Premier of Ontario

The premier of Ontario (premier ministre de l'Ontario) is the head of government of Ontario. Under the Westminster system, the premier governs with the confidence of a majority the elected Legislative Assembly; as such, the premier typically sits as a member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) and leads the largest party or a coalition of parties. As first minister, the premier selects ministers to form the Executive Council (provincial cabinet), and serves as its chair. Constitutionally, the Crown exercises executive power on the advice of the Executive Council, which is collectively responsible to the legislature. Doug Ford is the 26th and current premier of Ontario. He took office on June 29, 2018, following the 2018 Ontario election where his Progressive Conservative (PC) party won a majority of seats in the Ontario Legislature. The position of Ontario premier evolved from the role of Joint Premier of Canada for Canada West, with John Sandfield Macdonald, the second-last joint premier of Canada becoming the first prime minister of the province of Ontario, a position that later was renamed to "Premier". J.S. Macdonald was in office from 1867 to 1871. He was elected from the provincial riding of Cornwall in the first general election of 1867 for the new province of Ontario. In addition to serving as the premier, he was also the provincial attorney general. The longest-serving premier in Ontario history was Oliver Mowat, in office from 1872 to 1896. The position of premier was formerly written as "Prime Minister of Ontario" until the government of Bill Davis formally changed the title to premier. However, in French, the premier is still referred to as premier ministre, which translates to 'prime minister' in English. This is similar to the premier of Quebec, who is referred to as the premier ministre du Québec in French. Ontario political trends have been noted as running opposite to the trends of the federal government, with the premier and the prime minister usually coming from different types of parties.

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Premier of Ontario