Published plans and annual reports 2021-2022: Office of the Lieutenant Governor

Overview

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, is Sovereign and head of state, represented in Ontario by the Lieutenant Governor. The Lieutenant Governor is empowered with the constitutional and representational responsibilities of the Crown in the province.

The Governor General-in-Council appoints the Lieutenant Governor, whose salary is paid by the federal government. The provincial government provides support to the Lieutenant Governor, with some limited financial resources for hospitality and travel also available from the federal government.

The Lieutenant Governor’s role consists of several key responsibilities including representing the Crown in Ontario, supporting community initiatives, recognizing excellence, and demonstrating public leadership.

Mandate

The Queen of Canada, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, is Sovereign and head of state, and is represented in Ontario by the Lieutenant Governor. The Lieutenant Governor is empowered with the constitutional and representational responsibilities of the Crown in the province.

In the constitutional role, the Lieutenant Governor represents The Queen, appoints as Premier the party leader having the confidence of the Legislative Assembly, swears in the Executive Council, outlines the government’s plans in the Speech from the Throne, provides the Royal Assent needed for bills to become law, approves Orders-in-Council and appointments recommended by Cabinet and summons, prorogues and dissolves the Legislature on the advice of the Premier.

In the representational and community role, the Lieutenant Governor represents the people of Ontario and acts as the province’s official host, welcoming royalty, heads of state, world leaders and members of the diplomatic corps.

The Lieutenant Governor promotes and highlights issues of continuing interest to vice-regal office holders, including the relationship between the Crown and Indigenous peoples, Canadian Forces, good citizenship, the arts and volunteerism. The Lieutenant Governor also promotes and emphasizes issues of personal interest, currently focused on sustainability, democracy and Ontario in the world.

Major functions

Representing the Crown in Ontario

Canada is a constitutional monarchy with The Queen as Sovereign and head of state. In Ontario, the Lieutenant Governor is The Queen’s representative while the Premier is the head of government. In Canada’s system of parliamentary democracy, the head of state (commonly called the Crown) holds supreme power on behalf of the people and lends it to be exercised by the government of the day.

Powers and responsibilities

In Ontario, the Lieutenant Governor exercises the powers of the Crown, which derive from the written constitution, constitutional conventions and statute law. These powers are similar to those of The Queen or Governor General with regard to Parliament and the federal government.

The Lieutenant Governor:

• Ensures that Ontario always has a Premier who commands the confidence of the Legislative Assembly
• Appoints members of the Executive Council (Cabinet ministers) on the advice of the Premier
• Reads the Speech from the Throne at the beginning of a parliamentary session
• Grants Royal Assent, the final step of the legislative process, to bills passed by the Legislative Assembly
• Summons, prorogues and dissolves the Legislature on the advice of the Premier
• Orders elections to the Legislative Assembly on the advice of Cabinet, in accordance with the Election Act
• Approves government business such as regulations and public appointments by signing Orders-in-Council on the advice of Cabinet

The Lieutenant Governor remains strictly nonpartisan in carrying out these constitutional duties. In doing so, the Lieutenant Governor ensures that the democratic will of Ontarians and their elected representatives is upheld and that the constitutional conventions of responsible government are respected.

Statistics

In 2020, the Lieutenant Governor approved 1,807 Orders-in-Council including 1 emergency declaration responding to the COVID-19 global pandemic.

• 72 proclamations (75% increase from 2019)
• 579 regulations (70% increase from 2019) including 1 emergency declaration
• 73 Great Seal letters patent and lease letters patent issued under the Public Lands Act
• 98 Great Seal letters patent under the Mining Act
• 1 swearing-in of the Minister of Finance
• 1 Parliamentary Assistant appointment
• 15 Deputy Minister appointments
• 14 Justice of the Peace appointments
• 30 Provincial Judges’ appointments

The Lieutenant Governor granted Royal Assent 16 times to a total of 51 bills.

Diplomatic engagement

The Lieutenant Governor met in-person and virtually with 16 members of the diplomatic corps throughout 2020-21.

1. Ambassador of Côte d’Ivoire to Canada
2. Chief Representative of the Palestinian General Delegation to Canada
3. Consul General of the US in Toronto
4. Consul General of South Africa in Toronto
5. Honorary Consul General of Lebanon in Toronto
6. Consul General of Bulgaria in Toronto
7. Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Canada
8. Ambassador of Lithuania to Canada
9. Ambassador of Haiti to Canada
10. Consul General of Japan in Toronto
11. Ambassador of the Philippines to Canada
12. Ambassador of Vietnam to Canada
13. Consul General of the United Kingdom in Toronto
14. Consul General of Columbia in Toronto
15. High Commissioner of India to Canada
16. Consul General of Jamaica in Toronto

Administrator

In the event that the Lieutenant Governor is absent, ill or unable to act, the Administrator of the Government of Ontario may execute the office and functions of Lieutenant Governor.

In December 2017, the Governor General-in-Council approved an order-in-council appointing the Chief Justice of Ontario and other judges of the courts of Ontario, in order of seniority, to act as Administrator.

Honouring achievement

As the Crown’s representative, the Lieutenant Governor plays an important role in recognizing Ontarians through the honours system. Honours and awards strengthen the fabric of Ontario’s communities and shape the aspirations of Ontarians. They are a way to formally and publicly acknowledge the excellence, achievements and contributions of role models from all walks of life.

During presentation ceremonies throughout the year, the Lieutenant Governor takes great pride in recognizing people who have made a difference to their communities.

As Chancellor of the Order of Ontario, the Lieutenant Governor presides over the annual investiture of new members. The Lieutenant Governor also serves as honorary chair of the Ontario Honours Advisory Council and presides annually at the presentation ceremonies of Ontario’s several medal programs:

• Ontario Medal for Good Citizenship
• Ontario Medal for Young Volunteers
• Ontario Medal for Firefighter Bravery
• Ontario Medal for Police Bravery

The Lieutenant Governor also presents Ontario’s official awards:

• Ontario Senior Achievement Award
• Lincoln M. Alexander Award (for efforts to eradicate racial discrimination)
• James Bartleman Indigenous Youth Creative Writing Award
• Hilary M. Weston Scholarship (for graduate level social work students in the area of mental health)
• David C. Onley Award for Leadership in Accessibility

Successive Lieutenant Governors have created awards programs in partnership with independent organizations to recognize achievements in fields of endeavour, including:

• Lieutenant Governor’s Ontario Heritage Awards (Ontario Heritage Trust)
• Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Marketing Excellence in Ontario (Economic Developers Council of Ontario)
• Lieutenant Governor’s Medal of Distinction in Public Administration (Institute of Public Administration of Canada in Ontario)
• Lieutenant Governor’s Cup (sport horse breeding), (Royal Agricultural Winter Fair)
• Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Excellence in Ontario Wines (Ontario Wine Awards)
• Lieutenant Governor’s Distinguished Service Award (Royal Ontario Museum)
• Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Design Excellence in Architecture (Ontario Association of Architects)

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of awards programs were initially delayed, however, the Lieutenant Governor presented two provincial awards (Lincoln M. Alexander Awards and the Hilary M. Weston Scholarship), announced the 2019 and 2020 Order of Ontario appointments, and presented the provincially supported Lieutenant Governor’s Medal of Distinction in Public Administration.

The Lieutenant Governor also honours Ontarians receiving awards from community organizations, such as Scouts Canada (The Queen’s Venturer Award), The Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards, St. John Ambulance and organizations with vice-regal patronage.

The Lieutenant Governor may also present national honours, including the Order of Canada, bravery decorations, the Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers and commemorative medals, on behalf of the Governor General.

COVID-19 response

Beginning in March 2020, the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic significantly altered the Lieutenant Govenror’s routine programming. With virtually all in-person gathering and meetings suspend or severely restricted, most planned public engagements were cancelled or postponed. Her Honour’s focus immediately shifted to a variety of remote and virtual programming intended to support the wider community response and ensure that vital stories of the pandemic were heard.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Lieutenant Governor undertook a number of particular engagements and initiatives, including.

• A partnership with Destinations Ontario to create a series of agri-tourism videos promoting Ontario produce growers, sellers, and restaurateurs. These videos earned tens of thousands of views across all social media platforms in French and English.
• 185 “COVID calls” across all sectors of the province to understand the specific struggles and concerns of Ontarians as well as to provide support and morale. Targeted groups included arts administrators, community leaders, education executives, first responders, government officials, health care administrators, Indigenous leaders, innovation leaders, mayors, members of the media, the military, non-profit managers, and private sector executives.
• A Zoom call with female mayors across the province during which they spoke of the challenges they were facing along with the rising loss of women in the work force, violence against women, and how to support their local main street.
• An international public Zoom event commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada attended by more than 1,200 participants across Ontario and beyond.
• A public Zoom event celebrating Black History Month, bringing together Black leaders in the arts to discuss their experiences in positions of power and the how to ‘design leadership in a time of change’, attended by more than 300 participants.
• Ontarians were asked to invite the Lieutenant Governor to their stay at home Canada Day Zoom parties resulting in a full day of calls and pre-recorded messages for families, individuals, cities, towns, and communities, as well as organizations with a reach of 32,864 views.

Community involvement

The Lieutenant Governor lends the prestige of the office in support of important initiatives, promoting dialogue and bringing issues into the public consciousness in keeping with her adopted areas of focus: sustainability (including its interrelated components of inclusive economic prosperity, environmental stewardship and social cohesion) and Ontario in the World. Her Honour actively engages people across Ontario and internationally in meaningful dialogue about what they can contribute and learn from others in meeting the common challenges of our interconnected world.

The Lieutenant Governor is committed to fostering a culture of reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Ontario, regularly meeting with representatives of Indigenous communities and ensuring Indigenous representation at events whenever possible.

On November 11th, 2020, as part of Her Honour’s ongoing Indigenous reconciliation work, the Lieutenant Governor presented ceremonial tobacco from the Chapel Royal at Massey College in Toronto, also known in Anishinaabek as Gi-Chi-Twaa Gimaa Kwe, Mississauga Anishinaabek Aname Gamik, meaning “The Queen’s Anishinaabek sacred place”, to Ontario Regional Chief Roseanne Archibald in the Lieutenant Governor’s Suite. The tobacco, from the Chapel Royal Tobacco Beds in Waterdown, Ontario, will be kept in trust on behalf of the First Nations of Ontario until Her Honour can once again resume meeting First Nations people on their traditional lands.

The Lieutenant Governor also lends support to initiatives bearing the name of her office, such as the Lieutenant Governor’s Games at Variety Village (a daylong sporting event for youth of all abilities) and the Lieutenant Governor’s Indigenous Summer Reading Camps, which are administered by literacy organization Frontier College.

The Lieutenant Governor engages with young people in the province through participation in several model parliaments and regularly meets with those serving in the Ontario Legislative Page Program.

In addition to these initiatives, the Lieutenant Governor hosts or attends hundreds of engagements each year (either at Queen’s Park or elsewhere), promoting volunteerism, encouraging community service and supporting worthwhile causes.

The Lieutenant Governor also maintains active relationships with members of the uniformed services through honorary appointments (Colonel of the Regiment of The Queen’s York Rangers (1st American Regiment), her aides-de-camp and volunteers and by traditional attendance at ceremonies honouring veterans and first responders.

In 2020-21 the Lieutenant Governor paid a visit to The Queen’s York Rangers, thanking them for their service in long-term care homes across Ontario.

The Lieutenant Governor continues the longstanding tradition of granting vice-regal patronage by serving as honorary patron of many non-profit organizations and registered charities.

As a part of her engagement with patronage organization and Ontarians, the Lieutenant Governor undertook a program with Concerts in Care to host Zoom calls with long-term care homes and Toronto Symphony Orchestra musicians, bringing an hour of music and conversation to seniors across the province.

Engagement statistics:

Throughout the fiscal year, the Lieutenant Governor’s Office was able to pivot to both online and in-person engagement following provincial safety protocol, totalling 796 public engagements (an increase of 15% from 2019-20) reaching all corners of the province and Ontarians of all backgrounds and ages.

In the Lieutenant Governor’s Suite: 737 In the Community: 59

• Phone calls: 283
• Virtual events: 335
• Meetings: 32

During the summer months, the Lieutenant Governor made one Official Visit (down from 10 last year) to the Township of Killarney, which was celebrating its 200th anniversary.

The Lieutenant Governor also visited one First Nations, the M'Chigeeng First Nation, to represent the people of Ontario at the funeral of OPP Constable Marc Hovingh.

As part of supporting the municipal order of government and learning about local issues, the Lieutenant Governor visited 10 Ontario communities: East Gwillimbury, Hamilton, Killarney, Otonabee–South Monaghan, Peterborough, Stratford, Sudbury, Toronto, Waterloo, and Woolwich.

Communicating with Ontarians

The Lieutenant Governor continues to prioritize the modernization of official communications with Ontarians.

• The Lieutenant Governor’s website continues to incorporate routine updates reflecting Her Honour’s activity schedule.
• The section of the website including information about the Lieutenant Governor’s constitutional responsibilities and the role of the Crown in Ontario continues to be widely consulted by the media, students and the public.
• The Lieutenant Governor continues to maintain active accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.
• The Lieutenant Governor recorded 63 video messages.
• The Lieutenant Governor continues to provide special event messages to charitable organizations and congratulatory greetings to Ontarians celebrating birthdays (90 years and older) and anniversaries (50 years and longer). In 2020-21, the Office provided 2,306 greetings and 47 event messages.
• As part of Her Honour’s COVID-19 outreach initiative, the Lieutenant Governor hosted roundtables with The National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada. These editorial-board-style meetings with journalists from outlets of ethnic media allowed Her Honour to discuss her work, mandate themes, and reflect on current issues (including COVID-19 and anti-racism) facing particular ethno-linguistic groups in Ontario.

Legislation

The Constitution Act, 1867, as well as Federal and Provincial legislation directly governs the operation of the Office of the Lieutenant Governor. The Ontario Provincial legislation applying to this office is the Lieutenant Governor Act.

Lieutenant Governor Act
R.S.O. 1990, Chapter L.13

Powers vested in Lieutenant Governor

1. In matters within the jurisdiction of the Legislature, all powers, authorities and functions that, in respect of like matters, were vested in or exercisable by the governors or lieutenant governors of the several provinces now forming part of Canada or any of the provinces, under commissions, instructions or otherwise, at or before the passing of the Constitution Act, 1867, are, so far as the Legislature has power thus to enact, vested in and exercisable by the Lieutenant Governor or Administrator for the time being of the Province of Ontario, in the name of Her Majesty or otherwise as the case requires, subject always to the Royal Prerogative as heretofore. R.S.O. 1990, c. L.13, s. 1.

Power to remit sentences

2. Section 1 shall be deemed to include the power of commuting and remitting sentences for offences against the laws of Ontario or offences over which the legislative authority of the Province of Ontario extends. R.S.O. 1990, c.L.13, s.2.

Lieutenant Governor a Corporation Sole

3. The Lieutenant Governor for the time being is a corporation sole, and all bonds, recognizances and other instruments by law required to be taken to the Lieutenant Governor in his or her public capacity shall be taken to him or her by the name of the office of Lieutenant Governor, and may be sued for and recovered by him or her by the name of the office of Lieutenant Governor, and the same shall not in any case go to or vest in the personal representatives of the Lieutenant Governor during whose government the same were so taken. R.S.O. 1990, c.L.13, s.3.

Power to appoint deputies for certain purposes

4. The Lieutenant Governor may, with the advice and consent of the Executive Council, from time to time, appoint any person or persons, jointly or severally, to be his or her deputy or deputies for Ontario or any part or parts thereof, for the purpose of executing marriage licences, money warrants and commissions under any Act of the Legislature R.S.O. 1990, c. L.13, s. 4.

Detailed financial information

* Interim actuals reflect the numbers presented in the 2021 Ontario Budget.

** Office of the Lieutenant Governor Full-Time Equivalent positions.

For additional financial information, see:

Expenditure Estimates

Public Accounts of Ontario

2021 Budget

Organization Chart

• Lieutenant Governor
  • Chief of Staff and Private Secretary
    • OPP Sergeant & Detective Constables (Roster of 25 officers)
    • 48 Aides-de-Camp and 14 Volunteers
    • Executive Assistant
    • Director, Research and Strategic Analysis
    • Chief Steward
      • Support Service Worker (P/T)
      • Assistant Chief Steward (On Call Basis)
      • Casual Stewards (On Call Basis)
    • Manager, Event Operations
    • Senior Advisor, Program & Events
    • Senior Advisor, Program & Events
    • Senior Advisor, Program & Events
    • Senior Advisor, Communications & Events
    • Senior Advisor, Research and Communications
      • Speechwriters
    • Administrative Assistant
    • Office Assistant (On Call Basis)
    • Summer Intern