Leona Dombrowsky is a politician in 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....

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. She was a member of 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...

 representing the riding of Prince Edward—Hastings

Prince Edward—Hastings (provincial electoral district)

Prince Edward—Hastings is a provincial electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario since 1999. Its population in 2006 was 113,227.-History:...

, and was a cabinet minister in the government of 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...

 Dalton McGuinty

Dalton McGuinty

Dalton James Patrick McGuinty, Jr., MPP is a Canadian lawyer, politician and, since October 23, 2003, the 24th and current Premier of the Canadian province of Ontario....

.

Dombrowsky was born in Belleville, Ontario

Belleville, Ontario

Belleville is a city located at the mouth of the Moira River on the Bay of Quinte in Southern Ontario, Canada, in the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. It is the seat of Hastings County, but is politically independent of it. and the centre of the Bay of Quinte Region...

 and received a Bachelor of Arts

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 degree from the University of Toronto

University of Toronto

The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...

 in 1979. She was elected as a Catholic School trustee on the Hastings-Prince Edward Separate School Board in 1985, and served as its Chair from 1991 to 1996. In 1998, she was elected to the amalgamated Algonquin-Lakeshore Catholic District School Board. She was also a Director of the Ontario Catholic Trustees Association during this period, and served on the Tweed Parks & Recreation Committee from 1991 to 1997.

Dombrowsky was first elected to the Ontario legislature in the provincial election of 1999

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....

, as a Liberal in the rural riding of Hastings—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington

Hastings—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington

Hastings—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington was a federal and provincial electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1984 to 2003, and in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1999 to 2007.-Description:...

 (which surrounds the city of Kingston, Ontario

Kingston, Ontario

Kingston, Ontario is a Canadian city located in Eastern Ontario where the St. Lawrence River flows out of Lake Ontario. Originally a First Nations settlement called "Katarowki," , growing European exploration in the 17th Century made it an important trading post...

). Her victory was regarded by many as an upset; she defeated incumbent Progressive Conservative

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...

 Harry Danford

Harry Danford

Harry Danford is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1995 to 1999....

 by about 2000 votes. The election was won by the Progressive Conservatives; despite her lack of experience, Dombrowsky soon emerged as a prominent voice in the opposition benches, serving as Official Opposition Critic for Community, Family and Children's Services and Deputy House Leader.

The Liberals won the provincial election of 2003

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....

, and Dombrowsky was re-elected by HFLA by about 8000 votes over her Progressive Conservative opponent. On October 23, 2003, she was appointed Minister of the Environment. In this capacity, she was responsible for overseeing changes to the province's water supply system (the safety of which was called into question after a tragic outbreak of e-coli in Walkerton, Ontario

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...

). Dombrowsky's ministry hired more full-time water inspectors and also called for the phasing out of coal-fired electrical generating plants

Fossil fuel power plant

A fossil-fuel power station is a power station that burns fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas or petroleum to produce electricity. Central station fossil-fuel power plants are designed on a large scale for continuous operation...

.

Dombrowsky's appointment was regarded as a surprise, as it had been widely expected that Jim Bradley would be given the Environment portfolio (which he had held during the 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....

). Dombrowsky had few if any "green" credentials at the time of her appointment, and some believed that her appointment signified a reluctance on the party of the McGuinty government to undertake major environmental reforms.

On June 29, 2005 Dombrowsky became Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. On January 18, 2010, Dombrowsky was named Ontario Minister of Education.

On October 6, 2011, Dombrowsky lost her provincial seat to Progressive Conservative Todd Smith.

Electoral record

|-

|Todd Smith
|align="right"|18,732
|align="right"|42.1%
|align="right"|
|-

|Leona Dombrowsky
|align="right"|15,688
|align="right"|35.3%
|align="right"|
|-

|Sherry Hayes
|align="right"|7,400
|align="right"|16.6%
|align="right"|
|-

|Treat Hull
|align="right"|2,044
|align="right"|4.6%
|align="right"|

|Neal Ford
|align="right"|260
|align="right"|0.6%
|align="right"|
|-

|Andrew Skinner
|align="right"|209
|align="right"|0.5%
|align="right"|
|-

|align=left|Republican

Republican Party of Ontario

The People First Republican Party of Ontario is a minor political party in Ontario, Canada, registered by Elections Ontario in 2004 as the Republican Party of Ontario. It nominated two candidates in the 2007 provincial election...

|Trueman Tuck
|align="right"|115
|align="right"|0.3%
|align="right"|
|-
|}

|-

|Leona Dombrowsky
|align="right"|20,982
|align="right"|46.4%
|align="right"|
|-

|Eric DenOuden
|align="right"|14,823
|align="right"|32.8%
|align="right"|
|-

|Jodie Jenkins
|align="right"|6,249
|align="right"|13.8%
|align="right"|
|-

|Jim Arkilander
|align="right"|2,660
|align="right"|5.9%
|align="right"|

|Vito Luceno
|align="right"|384
|align="right"|0.9%
|align="right"|
|-

|align=left|Republican

Republican Party of Ontario

The People First Republican Party of Ontario is a minor political party in Ontario, Canada, registered by Elections Ontario in 2004 as the Republican Party of Ontario. It nominated two candidates in the 2007 provincial election...

|Trueman Tuck
|align="right"|167
|align="right"|0.4%
|align="right"|
|-
|}


|-

|Leona Dombrowsky
|align="right"|21,548
|align="right"|51.89
|align="right"|+5.15
|-

|Barry F. Gordon
|align="right"|13,709
|align="right"|33.01
|align="right"|-9.51
|-

|Ross Sutherland
|align="right"|4,286
|align="right"|10.32
|align="right"|+3.43
|-

|Adam Scott
|align="right"|1,311
|align="right"|3.16
|align="right"|+1.84
|-

|John-Henry Westen
|align="right"|673
|align="right"|1.62
|align="right"|+0.42
|}


|-

|Leona Dombrowsky
|align="right"|20,395
|align="right"|46.74
|-

|Harry Danford
|align="right"|18,553
|align="right"|42.52
|-

|Allan Mcphail
|align="right"|3,008
|align="right"|6.89
|-

|Cathy Vakil
|align="right"|576
|align="right"|1.32
|-

|John-henry Westen
|align="right"|524
|align="right"|1.2
|-

|Peter Leggat
|align="right"|382
|align="right"|0.88
|-

|Karl Walker
|align="right"|200
|align="right"|0.46
|}

External links