Legislative Assembly of Ontario - Timeline of The 40th Parliament of Ontario

Timeline of The 40th Parliament of Ontario

• November 21, 2011 - Dave Levac (Liberal, Brant) is elected Speaker on the second ballot defeating three other candidates.
• November 22, 2011 - Speech from the Throne is delivered.
• March 29, 2012 - Finance Minister Dwight Duncan delivers the provincial budget.
• April 23, 2012 - After negotiations between the Liberals and the NDP, the minority government agrees to amend the budget by adding $242 million to child care funding, $20 million for northern and rural hospitals, increase welfare and disability benefits by 1 per cent at a cost of $55 million, and add and add a 2% surtax on the portion of individual income that exceeds $500,000 a year.
• April 24, 2012 - Budget approved 52-37 with NDP MPPs abstaining.
• April 27, 2012 - Progressive Conservative MPP Elizabeth Witmer (Kitchener—Waterloo) resigns her seat upon accepting a government appointment as chair of the Workplace Safety & Insurance Board. The vacancy results in the government and Opposition being tied in seats, however, as Speaker David Levac is a Liberal, the Opposition continues to have a one seat advantage. A Liberal victory in this pending by-election and in the pending Vaughan by-election would give it a majority in the legislature.
• August 1, 2012 - Liberal MPP Greg Sorbara (Vaughan) resigns his seat.
• September 6, 2012 - By-elections held in the ridings of Kitchener—Waterloo and Vaughan. Catherine Fife (NDP) elected as MPP for Kitchener—Waterloo. Steven Del Duca (Liberal) elected as MPP for Vaughan. The NDP gains one seat in the Ontario Legislature while the Liberals retain their 53-seat minority.
• October 15, 2012 - Premier McGuinty prorogues the legislature and announces his resignation as Liberal Party leader pending a leadership convention.