David Joseph Levac (born April 6, 1954) is a retired Canadian politician who was the 41st
speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario
The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario (french: Président de l'Assemblée législative de l'Ontario) is the presiding officer of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.
Notable elections
1920
Nelson Parliament was a Liberal repre ...
from 2011 to 2018. Levac was elected to the
Legislative Assembly in 1999 as a member of the
Ontario Liberal Party
The Ontario Liberal Party (OLP; french: Parti libéral de l'Ontario, PLO) is a political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. The party has been led by interim leader John Fraser since August 2022.
The party espouses the principles of li ...
. He served as the
member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for
Brant until 2018 and is the Ontario legislature's longest serving speaker.
Background
Born in
Brantford
Brantford ( 2021 population: 104,688) is a city in Ontario, Canada, founded on the Grand River in Southwestern Ontario. It is surrounded by Brant County, but is politically separate with a municipal government of its own that is fully independ ...
,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
, Levac attended
Wilfrid Laurier University
Wilfrid Laurier University (commonly referred to as WLU or simply Laurier) is a public university in Ontario, Canada, with campuses in Waterloo, Brantford and Milton. The newer Brantford and Milton campuses are not considered satellite campuses ...
, where he earned a
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...
in 1976.
He completed teacher's college at
Queen's University in 1977, beginning to work a teacher in the early 1980s, and became a principal in Brantford in 1989.
In 1992, he attended
Niagara University to complete a master's degree in education. 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
The ''Brantford Expositor'' is an English language newspaper based in Brantford, Ontario and owned by Postmedia. It provides the readers with coverage of local news, sports and events to the community as well as coverage of provincial, national a ...
''. 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. 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.
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.
[ ] 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.
Levac was named
chief government whip
The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes.
United Kingdom
...
. Levac was re-elected in
2007,
2011, and
2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
.
On April 9, 2009 Levac, along with co-sponsors
Cheri DiNovo and
Frank Klees
Frank Klees (born March 6, 1951) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1995 to 2014. He was a cabinet minister in the governments of Mike Harris and Erni ...
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
Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Lat ...
.
[
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
The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario (french: Président de l'Assemblée législative de l'Ontario) is the presiding officer of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.
Notable elections
1920
Nelson Parliament was a Liberal repre ...
. 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. Levac was re-elected as speaker after the 2014 election defeating four other contenders.
On May 5, 2017, Levac announced he would not run for his seat again in the 2018 Ontario general election
The 2018 Ontario general election was held on June 7, 2018, to elect the 124 members of the 42nd Parliament of Ontario. The Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, led by Doug Ford, won 76 of the 124 seats in the legislature and formed a maj ...
after 19 years in the legislature and seven of those years as speaker.
In 2022, Levac was appointed to the Order of Ontario
The Order of Ontario () is the most prestigious official Award, honour in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. Instituted in 1986 by Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, Lieutenant Governor Lincoln Alexander, on the A ...
.
Electoral record
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Levac, Dave
1954 births
21st-century Canadian politicians
Heads of schools in Canada
Chevaliers of the Order of Merit (Ukraine)
Living people
Métis politicians
Niagara University alumni
Ontario Liberal Party MPPs
Politicians from Brantford
Speakers of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario