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The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (also known as Ontario Legislative Assembly or Parliament of Ontario), is the legislature of the Canadian province of Ontario, and is the second largest provincial legislature of Canada by number of members. It meets at the Ontario Legislative Building at Queen's Park in the provincial capital, Toronto. The Legislative Assembly has existed since 1867 when the British North America Act, 1867 severed the Province of Canada into two new provinces, with the portion then called Canada West becoming Ontario. Section 69 of the British North America Act section 69 stipulates "There shall be a Legislature for Ontario consisting of the Lieutenant-Governor and of One House, styled the Legislative Assembly of Ontario". The Legislative Assembly is unicameral, without an upper house, with 107 seats representing electoral districts ("ridings") elected through a first-past-the-post electoral system across the province. Like the Canadian federal government, Ontario uses a Westminster-style parliamentary government, in which members are elected to the Legislative Assembly through general elections and from there the party with the most seats chooses a Premier of Ontario and Executive Council of Ontario. The premier acts as Ontario's head of government, while the Queen of Canada acts as its head of state. The leader of the party with the second-most seats in the House becomes the Leader of the Opposition. The Ontario Legislature is sometimes referred to as the "Ontario Provincial Parliament". Members of the assembly refer to themselves as "Members of the Provincial Parliament" (MPPs) as opposed to "Members of the Legislative Assembly" (MLAs) as in many other provinces. Ontario is the only province to do so, in accordance with a resolution passed in the Assembly on April 7, 1938. However, the Legislative Assembly Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. L10 refers only to "members of the Assembly". The current assembly was elected on June 12, 2014 as part of the 41st Parliament of Ontario. The first session of the 41st Parliament opened on July 2, 2014. On Friday May 2, 2014, the 40th Parliament of Ontario was dissolved by Lieutenant Governor David C. Onley on the advice of Premier Kathleen Wynne after the NDP and Progressive Conservative leaders said they would not support the Liberal minority government's budget.〔http://news.ontario.ca/opo/en/2014/05/ontario-election-on-june-12-2014.html〕 The election was held on June 12, 2014, as a result of which Kathleen Wynne's Liberal Party formed a majority government.〔http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario_election/2014/06/12/kathleen_wynnes_liberals_to_form_next_government.html〕 ==Lawmaking== In accordance with the traditions of the Westminster System, most laws originate with the cabinet (Government bills), and are passed by the legislature after stages of debate and decision-making. Ordinary Members of the Legislature may introduce privately (Private Members' Bills), play an integral role in scrutinizing bills in debate and committee and amending bills presented to the legislature by cabinet. Members are expected to be loyal to both their parliamentary party and to the interests of their constituents. In the Ontario legislature this confrontation provides much of the material for Oral Questions and Members' Statements. Legislative scrutiny of the executive is also at the heart of much of the work carried out by the Legislature's Standing Committees, which are made up of ordinary backbenchers. A Member's day will typically be divided among participating in the business of the House, attending caucus and committee meetings, speaking in various debates, or returning to his or her constituency to address the concerns, problems and grievances of constituents. Depending on personal inclination and political circumstances, some Members concentrate most of their attention on House matters while others focus on constituency problems, taking on something of an ombudsman's role in the process. Finally, it is the task of the legislature to provide the personnel of the executive. As already noted, under responsible government, ministers of the Crown are expected to be Members of the Assembly. When a political party comes to power it will usually place its more experienced parliamentarians into the key cabinet positions, where their parliamentary experience may be the best preparation for the rough and tumble of political life in government. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Legislative Assembly of Ontario」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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