to reflect the change in the definition of marriage to include homosexual couples.
McGuinty also launched a campaign to narrow the so-called "$23 billion gap" between what Ontario contributes to the federal government and what is returned to Ontario in services. This came as a sharp turn after more than a year of cooperating with the federal government, but McGuinty pointed to the special deals worked out by the federal government with other provinces (Newfoundland and Labrador
and Nova Scotia
) as compromising the nature of equalization
. In particular, McGuinty noted that immigrants in Ontario receive $800 in support from the federal government, while those in Quebec receive $3,800.
Premier McGuinty and Prime Minister Paul Martin
debated the Ontario government's accusations throughout the spring of 2005. McGuinty and Martin finally met in May and, following a nine-hour meeting, McGuinty received a commitment for $5.75 billion, spread out over five years, including new money for immigrant settlement, training for the unemployed, federal delivery of meat inspection and corporate tax collection and per capita funding for post-secondary education.
In late April 2005, McGuinty announced the closure of the Lakeview coal-fired generating station, one of Ontario's largest polluters. Although the McGuinty government originally promised to close all coal-burning plants by 2007, Energy Minister Dwight Duncan
announced on June 14, 2005 that this was no longer possible, and that the that Nanticoke Coal Plant will not close until 2009.
On May 11, 2005, the McGuinty Liberals delivered their second budget, built around the "Reaching Higher" plan for education. The second year of the four year plan, this budget was designed to tackle to so-called "education deficit." Investing $6.2 billion over the next four years, the budget included the largest investment in higher education in forty years. It also increased accessibility for low-income students, expanded medical school spaces, and invested in new faculty, graduate scholarships and research. The budget also broke a previous promise to balance the budget in 2007–08. The government has instead aimed at balance in 2008–09.
The McGuinty Liberals also moved to expand infrastructure spending by encouraging Ontario's large pension plans to invest in the construction of new roads, schools and hospitals. Specific projects in the budget included a 10-year expansion of the Toronto Transit Commission
and GO Transit
, 15,000 new affordable housing units and improved border crossings. NDP leader Howard Hampton
described this move as "privatization by stealth".
During their second year in office, the McGuinty Liberals brought forward a series of successful negotiations with the province's unions.First, Health Minister George Smitherman
concluded an agreement with the province's doctors that included incentives to practice in family health teams or under-serviced communities. Education Minister Gerard Kennedy
established a province-wide negotiating framework with the province's teachers' unions with the result that most school boards settled their contracts without lost teaching time. Finally, Management Board Chair Gerry Phillips
closed a deal with the provincial government's own civil service union, the Ontario Public Sector Employees Union.
On June 22, 2005, Education Minister Gerard Kennedy announced that 90–95% of Ontario students between junior kindergarten and Grade Three will be in classes of twenty students or fewer by 2007. He also acknowledged that extenuating circumstances may require slightly larger classes in some cases. Opposition critic Frank Klees
accused the McGuinty government of breaking its promise to cap classroom sizes, but Kennedy responded that some flexibility is always necessary, and that any reasonable person would regard a 90–95% success rate as a promise kept.
Also in June 2005, two cabinet ministers in McGuinty's government came under scrutiny for alleged improprieties. Joseph Cordiano faced calls for his resignation after it was discovered that he billed $17,000 for personal expenses to his riding association. These expenses included meals in Paris
and Milan
, as well as theatre tickets in London
. Cordiano insisted that these expenses were related to riding activities, and refused to resign. McGuinty defended Cordiano in public, claiming he had "complete confidence" in the minister.
At around the same time, Minister of Transportation Harinder Takhar
was accused of a conflict-of-interest, after visiting a company that he owned in a blind trust. Takhar acknowledges that he made "an error in judgement", but denied any wrongdoing. Both Cordiano and Takhar were retained in their portfolios following a cabinet shuffle on June 29, 2005. The matter was sent to the provincial ethics commissioner who issued a ruling on January 4, 2006 that finding that Takhar had violated the province's integrity guidelines by not maintaining an arms length relationship with the trustee appointed to run his blind trust. McGuinty has defended his minister, and has rejected calls to remove him from cabinet, even after the Integrity Commissioner issued his finding.
In the same cabinet shuffle, Premier McGuinty withdrew from the Intergovernmental Affairs portfolio and became the province's first Minister of Research and Innovation
.
and his brothers - as part of the ongoing Royal Group Technologies
investigation. The warrant stated that there were reasonable grounds to believe Sorbara and other directors of Royal Group defrauded the company and shareholders when they bought land in Brampton, that was owned by a subsidiary of the Sorbara Group. Sorbara initially resisted opposition calls for him to step down, but later resigned as Minister of Finance the same day. Sorbara consistently denied any knowledge of the specific allegations against him, and launched legal action against the RCMP to either clarify their case against him or withdraw their investigation. Following Sorbara's resignation, Dwight Duncan
was appointed as Minister of Finance and Chair of the Management Board. Donna Cansfield
took over Duncan's responsibility as Minister of Energy and Jim Bradley as Government House Leader.
The next day, the McGuinty government put forward a throne speech in October reiterating their priorities of health, education and economic prosperity. The speech outlined plans to offer the first money-back guarantee on a public service: a refund if you do not receive your birth certificate within 15 days of applying on-line.
On November 18, 2005, it was announced that Ontario's Drive Clean
emissions program was to be expanded rather than scrapped.
The 2006 budget was the third year of the four-year plan, and focused on the "infrastructure deficit." The centrepiece was MoveOntario, a $1.2 billion investment in transportation infrastructure. $400 million was invested to build and repair roads and bridges in municipalities across Ontario.
On May 18, 2006, a judge agreed with Greg Sorbara's contention that the RCMP had erred in including his name in the search warrant. In striking Sorbara's name from the warrant, Justice Ian Nordheimer of the Ontario Superior Court said there were inadequate grounds for police to include him in the first place. The judge was particularly scathing in his review of the RCMP probe of Sorbara. On May 23, 2006, Sorbara was reinstated as Minister of Finance, while Duncan returned to the Energy portfolio.
On August 17, 2006, Foreign Direct Investment magazine (a British magazine owned by the Financial Times
)
named Dalton McGuinty "personality of the year" for encouraging investment in the auto sector, for developing a plan to increase energy production, and for promoting research and innovation.
announced the McGuinty government's twenty-year electricity plan, which committed to spending forty-six billion dollars on rebuilding all of the province's ageing reactors. The plan also made the McGuinty government the first Ontario government since the 1970s to commit to building new nuclear stations. The plan also pushed back again the schedule for closing Ontario's coal stations to 2014. In response to the government's announcement, Greenpeace activists occupied Energy Minister Dwight Duncan
's offices.
The day after the McGuinty government announced its long-term electricity plan the Globe and Mail published a front page story that the government had quietly passed a regulation to 'exempt' its energy plan from an environmental assessment.
The government's decision to exempt the government's electricity plan was criticized by some environmental organizations. In a press release, Greenpeace the David Suzuki
Foundation and the Pembina Institute noted that they had provided the government a legal opinion prepared by the Canadian Environmental Law Association, which concluded that the government's energy plan would be subject to the province's Environmental Assessment Act.
The McGuinty government's 2007 budget was criticized by Toronto mayor David Miller, who argued that the province was refusing to "pay its bills", and said that Toronto's budgetary problems were the result of $500 million in social service costs mandated by the provincial government. During a later discussion, provincial Finance Minister Greg Sorbara
declined to help the city to fix its $71 million shortfall, saying that "he doesn't have a mandate to fix this". Miller has since moved to have the city sue the province over the shortfall.
On July 26, 2007, McGuinty forced Mike Colle
to resign as Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, with his portfolio being taken over by Gerry Phillips who will also retain his current responsibilities as Minister of Government Services. Colle has been criticized for his role in giving out $32 million in government grants to immigrant and cultural groups without official applications or formal statements of purpose. In one case that the auditor general highlighted, the Ontario Cricket Association received $1 million when it asked for $150,000. Premier McGuinty agreed to commission a special report on the matter, to be released in July 2007. Colle was also to be investigated in committee before the Legislature was prorogued by the Premier. Some believe this was arranged to prevent his testimony from going public.
In late 2004, John Tory
was chosen to replace Ernie Eves as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
. A principal secretary to former PC Premier Bill Davis
, Tory was regarded as more moderate than Mike Harris
and the mostly rural MPPs who made up the majority of his caucus
. McGuinty's Liberals ran a candidate against Tory during the latter's successful bid to enter the legislature. Howard Hampton
continued to lead the NDP. Though Tory out-polled McGuinty in the category of preferred premier, the Liberals held a lead over the Progressive Conservatives, while the NDP held around 20% support.
In October 2006, the McGuinty Liberals held their last Annual General Meeting before the 2007 election. The event set in place several key elements of their reelection strategy. First, American political consultant James Carville
advised Liberal activists to stick to a simple message in the next election. Second, the party elected long-time activist Gord Pheneuf as the new president. Finally, Premier McGuinty laid out the theme of the next campaign: standing up for Ontario families.
On October 10, 2007, McGuinty and his Ontario Liberal party won a consecutive majority government in the 39th general provincial election
. The last Liberal Party Premier to achieve such success was Mitchell Hepburn
during the 1930s.
announced plans to harmonize
Ontario's retail sales tax with the federal Goods and Services Tax
, and reduce corporate and personal taxes.
On March 31, 2009, McGuinty admitted to considering of the removal of the minimum wage increase at 2010 from $9.25, to $10.25 as a mistake after the reactions that he received from the opposition and anti-poverty activists.
There was criticism of McGuinty and calls for Health Minister David Caplan
to resign after it was revealed that eHealth Ontario
CEO Sarah Kramer had approved about $4.8 million in no-bid contracts during the first four months of the agency's operation, while also spending, argued that the McGuinty government spent five years and $647 million on the Smart Systems for Health Agency, which used 15 per cent of its $225-million annual budget on consultants despite employing 166 people with annual salaries exceeding $100000, before the project was shut down and restarted as eHealth Ontario. Premier Dalton McGuinty said he was concerned about eHealth's spending information and said that he would act upon the auditor general's report. McGuinty and Caplan said that it was tough to recruit top experts to build a province wide electronic health records system. McGuinty and Caplan promised an independent review of eHealth, outside of the auditor general's probe, however it was revealed that the ministry and eHealth decided not to sign the contract to have PricewaterhouseCoopers conduct the review. The Liberals said that it would have duplicated the auditor general's work, while the opposition noted that Caplan had earlier suggested that the independent review had been underway. Documents obtained by the press showed that McGuinty intervened using an order in council to have Kramer hired as CEO, bypassing the competitive selection process, over the objections of officials in the Health Ministry who felt she was inexperienced. McGuinty said that he relied upon the advice of then-chairman of eHealth Dr. Alan Hudson and now described Kramer's hiring as a mistake.
Legislative Assembly of Ontario
The Legislative Assembly of Ontario , is the legislature of the Canadian province of Ontario, and is the second largest provincial legislature of Canada...
(born July 19, 1955) is a Canadian lawyer, politician and, since October 23, 2003, the 24th and current Premier
Premier of Ontario
The Premier of Ontario is the first Minister of the Crown for the Canadian province of Ontario. The Premier is appointed as the province's head of government by the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, and presides over the Executive council, or Cabinet. The Executive Council Act The Premier of Ontario...
of the Canadian province of Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
.
McGuinty is generally regarded as holding moderate views on economic issues, with his first budget raising personal taxes and planning to eliminate the province's tax on the capital of corporations. He holds liberal views on social issues, supporting abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
rights and same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage in Canada
On July 20, 2005, Canada became the fourth country in the world and the first country in the Americas to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide with the enactment of the Civil Marriage Act which provided a gender-neutral marriage definition...
.
First elected to the premiership in 2003, with his reelection in 2007 McGuinty became the first Ontario Liberal to serve two terms as premier since Mitchell Hepburn
Mitchell Hepburn
Mitchell Frederick Hepburn was the 11th Premier of Ontario, Canada, from 1934 to 1942. He was the youngest Premier in Ontario history, appointed at age 37....
nearly 70 years earlier. In 2011, he became the first Liberal premier to secure a third consecutive term since Sir Oliver Mowat, after successfully contending that year's provincial election.
Early life
McGuinty was born in OttawaOttawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
. His parents are politician and professor Dalton McGuinty, Sr.
Dalton McGuinty, Sr.
Dalton James Patrick McGuinty Sr. was a politician in Ontario, Canada.McGuinty served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as a Liberal from 1987 to 1990.-Early Years and Before politics:...
and full-time nurse Elizabeth McGuinty (née Pexton). Being the son of a Francophone
Francophone
The adjective francophone means French-speaking, typically as primary language, whether referring to individuals, groups, or places. Often, the word is used as a noun to describe a natively French-speaking person....
mother and an Anglophone
English Canadian
An English Canadian is a Canadian of English ancestry; it is used primarily in contrast with French Canadian. Canada is an officially bilingual state, with English and French official language communities. Immigrant cultural groups ostensibly integrate into one or both of these communities, but...
father, McGuinty is bilingual
Bilingualism in Canada
The official languages of Canada are English and French, which "have equality of status and equal rights and privileges as to their use in all institutions of the Parliament and Government of Canada" according to Canada's constitution...
. McGuinty is the second Roman Catholic to hold the premiership. He grew up in an Irish Canadian
Irish Canadian
Irish Canadian are immigrants and descendants of immigrants who originated in Ireland. 1.2 million Irish immigrants arrived, 1825 to 1970, at least half of those in the period from 1831-1850. By 1867, they were the second largest ethnic group , and comprised 24% of Canada's population...
family with nine brothers and sisters, with younger brother David
David McGuinty
David Joseph McGuinty, MP is a Canadian lawyer politician from Ontario, Canada. He is the Member of Parliament for the riding of Ottawa South and sits in the Canadian House of Commons as the Liberal Party of Canada's Critic for Natural Resources...
representing the riding of Ottawa South
Ottawa South
Ottawa South is a federal electoral district in Ottawa in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is represented in the Canadian House of Commons by David McGuinty, brother of Ontario Premier and Ottawa South MPP Dalton McGuinty. The riding was created in 1987 from parts of Ottawa—Vanier, Ottawa...
in the Canadian House of Commons
Canadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...
since 2004.
An alumnus of St. Patrick's High School
St. Patrick's High School (Ottawa)
St. Patrick's High School, located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, is a Catholic high school publicly funded under the Ontario school system as part of the Ottawa-Carleton Catholic School Board...
in Ottawa, he studied biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
and earned a B.Sc.
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
from McMaster University
McMaster University
McMaster University is a public research university whose main campus is located in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land in the residential neighbourhood of Westdale, adjacent to Hamilton's Royal Botanical Gardens...
. He then took his LL.B from the University of Ottawa
University of Ottawa
The University of Ottawa is a bilingual, research-intensive, non-denominational, international university in Ottawa, Ontario. It is one of the oldest universities in Canada. It was originally established as the College of Bytown in 1848 by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate...
before practising law in Ottawa.
Since 1980, he has been married to high school sweetheart Terri McGuinty, an elementary school teacher. The couple have one daughter and three sons.
Member of Provincial Parliament
His father, Dalton Sr., served as Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for Ottawa SouthOttawa South (provincial electoral district)
Ottawa South is a riding in the Canadian province of Ontario, in the city of Ottawa. It is represented in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by the Premier of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty....
until his death in 1990. Dalton Jr. won the Ontario Liberal Party
Ontario Liberal Party
The Ontario Liberal Party is a provincial political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. It has formed the Government of Ontario since the provincial election of 2003. The party is ideologically aligned with the Liberal Party of Canada but the two parties are organizationally independent and...
's nomination for Ottawa South for the provincial election of 1990
Ontario general election, 1990
The Ontario general election of 1990 was held on September 6, 1990, to elect members of the 35th Legislative Assembly of the province of Ontario, Canada....
, and was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario
Legislative Assembly of Ontario
The Legislative Assembly of Ontario , is the legislature of the Canadian province of Ontario, and is the second largest provincial legislature of Canada...
as the MPP for his father's former riding.
The Liberal government of David Peterson
David Peterson
David Robert Peterson, PC, O.Ont was the 20th Premier of the Province of Ontario, Canada, from June 26, 1985 to October 1, 1990. He was the first Liberal premier of Ontario in 42 years....
was unexpectedly defeated by the social democratic
Social democracy
Social democracy is a political ideology of the center-left on the political spectrum. Social democracy is officially a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. It supports class collaboration as the course to achieve socialism...
Ontario New Democratic Party
Ontario New Democratic Party
The Ontario New Democratic Party or , formally known as New Democratic Party of Ontario, is a social democratic political party in Ontario, Canada. It is a provincial section of the federal New Democratic Party. It was formed in October 1961, a few months after the federal party. The ONDP had its...
(NDP) in that election, and McGuinty was the only rookie Liberal MPP elected. In opposition, McGuinty served as the Liberal Party's critic for Energy, Environment and Colleges and Universities. He was re-elected in Ottawa South in the 1995 provincial election
Ontario general election, 1995
The Ontario general election of 1995 was held on June 8, 1995, to elect members of the 36th Legislative Assembly of the province of Ontario, Canada...
without much difficulty, which saw the Liberals maintain their status as the official opposition amid a provincial swing from the NDP to the Progressive Conservatives.
Provincial leadership
McGuinty's supporters in his 1996 leadership bid included John ManleyJohn Manley (politician)
John Paul Manley, PC, OC is a Canadian lawyer, businessman and politician. He served as Liberal Member of Parliament for Ottawa South from 1988 to 2004, and a Cabinet Minister from 1993 to 2003. He is presently President and CEO of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives.-Background:Manley was...
, Murray Elston
Murray Elston
Murray John Elston is an executive and former Canadian politician. He was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1981 to 1994, and was a prominent cabinet minister in the government of David Peterson...
, and Bob Chiarelli
Bob Chiarelli
Robert "Bob" Chiarelli is a Canadian politician. He served in the Ontario Legislative Assembly from 1987 to 1997, and was subsequently re-elected to the legislature in 2010 after serving as regional chair and mayor of Ottawa from 1997 to 2006...
. He was elected leader at the party's 1996 leadership convention
Ontario Liberal Party leadership convention, 1996
First Ballot :*KENNEDY, Gerard 770*CORDIANO, Joseph 557*DUNCAN, Dwight 464*McGUINTY, Dalton 450*GERRETSEN, John 152*CASTRILLI, Anna-Marie 141*KELLS, Greg 24...
in a surprise victory over front-runner Gerard Kennedy
Gerard Kennedy
Gerard Michael Kennedy is a Canadian politician in Ontario, Canada. He served as Ontario's Minister of Education from 2003 to 2006, when he resigned to make an unsuccessful bid for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada...
. McGuinty thus became the Leader of the Opposition
Leader of the Opposition (Ontario)
The Leader of the Opposition in Ontario is usually leader of the largest party in the Ontario legislature which is not the government. The current official opposition is formed by the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, and Tim Hudak is the current Leader of the Opposition.Ontario's first...
at Queen's Park.
Kennedy, a former head of Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
's Daily Bread
Daily Bread Food Bank
The Daily Bread Food Bank is a non-denominational Canadian charity organisation that strives to end hunger in urban communities. The organisation is based in Toronto, Ontario, and feeds thousands of low income people a year. They also provide valuable resources to the same demographic in order to...
food bank
Food bank
A food bank or foodbank is a non-profit, charitable organization that distributes mostly donated food to a wide variety of agencies that in turn feed the hungry. The largest sources of food are for-profit growers, manufacturers, distributors and retailers who in the normal course of business have...
, was popular on the progressive-wing of the party, while McGuinty built his core support on its establishment and pro-business right-wing which some nicknamed the "anything-but-Kennedy movement". McGuinty was fourth on the first and second ballots but he was not far behind third-place finisher Dwight Duncan
Dwight Duncan
Dwight Duncan, MPP is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He has been a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario since 1995, and is the Minister of Finance in the government of Dalton McGuinty...
. He then overtook Duncan and Joe Cordiano on the third and fourth ballots, respectively, receiving the support of their delegates to win a fifth ballot over Kennedy. McGuinty holds the distinction of being the only Canadian party leader to win his party's leadership after finishing fourth on the first ballot.
First term as opposition leader
McGuinty's first term in opposition was difficult. He was often criticized for lacking charisma and being uncomfortable in the media scrumMedia scrum
A media scrum is an impromptu press conference, often held immediately outside an event such as a legislative session or meeting. Scrums play a central role in Canadian politics and also occur in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand....
s, and was described as ineffective by the province's tabloid press. The governing Progressive Conservatives played up McGuinty's low profile by defining him as "not up to the job" in a series of television advertisements. His internal management of the Liberal Party was also criticized by some.
McGuinty's performance in the early weeks of the 1999 provincial election
Ontario general election, 1999
An Ontario general election was held on June 3, 1999, to elect members of the 37th Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, Canada....
was also widely criticized, and he was generally regarded as having performed poorly in the election's only leaders' debate. He was also criticized when, in response to a question by late CITY-TV
CITY-TV
CITY-DT, Channel 57 , is a television station based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada owned and operated by Rogers Media...
journalist Colin Vaughan
Colin Vaughan
Colin Vaughan was a television journalist, architect, urban activist and alderman serving the Canadian city of Toronto. He was best known as the political specialist for the Toronto television station Citytv from 1977 until his death...
, he described Mike Harris as a "thug".
McGuinty's Liberals nevertheless won support from many progressive voters who had previously supported the Ontario New Democratic Party
Ontario New Democratic Party
The Ontario New Democratic Party or , formally known as New Democratic Party of Ontario, is a social democratic political party in Ontario, Canada. It is a provincial section of the federal New Democratic Party. It was formed in October 1961, a few months after the federal party. The ONDP had its...
, but who hoped to defeat the governing Conservatives by strategic voting. The Progressive Conservative was re-elected Party were reelected, but McGuinty was able to rally his party in the election's closing days and drew 40% of the popular vote for the Liberals, the party's second-best performance in fifty years. The Liberal Party also increased its seat total in the Legislature from 30 to 36. McGuinty himself faced a surprisingly difficult re-election in Ottawa South, but defeated his Progressive Conservative opponent by about 3,000 votes.
Second term as opposition leader
McGuinty's second term as opposition leader was more successful than his first. With the Liberals consolidated as the primary opposition to Harris's Progressive Conservatives, McGuinty was able to present his party as the "government in waiting". He hired a more skilled group of advisors and drafted former cabinet minister Greg SorbaraGreg Sorbara
Gregory Sam "Greg" Sorbara, MPP a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario for Vaughan. Sorbara served as the Minister of Finance in the Ontario Liberal Party government of Premier Dalton McGuinty from 2003 to 2007.He resigned on October 11, 2005, following a police investigation involving...
as party president. McGuinty also rebuilt the party's fundraising operation, launching the Ontario Liberal Fund. In preparation for the 2003 election
Ontario general election, 2003
The Ontario general election of 2003 was held on October 2, 2003, to elect the 103 members of the 38th Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, Canada....
, the party adopted a platform that emphasized lowering class sizes in schools, hiring more nurses, increasing environmental protections, and "holding the line" on taxes. McGuinty also made an effort to improve his debating skills and received coaching from Democratic Party trainers in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
McGuinty's chances of forming government were improved by a number of controversies involving the governing PC Party, including the fallout over the shooting death of native protester Dudley George at Ipperwash, the deaths of seven people from tainted water in Walkerton
Walkerton, Ontario
Walkerton is a community in the Canadian province of Ontario, located within and governed by the municipality of Brockton. It is the site of Brockton's municipal offices and the county seat of Bruce County...
, and the decision to provide tax credits to parents who sent their children to private schools. Harris resigned in the fall of 2001, following the then-Premier's high profile testimony at the Walkerton Inquiry and the PC government's defeat in a by-election
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
in Vaughan—King—Aurora
Vaughan—King—Aurora
Vaughan—King—Aurora was a federal electoral riding in Ontario, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1997 to 2004, and was a provincial electoral riding represented in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1999 to 2007....
.
Harris's successor, Ernie Eves
Ernie Eves
Ernest Lawrence "Ernie" Eves was the 23rd Premier of the province of Ontario, Canada, from April 15, 2002, to October 23, 2003.-Beginnings:...
, received a short boost in the polls from his attempts to move the PC Party to the centre. However, Eves was never able to gain control of the political agenda, and appeared indecisive and reactive on issues ranging from electricity restructuring to taxes. In 2003, Eves reversed his move to the centre and campaigned on a right-wing agenda.
2003 election campaign
Northeast Blackout of 2003
The Northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage that occurred throughout parts of the Northeastern and Midwestern United States and Ontario, Canada on Thursday, August 14, 2003, just before 4:10 p.m....
gave Eves increased exposure and rallied some support for his party. He called an election immediately after the blackout, and polling showed that the previous Liberal lead had narrowed to a tie in the first week. The rise in Tory support was short-lived. The Liberals took a commanding lead in the campaign's second week, and remained in that position until election day.
Voters regarded the Progressive Conservative government as unnecessarily confrontational and divisive, and some of the Liberal Party's strength was based in a promise to change the combative tone of government. The Progressive Conservatives ultimately played into this strategy by running a series of negative advertisements against McGuinty throughout the campaign. However, they also undercut their own strategy by accidentally distributing a press release which described McGuinty as an "evil reptilian kitten-eater from another planet".
In contrast, Liberal Party's advertising remained positive, selling the merits of changing governments and arguing their preparedness for office. McGuinty undertook a series of choreographed events, including signing a taxpayer's protection pledge not to raise taxes, and appearing on the popular sports show "Off the Record", where he received an endorsement from Canadian Idol
Canadian Idol
Canadian Idol is a Canadian reality television competition show which aired on CTV, based on the British show Pop Idol. The show was a competition to find the most talented young singer in Canada, and was hosted by Ben Mulroney. Jon Dore was the "roving reporter" for the first three seasons...
winner Ryan Malcolm
Ryan Malcolm
Ryan Michael Malcolm is a Canadian singer best known as the winner of the first season of Canadian Idol....
. At the same time, caucus members like George Smitherman
George Smitherman
George Smitherman is a Canadian politician and broadcaster. He represented the provincial riding of Toronto Centre in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1999 to 2010, when he resigned to contest the mayoralty of Toronto in the 2010 municipal election...
carried the party's negative message in critiquing the PC Party record.
McGuinty was able to maintain his party's standing in the polls in the last stages, preventing Eves from making up ground during the leader's debate. On election day, the Liberal were elected to a majority government
Majority government
A majority government is when the governing party has an absolute majority of seats in the legislature or parliament in a parliamentary system. This is as opposed to a minority government, where even the largest party wins only a plurality of seats and thus must constantly bargain for support from...
, winning 72 of the Ontario Legislature's 103 seats. The PC Party fell to 24 seats, while the NDP lost official party status in the legislature. (It regained that status a few months later by winning a by-election.)
Following the election, the McGuinty government asked former Provincial Auditor Erik Peters
Erik Peters
Erik Peters, F.C.A., served as Auditor General of Ontario between 1993 and 2003.-References:* *...
to examine the province's finances. Peters revealed that the out-going Conservative administration had left a hidden deficit of at least $5.6 billion. The Conservatives questioned Peters's methodology, and suggested that the McGuinty government was overstating the province's financial difficulties to break or delay some of its campaign spending promises.
First year
McGuinty formally took office as Premier and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs on October 23, 2003.The new government called the Legislature back in session in late 2003. The government brought in auto insurance reforms (including a price cap), rolled-back a series of corporate and personal tax cuts that had been scheduled for 2004, passed legislation that enshrined publicly-funded healthcare into provincial law, hired more meat and water inspectors, opened up the provincially-owned electricity companies to Freedom of Information laws and enacted a ban on partisan government advertising.
On May 18, 2004, Provincial Finance Minister Greg Sorbara
Greg Sorbara
Gregory Sam "Greg" Sorbara, MPP a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario for Vaughan. Sorbara served as the Minister of Finance in the Ontario Liberal Party government of Premier Dalton McGuinty from 2003 to 2007.He resigned on October 11, 2005, following a police investigation involving...
released the McGuinty government's first budget, the first year of a four year plan focused on tackling four deficits the Liberals claim the previous Tories left behind: the "health deficit", the "education deficit", the "infrastructure deficit" and the "fiscal deficit".
This budget was focused on health care. At its core was a large infusion of new money into hospitals specifically to shorten wait times in key areas: knee and hip replacements, cancer treatment, cardiac treatment, cataracts, and MRI and CT scans. The government also brought in free immunizations for children, 150 new Family Health Teams to improve access to physicians, almost 100,000 new home care spaces for Ontario's elderly, almost 4,000 new long-term care beds, and $200 million more to improve public health and fight potential outbreaks like SARS and West Nile Virus
West Nile virus
West Nile virus is a virus of the family Flaviviridae. Part of the Japanese encephalitis antigenic complex of viruses, it is found in both tropical and temperate regions. It mainly infects birds, but is known to infect humans, horses, dogs, cats, bats, chipmunks, skunks, squirrels, domestic...
.
To pay for this plan, the Liberals imposed a controversial new Health Premium of $300 to $900, staggered according to income. This violated a key Liberal campaign pledge not to raise taxes, and gave the government an early reputation for breaking promises. The Liberals defended the premium by arguing that the previous government had a hidden deficit, and McGuinty claimed he needed to break his campaign pledge on taxation to fulfill his promises on other fronts. His own finance critic of the time, Gerry Phillips
Gerry Phillips
Gerry Phillips was a politician in the riding of Scarborough—Agincourt which is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was a member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament, and served as a senior minister in the governments of Premier's Dalton McGuinty and David Peterson.-Early life:Phillips was...
, had predicted that the Tories' projected balanced budget would in fact result in a $5 billion deficit in a meeting of the Standing Committee of Estimates of the Legislature
Legislative Assembly of Ontario
The Legislative Assembly of Ontario , is the legislature of the Canadian province of Ontario, and is the second largest provincial legislature of Canada...
on June 3, 2003. Liberal MPP Monte Kwinter
Monte Kwinter
Monte Kwinter is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He has been a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario since 1985, was a cabinet minister in the government of David Peterson from 1985 to 1990, and was re-appointed to a cabinet position when the Liberals returned to power under Dalton...
also predicted a $5 billion deficit
As a result, the Liberals dropped badly in polls and McGuinty fell behind Ernie Eves in the category of preferred premier. The party later recovered in popular support, but the broken promise has created a lasting difficulty for McGuinty's administration.
The Ontario Health Premium also became a major issue in the early days of the 2004 federal election
Canadian federal election, 2004
The Canadian federal election, 2004 , was held on June 28, 2004 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 38th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal government of Prime Minister Paul Martin lost its majority, but was able to form a minority government after the elections...
, called a week after the Ontario budget. Many believe that the controversy hampered Liberal
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
Paul Martin
Paul Martin
Paul Edgar Philippe Martin, PC , also known as Paul Martin, Jr. is a Canadian politician who was the 21st Prime Minister of Canada, as well as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada....
's bid for re-election.
Also controversial was the elimination of coverage for health services not covered by the Canada Health Act including eye examinations and physical therapy. Other elements of the McGuinty government's first budget were a four-year plan to tackle the deficit, funding for 1,000 new teachers, a transfer of two cents of the existing gas tax to municipalities to help fund transit, and a three per cent increase to those on social assistance, the first increase in ten years.
Soon after the federal election, McGuinty attended a First Ministers' Meeting on health-care reform that resulted in a new agreement for a national health accord. This Accord saw the provinces receive new federal funding in exchange for providing reports on such things as waiting times for surgeries.
McGuinty's government ended the year by releasing "Progress Report 2004: Getting Results for Ontario". This work focused on health, education, and economic growth, and set targets to achieve before the next election (including reducing the high school drop out rate, increasing participation in post-secondary education and reducing wait times for specific medical procedures).
Second year
The McGuinty government brought forward a number of initiatives in the fall of 2004. These included legislation allowing restaurant patrons to bring their own wine, banning junk food in public schools, outlawing smoking in public places, and requiring students to stay in school until age 18. Following a series of high-profile maulings by pit bullPit bull
A Pit bull is any of several breeds of dog in the molosser breed group.Many jurisdictions that restrict pit bulls, including Ontario, Canada,, Miami, Florida, U.S...
s, the government also moved to ban the dogs. Some Ontarians were critical of this issue since it was seen as moving the responsibility for safety away from owners and over toward the animals. People who owned pitbulls previous to the ban were allowed to keep them but they have to be muzzled in public and sterilized to prevent them from breeding. The "importing" and breeding of pitbulls in Ontario was banned, while all pitbulls being held in shelters were euthanized or sent to research facilities.
During early 2005, McGuinty called the Legislature back for a rare winter session to debate and pass several high-profile bills. The government legislated a "greenbelt"
Greenbelt (Golden Horseshoe)
The Greenbelt is a permanently protected area of green space, farmland, forests, wetlands, and watersheds, located in Southern Ontario, Canada. It surrounds a significant portion of Canada's most populated and fastest-growing area - The Golden Horseshoe....
around Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
. The size of Prince Edward Island, the Greenbelt protects a broad swath of land from development and preserves forests and farmland. In response to court decisions, the McGuinty Liberals updated legislation to reflect the change in the definition of marriage to include homosexual couples.
McGuinty also launched a campaign to narrow the so-called "$23 billion gap" between what Ontario contributes to the federal government and what is returned to Ontario in services. This came as a sharp turn after more than a year of cooperating with the federal government, but McGuinty pointed to the special deals worked out by the federal government with other provinces (Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...
and Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
) as compromising the nature of equalization
Equalization payments in Canada
In Canada, the federal government makes equalization payments to less wealthy Canadian provinces to equalize the provinces' "fiscal capacity" — their ability to generate tax revenues. A province that does not receive equalization payments is often referred to as "have province", while those...
. In particular, McGuinty noted that immigrants in Ontario receive $800 in support from the federal government, while those in Quebec receive $3,800.
Premier McGuinty and Prime Minister Paul Martin
Paul Martin
Paul Edgar Philippe Martin, PC , also known as Paul Martin, Jr. is a Canadian politician who was the 21st Prime Minister of Canada, as well as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada....
debated the Ontario government's accusations throughout the spring of 2005. McGuinty and Martin finally met in May and, following a nine-hour meeting, McGuinty received a commitment for $5.75 billion, spread out over five years, including new money for immigrant settlement, training for the unemployed, federal delivery of meat inspection and corporate tax collection and per capita funding for post-secondary education.
In late April 2005, McGuinty announced the closure of the Lakeview coal-fired generating station, one of Ontario's largest polluters. Although the McGuinty government originally promised to close all coal-burning plants by 2007, Energy Minister Dwight Duncan
Dwight Duncan
Dwight Duncan, MPP is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He has been a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario since 1995, and is the Minister of Finance in the government of Dalton McGuinty...
announced on June 14, 2005 that this was no longer possible, and that the that Nanticoke Coal Plant will not close until 2009.
On May 11, 2005, the McGuinty Liberals delivered their second budget, built around the "Reaching Higher" plan for education. The second year of the four year plan, this budget was designed to tackle to so-called "education deficit." Investing $6.2 billion over the next four years, the budget included the largest investment in higher education in forty years. It also increased accessibility for low-income students, expanded medical school spaces, and invested in new faculty, graduate scholarships and research. The budget also broke a previous promise to balance the budget in 2007–08. The government has instead aimed at balance in 2008–09.
The McGuinty Liberals also moved to expand infrastructure spending by encouraging Ontario's large pension plans to invest in the construction of new roads, schools and hospitals. Specific projects in the budget included a 10-year expansion of the Toronto Transit Commission
Toronto Transit Commission
-Island Ferry:The ferry service to the Toronto Islands was operated by the TTC from 1927 until 1962, when it was transferred to the Metro Parks and Culture department. Since 1998, the ferry service is run by Toronto Parks and Recreation.-Gray Coach:...
and GO Transit
GO Transit
GO Transit is an inter-regional public transit system in Southern Ontario, Canada. It primarily serves the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area conurbation, with operations extending to several communities beyond the GTHA proper in the Greater Golden Horseshoe...
, 15,000 new affordable housing units and improved border crossings. NDP leader Howard Hampton
Howard Hampton
Howard George Hampton, MPP is a Canadian lawyer and politician. He has served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, Canada, since 1987 as the Member of Provincial Parliament from the northern riding of Kenora—Rainy River. A member of the Ontario New Democratic Party, he was also the party's...
described this move as "privatization by stealth".
During their second year in office, the McGuinty Liberals brought forward a series of successful negotiations with the province's unions.First, Health Minister George Smitherman
George Smitherman
George Smitherman is a Canadian politician and broadcaster. He represented the provincial riding of Toronto Centre in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1999 to 2010, when he resigned to contest the mayoralty of Toronto in the 2010 municipal election...
concluded an agreement with the province's doctors that included incentives to practice in family health teams or under-serviced communities. Education Minister Gerard Kennedy
Gerard Kennedy
Gerard Michael Kennedy is a Canadian politician in Ontario, Canada. He served as Ontario's Minister of Education from 2003 to 2006, when he resigned to make an unsuccessful bid for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada...
established a province-wide negotiating framework with the province's teachers' unions with the result that most school boards settled their contracts without lost teaching time. Finally, Management Board Chair Gerry Phillips
Gerry Phillips
Gerry Phillips was a politician in the riding of Scarborough—Agincourt which is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was a member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament, and served as a senior minister in the governments of Premier's Dalton McGuinty and David Peterson.-Early life:Phillips was...
closed a deal with the provincial government's own civil service union, the Ontario Public Sector Employees Union.
On June 22, 2005, Education Minister Gerard Kennedy announced that 90–95% of Ontario students between junior kindergarten and Grade Three will be in classes of twenty students or fewer by 2007. He also acknowledged that extenuating circumstances may require slightly larger classes in some cases. Opposition critic Frank Klees
Frank Klees
Frank Klees is a Canadian politician and the Progressive Conservative member of Provincial Parliament for the riding of Newmarket—Aurora north of Toronto. He was a candidate in the 2009 Progressive Conservative leadership election placing second behind victor Tim Hudak.-Early life:Klees was born...
accused the McGuinty government of breaking its promise to cap classroom sizes, but Kennedy responded that some flexibility is always necessary, and that any reasonable person would regard a 90–95% success rate as a promise kept.
Also in June 2005, two cabinet ministers in McGuinty's government came under scrutiny for alleged improprieties. Joseph Cordiano faced calls for his resignation after it was discovered that he billed $17,000 for personal expenses to his riding association. These expenses included meals in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, as well as theatre tickets in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. Cordiano insisted that these expenses were related to riding activities, and refused to resign. McGuinty defended Cordiano in public, claiming he had "complete confidence" in the minister.
At around the same time, Minister of Transportation Harinder Takhar
Harinder Takhar
Harinder Jeet Singh Takhar is a politician in Ontario, Canada. Takhar was born to a Sikh family in the Indian state of Punjab, with a background in farming and civil service work. He moved to Canada in 1974, and arrived in Mississauga, Ontario in 1977...
was accused of a conflict-of-interest, after visiting a company that he owned in a blind trust. Takhar acknowledges that he made "an error in judgement", but denied any wrongdoing. Both Cordiano and Takhar were retained in their portfolios following a cabinet shuffle on June 29, 2005. The matter was sent to the provincial ethics commissioner who issued a ruling on January 4, 2006 that finding that Takhar had violated the province's integrity guidelines by not maintaining an arms length relationship with the trustee appointed to run his blind trust. McGuinty has defended his minister, and has rejected calls to remove him from cabinet, even after the Integrity Commissioner issued his finding.
In the same cabinet shuffle, Premier McGuinty withdrew from the Intergovernmental Affairs portfolio and became the province's first Minister of Research and Innovation
Minister of Research and Innovation (Ontario)
The Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation is a government ministry of the Province of Ontario. The current minister is Glen Murray.-History:...
.
Third year
On October 11, 2005, police raided the Sorbara Group offices - owned by Greg SorbaraGreg Sorbara
Gregory Sam "Greg" Sorbara, MPP a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario for Vaughan. Sorbara served as the Minister of Finance in the Ontario Liberal Party government of Premier Dalton McGuinty from 2003 to 2007.He resigned on October 11, 2005, following a police investigation involving...
and his brothers - as part of the ongoing Royal Group Technologies
Royal Group Technologies
Royal Group Technologies is a large Canadian building supplies maker and plastics company. Based in Woodbridge, Ontario it also has operations in much of Latin America and in Poland and China. In the 2000s it was plagued by scandals and financial loses....
investigation. The warrant stated that there were reasonable grounds to believe Sorbara and other directors of Royal Group defrauded the company and shareholders when they bought land in Brampton, that was owned by a subsidiary of the Sorbara Group. Sorbara initially resisted opposition calls for him to step down, but later resigned as Minister of Finance the same day. Sorbara consistently denied any knowledge of the specific allegations against him, and launched legal action against the RCMP to either clarify their case against him or withdraw their investigation. Following Sorbara's resignation, Dwight Duncan
Dwight Duncan
Dwight Duncan, MPP is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He has been a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario since 1995, and is the Minister of Finance in the government of Dalton McGuinty...
was appointed as Minister of Finance and Chair of the Management Board. Donna Cansfield
Donna Cansfield
Donna H. Cansfield, is a politician in Ontario, Canada, who has represented the riding of Etobicoke Centre in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario since 2003...
took over Duncan's responsibility as Minister of Energy and Jim Bradley as Government House Leader.
The next day, the McGuinty government put forward a throne speech in October reiterating their priorities of health, education and economic prosperity. The speech outlined plans to offer the first money-back guarantee on a public service: a refund if you do not receive your birth certificate within 15 days of applying on-line.
On November 18, 2005, it was announced that Ontario's Drive Clean
Ontario's Drive Clean
Ontario's Drive Clean is an automobile emissions control program in Ontario, Canada. It applies only to vehicles in the program coverage areas, which are largely the lower half of Ontario, from Windsor in Southwestern Ontario to Ottawa in Eastern Ontario. It is unlikely it will be expanded to...
emissions program was to be expanded rather than scrapped.
The 2006 budget was the third year of the four-year plan, and focused on the "infrastructure deficit." The centrepiece was MoveOntario, a $1.2 billion investment in transportation infrastructure. $400 million was invested to build and repair roads and bridges in municipalities across Ontario.
On May 18, 2006, a judge agreed with Greg Sorbara's contention that the RCMP had erred in including his name in the search warrant. In striking Sorbara's name from the warrant, Justice Ian Nordheimer of the Ontario Superior Court said there were inadequate grounds for police to include him in the first place. The judge was particularly scathing in his review of the RCMP probe of Sorbara. On May 23, 2006, Sorbara was reinstated as Minister of Finance, while Duncan returned to the Energy portfolio.
On August 17, 2006, Foreign Direct Investment magazine (a British magazine owned by the Financial Times
Financial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
)
named Dalton McGuinty "personality of the year" for encouraging investment in the auto sector, for developing a plan to increase energy production, and for promoting research and innovation.
Fourth year
On June 14, 2006, Energy Minister Dwight DuncanDwight Duncan
Dwight Duncan, MPP is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He has been a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario since 1995, and is the Minister of Finance in the government of Dalton McGuinty...
announced the McGuinty government's twenty-year electricity plan, which committed to spending forty-six billion dollars on rebuilding all of the province's ageing reactors. The plan also made the McGuinty government the first Ontario government since the 1970s to commit to building new nuclear stations. The plan also pushed back again the schedule for closing Ontario's coal stations to 2014. In response to the government's announcement, Greenpeace activists occupied Energy Minister Dwight Duncan
Dwight Duncan
Dwight Duncan, MPP is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He has been a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario since 1995, and is the Minister of Finance in the government of Dalton McGuinty...
's offices.
The day after the McGuinty government announced its long-term electricity plan the Globe and Mail published a front page story that the government had quietly passed a regulation to 'exempt' its energy plan from an environmental assessment.
The government's decision to exempt the government's electricity plan was criticized by some environmental organizations. In a press release, Greenpeace the David Suzuki
David Suzuki
David Suzuki, CC, OBC is a Canadian academic, science broadcaster and environmental activist. Suzuki earned a Ph.D in zoology from the University of Chicago in 1961, and was a professor in the genetics department of the University of British Columbia from 1963 until his retirement in 2001...
Foundation and the Pembina Institute noted that they had provided the government a legal opinion prepared by the Canadian Environmental Law Association, which concluded that the government's energy plan would be subject to the province's Environmental Assessment Act.
The McGuinty government's 2007 budget was criticized by Toronto mayor David Miller, who argued that the province was refusing to "pay its bills", and said that Toronto's budgetary problems were the result of $500 million in social service costs mandated by the provincial government. During a later discussion, provincial Finance Minister Greg Sorbara
Greg Sorbara
Gregory Sam "Greg" Sorbara, MPP a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario for Vaughan. Sorbara served as the Minister of Finance in the Ontario Liberal Party government of Premier Dalton McGuinty from 2003 to 2007.He resigned on October 11, 2005, following a police investigation involving...
declined to help the city to fix its $71 million shortfall, saying that "he doesn't have a mandate to fix this". Miller has since moved to have the city sue the province over the shortfall.
On July 26, 2007, McGuinty forced Mike Colle
Mike Colle
Michael Colle is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He is a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, representing the riding of Eglinton—Lawrence for the Ontario Liberal Party.-Background:...
to resign as Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, with his portfolio being taken over by Gerry Phillips who will also retain his current responsibilities as Minister of Government Services. Colle has been criticized for his role in giving out $32 million in government grants to immigrant and cultural groups without official applications or formal statements of purpose. In one case that the auditor general highlighted, the Ontario Cricket Association received $1 million when it asked for $150,000. Premier McGuinty agreed to commission a special report on the matter, to be released in July 2007. Colle was also to be investigated in committee before the Legislature was prorogued by the Premier. Some believe this was arranged to prevent his testimony from going public.
2007 re-election
John Tory
John Howard Tory is a Canadian businessman, political activist, former leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, former Member of Provincial Parliament and broadcaster...
was chosen to replace Ernie Eves as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
The Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario , is a right-of-centre political party in Ontario, Canada. The party was known for many years as "Ontario's natural governing party." It has ruled the province for 80 of the years since Confederation, including an uninterrupted run from 1943 to 1985...
. A principal secretary to former PC Premier Bill Davis
Bill Davis
William Grenville "Bill" Davis, was the 18th Premier of Ontario, Canada, from 1971 to 1985. Davis was first elected as the MPP for Peel in the 1959 provincial election where he was a backbencher in Leslie Frost's government. Under John Robarts, he was a cabinet minister overseeing the education...
, Tory was regarded as more moderate than Mike Harris
Mike Harris
Michael Deane "Mike" Harris was the 22nd Premier of Ontario from June 26, 1995 to April 15, 2002. He is most noted for the "Common Sense Revolution", his Progressive Conservative government's program of deficit reduction in combination with lower taxes and cuts to government...
and the mostly rural MPPs who made up the majority of his caucus
Caucus
A caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a political party or movement, especially in the United States and Canada. As the use of the term has been expanded the exact definition has come to vary among political cultures.-Origin of the term:...
. McGuinty's Liberals ran a candidate against Tory during the latter's successful bid to enter the legislature. Howard Hampton
Howard Hampton
Howard George Hampton, MPP is a Canadian lawyer and politician. He has served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, Canada, since 1987 as the Member of Provincial Parliament from the northern riding of Kenora—Rainy River. A member of the Ontario New Democratic Party, he was also the party's...
continued to lead the NDP. Though Tory out-polled McGuinty in the category of preferred premier, the Liberals held a lead over the Progressive Conservatives, while the NDP held around 20% support.
In October 2006, the McGuinty Liberals held their last Annual General Meeting before the 2007 election. The event set in place several key elements of their reelection strategy. First, American political consultant James Carville
James Carville
Chester James Carville, Jr. is an American political consultant, commentator, educator, actor, attorney, media personality, and prominent liberal pundit. Carville gained national attention for his work as the lead strategist of the successful presidential campaign of then-Arkansas governor Bill...
advised Liberal activists to stick to a simple message in the next election. Second, the party elected long-time activist Gord Pheneuf as the new president. Finally, Premier McGuinty laid out the theme of the next campaign: standing up for Ontario families.
On October 10, 2007, McGuinty and his Ontario Liberal party won a consecutive majority government in the 39th general provincial election
Ontario general election, 2007
The Ontario general election of 2007 was held on October 10, 2007 to elect members of the 39th Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, Canada. The Liberals under Dalton McGuinty won the election with a majority government, winning 71 out of a possible 107 seats with 42.2% of the popular...
. The last Liberal Party Premier to achieve such success was Mitchell Hepburn
Mitchell Hepburn
Mitchell Frederick Hepburn was the 11th Premier of Ontario, Canada, from 1934 to 1942. He was the youngest Premier in Ontario history, appointed at age 37....
during the 1930s.
Second term (2007–2011)
The 2009 Ontario Budget contained significant tax policy changes: McGuinty's Minister of Finance Dwight DuncanDwight Duncan
Dwight Duncan, MPP is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He has been a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario since 1995, and is the Minister of Finance in the government of Dalton McGuinty...
announced plans to harmonize
Harmonized Sales Tax
The Harmonized Sales Tax is the name used in Canada to describe the combination of the federal Goods and Services Tax and the regional Provincial Sales Tax into a single value added sales tax in five of the ten Canadian provinces: Ontario, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, British...
Ontario's retail sales tax with the federal Goods and Services Tax
Goods and Services Tax (Canada)
The Goods and Services Tax is a multi-level value added tax introduced in Canada on January 1, 1991, by then Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and his finance minister Michael Wilson. The GST replaced a hidden 13.5% Manufacturers' Sales Tax ; Mulroney claimed the GST was implemented because the MST...
, and reduce corporate and personal taxes.
On March 31, 2009, McGuinty admitted to considering of the removal of the minimum wage increase at 2010 from $9.25, to $10.25 as a mistake after the reactions that he received from the opposition and anti-poverty activists.
There was criticism of McGuinty and calls for Health Minister David Caplan
David Caplan
David Caplan is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He is a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, and was a cabinet minister in the government of Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty...
to resign after it was revealed that eHealth Ontario
EHealth
eHealth is a relatively recent term for healthcare practice supported by electronic processes and communication, dating back to at least 1999...
CEO Sarah Kramer had approved about $4.8 million in no-bid contracts during the first four months of the agency's operation, while also spending, argued that the McGuinty government spent five years and $647 million on the Smart Systems for Health Agency, which used 15 per cent of its $225-million annual budget on consultants despite employing 166 people with annual salaries exceeding $100000, before the project was shut down and restarted as eHealth Ontario. Premier Dalton McGuinty said he was concerned about eHealth's spending information and said that he would act upon the auditor general's report. McGuinty and Caplan said that it was tough to recruit top experts to build a province wide electronic health records system. McGuinty and Caplan promised an independent review of eHealth, outside of the auditor general's probe, however it was revealed that the ministry and eHealth decided not to sign the contract to have PricewaterhouseCoopers conduct the review. The Liberals said that it would have duplicated the auditor general's work, while the opposition noted that Caplan had earlier suggested that the independent review had been underway. Documents obtained by the press showed that McGuinty intervened using an order in council to have Kramer hired as CEO, bypassing the competitive selection process, over the objections of officials in the Health Ministry who felt she was inexperienced. McGuinty said that he relied upon the advice of then-chairman of eHealth Dr. Alan Hudson and now described Kramer's hiring as a mistake.
2011 re-election
On October 6, 2011, McGuinty was reelected for a third term as premier, though he lost his majority status. Only winning 53 of the 107 legislative seats, the Liberals were one seat short of a majority.Third term (2011–present)
Now that Ontario has returned to a minority government after decades of majorities, the political landscape has changed significantly. The governing Liberals will be required to work with the other parties to move forward with legislation and avoid losing a non-confidence motion. McGuinty promised not to form a coalition with any other party if elected in a minority, so it appears that he will govern by attracting support from from opposition MPPs on a bill-by-bill basis.See also
- Executive Council of OntarioExecutive Council of OntarioThe Executive Council of Ontario plays an important role in theGovernment of Ontario, in accordance with the Westminster system....
for a list of McGuinty's current cabinet. - Harmonized Sales TaxHarmonized Sales TaxThe Harmonized Sales Tax is the name used in Canada to describe the combination of the federal Goods and Services Tax and the regional Provincial Sales Tax into a single value added sales tax in five of the ten Canadian provinces: Ontario, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, British...