Legislative Assembly of Ontario

In 1885, after an unsuccessful design competition, Richard A. Waite, a British-born architect and panelist judging the submitted designs for a new Ontario Legislative Building, unveils his own plans - the provincial government rapidly accepts them.

A new Parliament Building for Upper Canada was completed over the foundation of the first structure. It only lasted four years - an overheated chimney flue started a fire that destroyed the building in 1824, leaving the Legislature to meet in various other locations at York.

Following the Charlottetown Conference, delegates from Canada and the Maritimes met again at Quebec City in October 1864 to continue discussions on a union between the two regions and the creation of a new country.

On September 11, 1860, Queen’s Park - future location of Ontario's Legislative Assembly - is opened officially as a public city park in Toronto by Edward, Prince of Wales, eldest son of Queen Victoria and the future King Edward VII. 

John Graves Simcoe was appointed the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada by the British Parliament after the passage of the Constitutional Act in 1791. He travelled to Canada the following year with his wife, Elizabeth, and one of three daughters.

With the passage of the Ontario Arboreal Emblem Act in 1984, the Eastern White Pine became the official tree of the province.

The First Session of the Legislature of the Province of Canada – composed of Canada West (now Ontario) and Canada East (now Quebec) opened in Kingston on June 14, 1841.

The Honourable Sir William Howard Hearst was Ontario’s 7th Premier – in office from 1914 to 1919. Succeeding James Whitney, Hearst governed the province during the First World War.

Following the War of 1812 and the destruction of Upper Canada’s first Legislative Building, meetings of the Legislature take place in several locations at York, including Jordan’s Hotel and the residence of the Chief Justice.

Interior renovations in the Legislative Building include the removal of carpeting throughout the main hallways to reveal the original oak floors, and a complete remodeling of the Chamber, turning the colour scheme there to green – the typical colour of a lower House in a Westminster-style parliam