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The Premier of Ontario (Premier ministre de l'Ontario in French) is the first Minister of the Crown...

The Premier of Ontario (Premier ministre de l'Ontario in French) is the first Minister of the Crown for the Canadian province of Ontario. The Premier is appointed as the province's head of government by the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, and presides over the Executive council, or Cabinet. Although sometimes referred to as the Prime Minister of Ontario, the Executive Council Act (R.S.O. 1990) stipulates that the leader of the government party is known as the "Premier and President of the Council." (While the titles premier and prime minister are technically interchangeable, in English Canada the practice is normally to reserve the latter for the federal leader. However, in French the term premier ministre refers to both positions. The French language does not have a separate term for the premier of a province. The Premier of Ontario is known as the premier ministre de l'Ontario in French.) The current Premier of Ontario is Dalton McGuinty. The longest serving Premier in the province's history was Sir Oliver Mowat who was in office from 1872 to 1896. Ontario's first Premier was John Sandfield Macdonald.