Lieutenant Governors act as the Queen’s representative in their respective provinces and carry out the various constitutional and ceremonial responsibilities on behalf of the Queen – who is Canada’s official head of state.

Lieutenant Governors are appointed by the Governor General of Canada on the recommendation of the Prime Minister and the federal Cabinet and usually with input from the province’s Premier.

In his constitutional role, the Lieutenant Governor swears in the Executive Council, the Government’s plans by reading the Speech from the Throne, and provides the Royal Assent required for any bills passed by the Legislative Assembly to become law in Ontario. He presents honours and awards to outstanding citizens. And, as we have already seen with our new Lt.-Gov. – the Honourable David C. Onley – the Lieutenant Governor supports many important social causes.

This past September the Legislative Assembly welcomed Mr. Onley into the fray as the Province’s 28th Lieutenant Governor. You might recognize him from his 22-year career as a popular newscaster with Toronto’s Citytv. Onley is also an accomplished author – his novel Shuttle was nominated as Book of the Year by the Periodical Distributor's Association in 1982 – and he is the co-founder and was president of the Aerospace Heritage Foundation.

Most importantly though, Onley is a well known champion of disability and accessibility issues in Ontario – a crusade he began due to his personal experiences and which he has continued as Ontario’s Lieutenant Governor.

Onley has been living with polio and post-polio syndrome since the age of three. Never letting his disability get in the way of his goals in life, Onley broke through social barriers to become Canada’s first senior newscaster with a visible disability.

He has served on a number of prominent accessibility committees – including chair of the Queen’s Park Accessibility Standards Council – and worked closely with organizations such as the Ontario March of Dimes and the Canadian Foundation for Physically Disabled. For his efforts, Onley has been honoured with many awards, including the King Clancy Award for Disabled Persons, and was inducted into the Terry Fox Hall of Fame.

Now that he has settled in to the prestigious position once held by such illustrious company as Hilary Weston, Henry Jackman and Lincoln Alexander, Onley will surely remain a strong voice for disabled persons in Ontario.