The first meetings of the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada at York (now Toronto) took place in June, 1797. The Palace of Government – the name of the colony’s new Parliament Buildings – is the town’s first brick building, located on Front Street East.

Sir George William Ross became Ontario Premier in 1899 following the resignation of Arthur Hardy. Ross, the former long-serving Minister of Education (1883-1899), spearheaded the development of Northern Ontario during his term of office.

Queen Victoria, Britain’s second-longest reigning monarch and the namesake of Queen’s Park (the location of Ontario’s Legislative Building), passed away on January 22nd, 1901.

In use from 1868 to 1912, Government House was the official residence of Ontario's Lieutenant Governors - the representive of the Crown in Ontario.

After a third conference in London, England, in 1866, the British North America Act was passed by the British Parliament in March, 1867. It created the new nation of Canada under a federal government uniting four provinces - Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

In September, 1864, Canadian delegates met with their counterparts from the Maritime provinces at the Charlottetown Conference on Prince Edward Island with the goal of uniting to form a new country.

Originally from Dundee, Scotland, William Lyon Mackenzie moved to York in Upper Canada and established a newspaper called the “Colonial Advocate”. He used the paper to write about his opposition to the “Family Compact” – the ruling political elite in the colony.

The politics of Upper Canada during the 1820s & 1830s was controlled by a group of leaders referred to as the “Family Compact”. Members of this group included the Anglican Archdeacon of York, and later Bishop of Toronto, John Strachan.

Captured by American soldiers during the Battle of York in 1813, the first Mace of Upper Canada was displayed at the US Naval Academy Museum until it was returned to Ontario in 1934. It is currently on display at the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.

Following the 1985 general election that resulted in a minority Conservative government for Premier Frank Miller, Ontario’s Liberals - led by David Peterson - and the New Democratic Party – led by Bob Rae – agreed to form an accord in order to force the Conservatives from power.