Leader of the Official Opposition
Chef de l'Opposition officielle
Incumbent Marit Stiles since February 4, 2023
Official Opposition Legislative Assembly of Ontario
Member of	Legislative Assembly of Ontario
Term length	While leader of the largest party not in government
Inaugural holder	Edward Blake
Formation	1869; 157 years ago (1869)
Salary	$244,207 (2025)[1]

Theleader of the Official Opposition (French:chef de l'Opposition officielle) is the leader of the largest political party in theLegislative Assembly of Ontario that is not ingovernment and is typically the second-largest party.^[2] The position is formally titled theleader of His Majesty's Loyal Opposition (French:chef de la loyale opposition de Sa Majesté); under theWestminster system, while theparliamentary opposition opposes the incumbent government, it remains loyal tothe Crown and thus to Canada.^[3]

Marit Stiles has served as the leader of the Official Opposition since February 4, 2023.^[4] She leads theNew Democratic Party (NDP), which has held the second largest number of seats in the Legislative Assembly since the2018 provincial election.

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Ontario's first Leader of the Official Opposition wasEdward Blake of theOntario Liberal Party who held the position from 1869 until 1871 when he becamePremier of Ontario (Archibald McKellar had previously led the Liberal Party in the legislature for two years, but was not formally recognized as opposition leader). Ten leaders were Premier before after they served this post.

• Archibald McKellar (Liberal) 1867-1869 was not formally recognized as opposition leader, but led the Liberal Party in the legislature.

¹ The Liberals were recognized as the Official Opposition following the1923 election by the governing Conservatives, despite the fact that theUnited Farmers of Ontario had more seats. According to historian Peter Oliver, this was an arbitrary decision without basis in precedent or law. Conservative PremierG. Howard Ferguson used as justification an announcement by UFO general secretaryJames J. Morrison that the UFO would be withdrawing from party politics, though Oliver argues that this was facetious logic. UFO parliamentary leaderManning Doherty protested the decision, but to no avail. (source: Peter Oliver,G. Howard Ferguson: Ontario Tory, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1977), p. 158.)

² From 1930, the Liberal Party was led byMitchell Hepburn, but Sinclair continued as Leader of the Opposition as Hepburn did not seek a seat in the legislature until the1934 general election which made him Premier.

³ Until 1954, the Liberals were led from outside the legislature byWalter Thomson with Oliver as acting Leader of the Opposition. Oliver led the party in his own right (for a second time) from 1954 until 1958.

⁴ Interim Liberal leader following the personal defeat of Wintermeyer in the1963 provincial election until Thompson's election as leader.

⁵ Interim Liberal leader of the party following the resignation of Stuart Smith.

⁶ Interim Liberal leader of the party following the personal defeat of Premier David Peterson in the1990 election.

⁷ Elston became interim Liberal leader when Nixon resigned from the legislature to accept a federal appointment. Elston stepped down in November when he decided to be a candidate at the Liberal leadership convention.

⁸ Interim Liberal leader between resignation of Elston and election of McLeod.

⁹John Tory was chosen as leader of theOntario Progressive Conservative Party on September 18, 2004, but did not hold a seat in the legislature. On September 28 the party announced thatBob Runciman would act as interim PC leader until Tory entered the legislature. Tory was elected to representDufferin—Peel—Wellington—Grey on March 17, 2005, and was sworn in as an MPP and leader of the opposition on March 29, 2005.

¹⁰ As Ontario PC leader John Tory did not win a seat in the2007 election, Runciman served as Leader of the Opposition in the legislature. (Tory had been running in theDon Valley West riding.) After spending more than a year outside the legislature, Tory sought a seat in the March 5, 2009 by-election inHaliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock.^[6] He lost this by-election, and thereafter resigned as party leader. Runciman served as interim party leader as well as opposition leader until Hudak was chosen as the party leadership convention.

¹¹ Wilson served as interim leader of the Progressive Conservative party following the resignation of Tim Hudak and continued to serve as Leader of the Opposition afterPatrick Brown became party leader on May 9, 2015, until September when Brown won a seat in the legislature through a by-election.^[7]

¹² Vic Fedeli was chosen interim leader of the PC Party by caucus on January 26, 2018, one day afterPatrick Brown resigned due to allegations of sexual misconduct. He continued to serve as Leader of the Opposition afterDoug Ford became party leader on March 10, 2018, as Ford did not have a seat in the legislature.

¹³ Peter Tabuns was chosen as interim leader by the NDP caucus on June 28, 2022, following the resignation ofAndrea Horwath.

• Politics of Ontario
• Leaders of the opposition of Canadian provinces and territories
• Official Opposition (Ontario)

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