Stephen Blais MPP
Stephen Blais in 2017
Member of theOntario Provincial Parliament forOrléans
Incumbent
Assumed office February 27, 2020
Preceded by	Marie-France Lalonde
Ottawa City Councillor
In office December 1, 2010 – March 5, 2020
Preceded by	Rob Jellett
Succeeded by	Catherine Kitts
Constituency	Cumberland Ward
Ottawa-Carleton Catholic School Board Trustee
In office December 1, 2006 – November 30, 2010
Preceded by	Des Curley
Succeeded by	Brian Coburn
Constituency	Zone 3 (Orléans & Cumberland)
Personal details
Born	(1980-07-20)July 20, 1980 (age 44) Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Political party	Ontario Liberal Party
Spouse	Marta Blais
Awards	2013 Francophile de l'année - ACFO[1] 2013 Orléans Chamber of Commerce Community Service Business of the Year[2]
Website	https://www.stephenblais.ca

Stephen Christopher Leonard Blais^[3]MPP (born July 20, 1980) is a Canadian politician who has served as themember of Provincial Parliament (MPP) forOrléans since February 27, 2020.

Before being elected to theLegislative Assembly of Ontario, he was theOttawa City Councillor forCumberland Ward. He won the ward in the2010 Ottawa municipal election, defeating the incumbentRob Jellett. He was re-elected in the2014 and2018 municipal elections.

Blais was born at theGrace Hospital inOttawa to Stephen and Debbie Blais (née Kane)^[3] and grew up in theQueenswood Heights neighbourhood ofOrléans in the formerCumberland Township. Upon graduating fromSt. Peter Catholic High School, he attended theUniversity of Ottawa to pursue a bachelor's degree in political science.^[4][5] Following university, he served as Executive Assistant toJim Watson while Watson served in the Ontario Cabinet. Blais later moved toCarleton University where he worked as a media and communications advisor.^[6]

Prior to being elected as a councillor, Blais served as anOttawa Catholic School Board Trustee for Orléans-Cumberland. He was first elected as a Trustee in2006 when he defeated the incumbent.^[7][8]

As part of his election campaign, Blais promised to donate the pay raise trustees voted for themselves.^[9] In 2006, Blais endowed a bursary atCarleton University for high school students from Orleans, Ontario.^[10]

In 2010, Blais was elected the city councillor forCumberland Ward, defeating the two-term incumbent,Rob Jellett.^[8] In his first term, he secured an environmental assessment for the proposed wideningHighway 174 and pushed to extendLight Rail Transit to Orléans.^[11]

In 2011, Blais successfully spearheaded a campaign to ban smoking on outdoor patios in Ottawa.^[12][13]

In 2013, Blais proposed that Ontario should re-upload Highway 174 and if not, allow the City of Ottawa to introduce a toll on out-of-town users to help pay for the much needed widening of the highway with the addition of a dedicated bus lane to Rockland.^[14] Ottawa City Council received a direction to pursue the uploading of Highway 174 and if not, to designate it as a toll highway under Subsection 40(2) of theMunicipal Act, 2001 if Council so chooses in the future.^[15] The idea was well received by residents of Orléans.^[16]

In his first term of office, Blais announced a plan to partner with the local homebuilding industry to complete an $8 million expansion ofMillennium Park.^[17]

In 2014, Blais was named Chair of the City of Ottawa Transit Commission. The Transit Commission is the body charged with oversight of the City's public transit providerOC Transpo.^[18]

Blais was re-elected in the2014 and2018 municipal elections.^[19]

In October 2019, Blais announced that he would be seeking theLiberal nomination for theprovincial riding ofOrléans, which had been left vacant whenMarie-France Lalonde stepped down to run for the federalLiberal Party.^[20] He won the nomination on November 9.^[21] Blais won the February 27 by-election with 55 per cent of the vote, defeating his nearest rival,Progressive Conservative candidate Natalie Montgomery, by more than 8,000 votes.^[22] This is the largest majority in Orléans in more than 30 years.^[23]

Blais has served as the Ontario Liberal critic for several areas:^[24]

• Caucus Chair
• Municipal Affairs and Housing
• Education
• Economic Development and Trade

As of July 7, 2024, he serves as the Liberal Party critic for Infrastructure and Municipalities and as the critic for Labour and Skills Training.

In 2021, Blais introduced a private member's bill,Uploading Highways 174 and 17 Act, 2021, to return Highway 174 andHighway 17 back to provincial jurisdiction. The two highways had been downloaded to the municipal governments in the 1990s.^[25][26]

He was re-elected in the2022 Ontario election.^[27]

Blais and his wife Marta have one son. They live in theChaperal neighbourhood.^[28]

On January 7, 2013, while working out at a local gym, Blais suffered a heart attack. He was initially treated atMontfort Hospital before being transferred to theUniversity of Ottawa Heart Institute.^[12] Blais spent four months in hospital recovering.^[29]

• 1980 births
• Living people
• Canadian Roman Catholics
• Franco-Ontarian people
• Ontario Liberal Party MPPs
• Ontario school board trustees
• Ottawa city councillors
• University of Ottawa alumni
• 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario

• CS1 French-language sources (fr)
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use Canadian English from January 2023
• All Wikipedia articles written in Canadian English
• Use mdy dates from March 2020
• Pages using Template:Post-nominals with missing parameters