Dave Levac

David Joseph Levac OOnt (born April 6, 1954) is a retired Canadian politician who was the 41st speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2011 to 2018. Levac was elected to the Legislative Assembly in 1999 as a member of the Ontario Liberal Party. He served as the member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for Brant until 2018 and is the Ontario legislature's longest serving speaker.^[1]

Dave Levac OOnt
41st Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario
In office November 21, 2011 – July 11, 2018
Premier	Dalton McGuinty Kathleen Wynne
Lieutenant Governor	David Onley Elizabeth Dowdeswell
Preceded by	Steve Peters
Succeeded by	Ted Arnott
Member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament for Brant
In office June 3, 1999 – June 7, 2018
Preceded by	Ron Johnson
Succeeded by	Will Bouma
Personal details
Born	(1954-04-06) April 6, 1954 (age 70) Brantford, Ontario
Political party	Ontario Liberal
Residence(s)	Brantford, Ontario
Education	Wilfrid Laurier University (BA, 1976) Queen's University at Kingston (BEd, 1977) Niagara University (MSc, 1992)
Occupation	Teacher

Background

Born in Brantford, Ontario, Levac attended Wilfrid Laurier University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1976.^[2][3] He completed teacher's college at Queen's University in 1977,^[4] beginning to work a teacher in the early 1980s, and became a principal in Brantford in 1989.^[2] In 1992, he attended Niagara University to complete a master's degree in education.^[5] Levac received the Canada 125 Medal in 1993, was named OECTA Distinguished Teacher in 1994 for his work in conflict resolution programs, and was named Brantford's Citizen of the Year in 1997 by readers of the Brantford Expositor. He also served as co-ordinator of Queen Elizabeth II's Royal Visit to Brantford in 1997. He was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002.^[6] In 2011 he was awarded the Chevalier of the Order of Merit for his educational efforts with respect to the Ukrainian famine in the 1930s.^[7]

Political career

Levac was elected in the 1999 provincial election, defeating Progressive Conservative (PC) candidate Alayne Sokoloski by 956 votes in the riding of Brant.^[8] The PCs won a majority government in this election, and Levac sat as an opposition member for the next four years.

The Liberals won a majority government in the 2003 provincial election and Levac again defeated Sokoloski, this time by over 10,000 votes.^[9] Levac was named chief government whip. Levac was re-elected in 2007, 2011, and 2014.^[10][11][12]

On April 9, 2009 Levac, along with co-sponsors Cheri DiNovo and Frank Klees passed bill 147 – the Holodomor Memorial Day Act. This was the first piece of legislation in Ontario history to be introduced with tri-partisan sponsorship. This historic legislation recognizes Ukrainian man-made famine as an act of Genocide.^[7]

On January 25, 2010, Levac was named parliamentary assistant to the minister of energy and infrastructure.

After the 2011 election, Levac was elected Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. He beat three other Liberal members, David Zimmer, Kevin Flynn, and Donna Cansfield. Cansfield was an early favourite for the position but lost to Levac on a second ballot after the New Democratic Party (NDP) voted in a bloc for Levac. No NDP or PC members put their names forward due to the Liberal government's delicate one-seat minority status in the legislature.^[13][14] Levac was re-elected as speaker after the 2014 election defeating four other contenders.^[15]

On May 5, 2017, Levac announced he would not run for his seat again in the 2018 Ontario general election after 19 years in the legislature and seven of those years as speaker.^[16]

In 2022, Levac was appointed to the Order of Ontario.^[17][18][2]

Electoral record

2014 Ontario general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Dave Levac	19,346	37.14	+0.06
	Progressive Conservative	Phil Gillies	16,041	30.80	-3.85
	New Democratic	Alex Felsky	13,992	26.86	+2.66
	Green	Ken Burns	2,095	4.02	+1.92
	Libertarian	Rob Ferguson	374	0.72	+0.30
	Freedom	Brittni Mitchell	179	0.34	+0.04
	Pauper	John Turmel	61	0.12	-0.07
Total valid votes			52,088	100.00
	Liberal hold		Swing		+1.96
Source: Elections Ontario[12]

2011 Ontario general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Dave Levac	16,867	37.08	-12.10
	Progressive Conservative	Michael St. Amant	15,761	34.65	+5.77
	New Democratic	Brian Van Tilborg	11,006	24.20	+10.53
	Green	Ken Burns	957	2.10	-2.47
	Independent	Martin Sitko	244	0.54
	Family Coalition	Daniel Hockley	237	0.52	-0.32
	Libertarian	Rob Ferguson	190	0.42
	Freedom	Dustin Jenner	136	0.30
	Independent	John Turmel	86	0.19	-0.38
Total valid votes			45,484	100.00
Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots			195	0.43
Turnout			45,679	48.23
Eligible voters			94,717
	Liberal hold		Swing		-8.94
Source: Elections Ontario[11]

v t e 2007 Ontario general election: Brant
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Dave Levac	23,485	49.16	−2.93	$85,894
	Progressive Conservative	Dan McCreary	13,787	28.86	−3.44	$55,566
	New Democratic	Brian Van Tilborg	6,536	13.68	+1.70	$18,838
	Green	Ted Shelegy	3,272	6.85	–	$7,331
	Family Coalition	Rob Ferguson	403	0.84	–	$380
	Independent	John Turmel	289	0.60		$0
Total valid votes			47,772	100.00
Rejected, unmarked and declined ballots			349
Turnout			48,121	52.69
Electors on the lists			91,333

Note: Percentage changes are factored for redistribution. Sources: Official 2007 Poll by Poll Results and 2007 Annual Returns, Candidate and Constituency Associations, Elections Ontario.

v t e 2003 Ontario general election: Brant
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Dave Levac	24,236	54.55	–	$51,003
	Progressive Conservative	Alayne Sokoloski	13,618	30.65		$49,989
	New Democratic	David Noonan	5,262	11.84		$12,461
	Green	Mike Clancy	1,014	2.28	–	$1,012
	Independent	John Turmel	295	0.66		$0
Total valid votes			44,425	100.00
Rejected, unmarked and declined ballots			286
Turnout			44,711	56.14
Electors on the lists			79,647

Sources: Ontario Election Returns with Statistics from the Records (2003) and Financial Returns, Candidate and Constituency Associations (2003), Elections Ontario.

1999 Ontario general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Dave Levac	21,166	46.98	-
	Progressive Conservative	Alayne Sokoloski	20,210	44.86	-
	New Democratic	David Sharpe	2,889	6.41	-
	Independent	Graham Mcrae	495	1.1	-
	Natural Law	Eleanor T. Hyodo	294	0.65

References

1. @spaikin (6 March 2018). "How did I miss this? Last month, @davelevac became the longest-serving speaker in Ontario history: more than seven…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
2. "'Extraordinary citizen' appointed to Order of Ontario". brantfordexpositor. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
3. "Q&A: Bidding farewell to politics". Campus Magazine. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
4. "Two alumni named to Order of Ontario | Queen's Alumni". www.queensu.ca. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
5. "| Ontario College of Teachers". apps.oct.ca. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
6. "The Golden Jubilee Medal". The Governor General of Canada. 2002.
7. Ball, Vincent (January 24, 2011). "Levac made a Chevalier of the Ukrainian Order of Merit". Brantford Expositor. Archived from the original on December 5, 2014. Retrieved September 2, 2014.
8. "Summary of Valid Ballots by Candidate". Elections Ontario. 3 June 1999. ^{[permanent dead link]}
9. "Summary of Valid Ballots by Candidate". Elections Ontario. 2 October 2003. Archived from the original on 2 September 2014.
10. "Summary of Valid Ballots Cast for Each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. October 10, 2007. p. 2 (xi). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 7, 2009.
11. "Summary of Valid Ballots Cast for Each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. 6 October 2011. p. 2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 March 2013.
12. "General Election by District: Brant". Elections Ontario. June 12, 2014. Archived from the original on June 14, 2014.
13. "MPP Dave Levac elected Speaker". Toronto Star. 21 November 2011. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
14. Howlett, Karen (22 November 2011). "Ex-principal becomes Ontario Speaker: Dave Levac, who beat out three ...". The Globe and Mail. p. A11.
15. Babbage, Maria (2 July 2014). "Throne speech to lay out Liberals' long-term agenda, including pension plan". Toronto,, Ont.: The Canadian Press.
16. Benzie, Robert (5 May 2017). "Queen's Park speaker not seeking re-election". Toronto Star.
17. "The 2021 Appointees to the Order of Ontario". Ontario Newsroom. 4 November 2022. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
18. "Levac appointed to Order of Ontario". brantfordexpositor. Retrieved 5 December 2022.

External links

• Ontario Legislative Assembly parliamentary history