List of premiers of Ontario

Below is a list of the premiers of the province of Ontario, Canada, since Confederation in 1867. Ontario uses a unicameral Westminster-style parliamentary government, in which the premier is the leader of the party that controls the most seats in the Legislative Assembly. The premier is Ontario's head of government. The premier picks a cabinet from the elected members to form the Executive Council of Ontario, and presides over that body.

Members are first elected to the legislature during general elections. General elections must be conducted every four years from the date of the last election. An election may also happen if the Governing party loses the confidence of the legislature, by the defeat of a supply bill or tabling of a confidence motion.

This article only covers the time since the Canadian Confederation was created in 1867. For the premiers of Canada West from 1840 to 1867, see List of joint premiers of the Province of Canada.

The 26th and current premier of Ontario is Doug Ford of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario since June 29, 2018.

Premiers of Ontario since 1867

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

No. Portrait Name
(Birth–Death)		 Term of office Electoral mandates (Assembly) Political party Riding Cabinet Ref.
1
John Sandfield Macdonald
(1812–1872)		 16 July
1867		 20 December
1871
  • Title created (caretaker government)
  • 1867 election (1st Parliament)
 Liberal–Conservative MLA for Cornwall   [1]
Macdonald led a Coalition between the Liberal-Conservative Party and the Liberal Party; was also an MP in the House of Commons until 1872.
2
Edward Blake
(1833–1912)		 20 December
1871		 25 October
1872
  • 1871 election (2nd Parliament)
 Liberal MLA for Bruce South   [2]
Resigned to lead the federal Liberal Party
3
Sir Oliver Mowat
(1820–1903)		 25 October
1872		 21 July
1896
  • Appointment (2nd Parliament)
  • 1875 election (3rd Parliament)
  • 1879 election (4th Parliament)
  • 1883 election (5th Parliament)
  • 1886 election (6th Parliament)
  • 1890 election (7th Parliament)
  • 1894 election (8th Parliament)
 Liberal MLA for Oxford North   [3]
Secured a large amount of power for the provinces through court battles with the federal government; introduced the secret ballot in elections and extended suffrage beyond property owners; created the municipal level of government; 1894 Ontario prohibition plebiscite
4
Arthur Sturgis Hardy
(1837–1901)		 21 July
1896		 21 October
1899
  • Appointment (8th Parliament)
  • 1898 election (9th Parliament)
 Liberal MLA for Brant South   [4]
5
Sir George William Ross
(1841–1914)		 21 October
1899		 8 February
1905
  • Appointment (9th Parliament)
  • 1902 election (10th Parliament)
 Liberal MLA for Middlesex West   [5]
Expanded libraries, kindergarten, and university grants; 1902 Ontario prohibition referendum
6
Sir James Whitney
(1843–1914)		 8 February
1905		 25 September
1914
  • 1905 election (11th Parliament)
  • 1908 election (12th Parliament)
  • 1911 election (13th Parliament)
  • 1914 election (14th Parliament)
 Conservative MLA for Dundas   [6]
Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario; Workmen's Compensation Act; temperance legislation; Regulation 17; Only Premier to die in office (1914).
7
Sir William Hearst
(1864–1941)		 2 October
1914		 14 November
1919
  • Appointment (14th Parliament)
 Conservative MLA for Sault Ste. Marie   [7]
Ontario Temperance Act; expanded workers injury compensation; allowed woman suffrage; 1919 Ontario prohibition referendum
8
Ernest Drury
(1878–1968)		 14 November
1919		 16 July
1923
  • 1919 election (15th Parliament)
 United Farmers MLA for Halton   [8]
Led a Coalition between the United Farmers party and the Labour MLAs; did not win a seat in the legislature until a 1920 by-election; created the first Department of Welfare; set a minimum wage for women; expanded Ontario Hydro; created the Province of Ontario Savings Office; began the first major reforestation program in North America; 1921 Ontario prohibition referendum
9
Howard Ferguson
(1870–1946)		 16 July
1923		 15 December
1930
  • 1923 election (16th Parliament)
  • 1926 election (17th Parliament)
  • 1929 election (18th Parliament)
 Conservative
(Ldr. 1920)		 MLA for Grenville   [9]
Relaxed Regulation 17; created the Liquor Control Board of Ontario; 1924 Ontario prohibition referendum
10
George Stewart Henry
(1871–1958)		 15 December
1930		 10 July
1934
  • Appointment (18th Parliament)
 Conservative MLA for York East   [10]
Expansion of highway system, including construction of the Queen Elizabeth Way
11
Mitchell Hepburn
(1896–1953)		 10 July
1934		 21 October
1942
  • 1934 election (19th Parliament)
  • 1937 election (20th Parliament)
 Liberal
(Ldr. 1930)		 MLA for Elgin (MPP after 1938)   [11]
Greatly cutting government spending; succession tax; compulsory milk pasteurization; relaxed temperance laws; made the Dionne Quintuplets wards of the state; unsuccessfully tried to break the first United Auto Workers strike against GM; conflict with PM Mackenzie King over conduct of WWII and conscription.
12
Gordon Daniel Conant
(1885–1953)		 21 October
1942		 18 May
1943
  • Appointment (20th Parliament)
 Liberal MPP for Ontario   [12]
"Appointed" premier by Liberal leader Mitchell Hepburn but forced to call and contest leadership convention due to caucus revolt, which he lost to Nixon.
13
Harry Nixon
(1891–1961)		 18 May
1943		 17 August
1943
  • Appointment (20th Parliament)
 Liberal
(Ldr. 1943)		 MPP for Brant   [13]
14
George A. Drew
(1894–1973)		 17 August
1943		 19 October
1948
  • 1943 election (21st Parliament)
  • 1945 election (22nd Parliament)
  • 1948 election (23rd Parliament)
 Progressive Conservative
(Ldr. 1938)		 MPP for High Park   ^α [14]
Began a 42-year Conservative dynasty; Drew Regulation; LeBel Royal Commission; joined Ontario to North American power grid, increased provincial share of Education spending; opened immigration offices in UK and arranged for cheap charter flights to bring 20,000 British immigrants to Ontario.
15
Thomas Laird Kennedy
(1878–1959)		 19 October
1948		 4 May
1949
  • Appointment (23rd Parliament)
 Progressive Conservative MPP for Peel   [15]
Interim premier between resignation of Drew and leadership convention to choose his successor.
16
Leslie Frost
(1895–1973)		 4 May
1949		 8 November
1961
  • Appointment (23rd Parliament)
  • 1951 election (24th Parliament)
  • 1955 election (25th Parliament)
  • 1959 election (26th Parliament)
 Progressive Conservative
(Ldr. 1949)		 MPP for Victoria   [16]
400-series highways; Provincial Sales Tax; public hospital insurance which would become OHIP; Expansion of universities; Fair Employment Practices Act and Fair Accommodation Practices Act and Ontario Human Rights Commission created; Voting rights for First Nations; Creation of Metropolitan Toronto and Toronto's first subway.
17
John Robarts
(1917–1982)		 8 November
1961		 1 March
1971
  • Appointment (26th Parliament)
  • 1963 election (27th Parliament)
  • 1967 election (28th Parliament)
 Progressive Conservative
(Ldr. 1961)		 MPP for London North   [17]
Ontario Human Rights Code; 1967 "Confederation of Tomorrow" conference; Ontario Housing Corporation created; French education in Ontario schools; Creation of Ontario Health Insurance Plan; Creation of community college system; Creation of TVOntario; Creation of GO Transit.
18
Bill Davis
(1929–2021)		 1 March
1971		 8 February
1985
  • Appointment (28th Parliament)
  • 1971 election (29th Parliament)
  • 1975 election (30th Parliament)
  • 1977 election (31st Parliament)
  • 1981 election (32nd Parliament)
 Progressive Conservative
(Ldr. 1971)		 MPP for Peel North
(1971-1975)
MPP for Brampton
(1975-1985)		   [18]
Spadina Expressway; rejected (1971) then later partly extended (1984); full funding to Ontario's Catholic high schools; expansion of health care and education; extension of Ontario Human Rights Code provisions; expansion of French-language services ; new regional governments; Rent controls; social housing expansion; Played a key role in patriation of the Canadian Constitution.
19
Frank Miller
(1927–2000)		 8 February
1985		 26 June
1985
  • Appointment (32nd Parliament)
  • 1985 election (33rd Parliament)
 Progressive Conservative
(Ldr. 1985)		 MPP for Muskoka   [19]
Lost a motion of no confidence immediately after the election and resigned power to the opposition party.
20
David Peterson
(b. 1943)		 26 June
1985		 1 October
1990
  • Appointment (33rd Parliament)
  • 1987 election (34th Parliament)
 Liberal
(Ldr. 1982)		 MPP for London Centre   [20]
Had the second-most seats in the 33rd assembly, but formed an accord with the New Democratic Party that would let the Liberal Party take power without forming an official coalition. Banned extra-billing by doctors and ended health insurance premiums. Reforms to rent laws, labour negotiation laws, pensions, environment; implemented extension of Catholic school funding to grade 13 announced by previous government; supported the Meech Lake Accord; Introduced no-fault auto insurance; Patti Starr scandal
21
Bob Rae
(b. 1948)		 1 October
1990		 26 June
1995
  • 1990 election (35th Parliament)
 New Democratic
(Ldr. 1982)		 MPP for York South Rae cabinet [21]
Social Contract and clash with unions; Rae days; Pay equity; Affirmative action; Strengthening of rent control; anti-scab legislation; Reserve status for North Ontario Aboriginals; Moratorium on new nuclear plants; Attempted to maintain ban on Sunday shopping before allowing it; Introduction of casinos; Attempted to bring in extension of spousal benefits for same-sex partners.
22
Mike Harris
(b. 1945)		 26 June
1995		 14 April
2002
  • 1995 election (36th Parliament)
  • 1999 election (37th Parliament)
 Progressive Conservative
(Ldr. 1990)		 MPP for Nipissing   [22]
Common Sense Revolution; 30% tax cut; 21% cut to social assistance rates; attempted to introduce Workfare; cancelled urban infrastructure projects including Eglinton subway; cut government spending; downloading of Ontario Housing to municipalities; provincial funding for municipal transit reduced; Telehealth Ontario created; division of Ontario Hydro; municipal amalgamations, including Amalgamation of Toronto; Elimination of OAC year (Grade 13) and re-introduction of standardized testing; privatization of Highway 407; Ipperwash Crisis; teacher strikes; $1B cut from Education; Walkerton Tragedy; Ontario's Drive Clean; hospital closures and health restructuring.
23
Ernie Eves
(b. 1946)		 15 April
2002		 22 October
2003
  • Appointment (37th Parliament)
 Progressive Conservative
(Ldr. 2002)		 MPP for Dufferin—Peel—Wellington—Grey   [23]
Kimberly Rogers and welfare reform; Possible sale of Hydro One and problem with hydro costs due to hot summers and 2003 North America blackout.
24
Dalton McGuinty
(b. 1955)		 23 October
2003		 11 February
2013
  • 2003 election (38th Parliament)
  • 2007 election (39th Parliament)
  • 2011 election (40th Parliament)
 Liberal
(Ldr. 1996)		 MPP for Ottawa South   [24][25][26]
Green Energy and Economy Act; Auto insurance reforms; Cancelled tax cuts; Increase in health spending and Health Premium tax; Transfer of gas tax to municipalities; Breed-specific legislation aka ban on/government-sanctioned euthanization of 'pit bulls' and dogs considered to resemble 'pit bulls'; Established the Greenbelt; Renegotiation of federal equalization; Expansion of Ontario's Drive Clean; full-day kindergarten; MoveOntario; eHealth Ontario scandal; Harmonized Sales Tax; Ontario power plant scandal. Decreased drinking while driving limit to 0.05 from 0.08. On October 15, 2012, unexpected announcement of resignation and prorogation of legislature.
25
Kathleen Wynne
(b. 1953)		 11 February
2013		 29 June
2018
  • Appointment (40th Parliament)
  • 2014 election (41st Parliament)
 Liberal
(Ldr. 2013)		 MPP for Don Valley West   [27][28][29][30]
First female Premier of Ontario, first openly gay premier in Canada; Ontario-Québec Relations (500 megawatts (MW) of peak electricity sharing); Public Sector and MPP Accountability and Transparency Act; The Great Lakes Protection Act; $30-billion investment into transportation across the province; privatization of Hydro One; allowed beer and wine to be sold in certain grocery stores; updated sex education in public schools; raised the minimum wage in Ontario to $14; created the OHIP+ program to provide prescription drugs free for youth under 25; conflicted with the Auditor General and Financial Accountability Office over budgeting. On June 7, 2018, led party to worst defeat of a governing party in Ontario history.
26
Doug Ford
(b. 1964)		 29 June
2018		 incumbent
  • 2018 election (42nd Parliament)
  • 2022 election (43rd Parliament)
 Progressive Conservative
(Ldr. 2018)		 MPP for Etobicoke North Ford cabinet [29][30]
Cancelled the provincial cap and trade system. Cut Toronto City Council from 47 to 25 wards. Buck a Beer.[31] Reduced the small business tax rate by 8.7%. Scrapped the 2015 sex-ed curriculum in favour of the 1998–2014 curriculum. Introduced free dental care for low-income seniors. Oversaw Ontario's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Cancelled passenger vehicle license plate renewal fees. Raised the provincial minimum wage to $15 per hour.
α Party won the election, but premier lost own seat.

Timeline of Ontario premiers
Mike HarrisBob RaeOliver Mowat

Living former premiers

As of August 2022, six former premiers are alive, the oldest being David Peterson (1985–1990, born 1943). The most recent former premier to die was Bill Davis (1971–1985), on August 8, 2021.

NameTermDate of birth
David Peterson 1985–1990 (1943-12-28) December 28, 1943
Bob Rae 1990–1995 (1948-08-02) August 2, 1948
Mike Harris 1995–2002 (1945-01-23) January 23, 1945
Ernie Eves 2002–2003 (1946-06-17) June 17, 1946
Dalton McGuinty 2003–2013 (1955-07-19) July 19, 1955
Kathleen Wynne 2013–2018 (1953-05-21) May 21, 1953

See also
  • Politics of Ontario
  • List of leaders of the opposition in Ontario
  • List of premiers of Ontario by time in office

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

Notes
  1. "John Sandfield Macdonald, MPP". Legislative Assembly website. Legislative Assembly on Ontario. Retrieved April 1, 2013.
  2. "Edward Blake, MPP". Legislative Assembly website. Legislative Assembly on Ontario. Retrieved April 1, 2013.
  3. "Oliver Mowat, MPP". Legislative Assembly website. Legislative Assembly on Ontario. Retrieved April 1, 2013.
  4. "Arthur Sturgis Hardy, MPP". Legislative Assembly website. Legislative Assembly on Ontario. Retrieved April 1, 2013.
  5. "George William Ross, MPP". Legislative Assembly website. Legislative Assembly on Ontario. Retrieved April 1, 2013.
  6. "James Pliny Whitney, MPP". Legislative Assembly website. Legislative Assembly on Ontario. Retrieved April 1, 2013.
  7. "William Howard Hearst, MPP". Legislative Assembly website. Legislative Assembly on Ontario. Retrieved April 1, 2013.
  8. "Ernest Charles Drury, MPP". Legislative Assembly website. Legislative Assembly on Ontario. Retrieved April 1, 2013.
  9. "George Howard Ferguson, MPP". Legislative Assembly website. Legislative Assembly on Ontario. Retrieved April 1, 2013.
  10. "George Stewart Henry, MPP". Legislative Assembly website. Legislative Assembly on Ontario. Retrieved April 1, 2013.
  11. "Mitchell Frederick Hepburn, MPP". Legislative Assembly website. Legislative Assembly on Ontario. Retrieved April 1, 2013.
  12. "Gordon Daniel Conant, MPP". Legislative Assembly website. Legislative Assembly on Ontario. Retrieved April 1, 2013.
  13. "Harry Corwin Nixon, MPP". Legislative Assembly website. Legislative Assembly on Ontario. Retrieved April 1, 2013.
  14. "George Alexander Drew, MPP". Legislative Assembly website. Legislative Assembly on Ontario. Retrieved April 1, 2013.
  15. "Thomas Laird Kennedy, MPP". Legislative Assembly website. Legislative Assembly on Ontario. Retrieved April 1, 2013.
  16. "Leslie Miscampbell Frost, MPP". Legislative Assembly website. Legislative Assembly on Ontario. Retrieved April 1, 2013.
  17. "John Parmenter Robarts, MPP". Legislative Assembly website. Legislative Assembly on Ontario. Retrieved April 1, 2013.
  18. "William Grenville Davis, MPP". Legislative Assembly website. Legislative Assembly on Ontario. Retrieved April 1, 2013.
  19. "Frank Stuart Miller, MPP". Legislative Assembly website. Legislative Assembly on Ontario. Retrieved April 1, 2013.
  20. "David Robert Peterson, MPP". Legislative Assembly website. Legislative Assembly on Ontario. Retrieved April 1, 2013.
  21. "Bob Keith Rae, MPP". Legislative Assembly website. Legislative Assembly on Ontario. Retrieved April 1, 2013.
  22. "Michael Harris, MPP". Legislative Assembly website. Legislative Assembly on Ontario. Retrieved April 1, 2013.
  23. "Ernie Eves, MPP". Legislative Assembly website. Legislative Assembly on Ontario. Retrieved April 1, 2013.
  24. "Dalton McGuinty, MPP". Legislative Assembly website. Legislative Assembly on Ontario. Retrieved April 1, 2013.
  25. "McGuinty Government Takes Office; Ready To Get To Work For All Ontarians". Office of the Premier of Ontario. October 23, 2003. Retrieved January 27, 2013.
  26. "Meeting with the Premier and Ms. Wynne". Office of the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario. Archived from the original on June 7, 2015. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
  27. "Kathleen Wynne, MPP". Legislative Assembly website. Legislative Assembly on Ontario. Retrieved April 1, 2013.
  28. "Jobs, Economy, a Fair Society: Priorities for New Ontario Government". Office of the Premier of Ontario. February 11, 2013. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
  29. "Doug Ford to Become Ontario's 26th Premier". Government of Ontario. Retrieved 8 June 2018.
  30. Denette, Nathan (8 June 2018). "Doug Ford has won Ontario's election. What happens now? A guide". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 8 June 2018.
  31. "Doug Ford delivers 'buck-a-beer', but corner stores will have to wait | The Star". thestar.com. The Star. Archived from the original on September 5, 2018. Retrieved September 5, 2018.

References
  • "Ontario". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  • Government of Ontario. "Historical Records". Past & Present MPPs. Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Archived from the original on 2007-03-16. Retrieved 2007-03-11.

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