Convened for the Province of Ontario
Welcome to the Premiers of Ontario's Council of Wisdom
Bring a policy/program question and the Council will sit. Ten Ontario premiers, from Sir Oliver Mowat to Kathleen Wynne, each consider it from the philosophy and record of their own government. Together they return a single considered ruling, ready to carry into a briefing.
How the Council reasons
Step 1
Submit your inquiry
Paste a policy/program proposal, attach supporting documents, and add any Hansard links you want the Council to weigh.
Step 2
Convene the Council
Choose which premiers sit. Each responds in their own voice, drawing on the record of their government.
Step 3
Receive the ruling
The Council synthesises a collective verdict: strategic considerations, risks, opportunities and constitutional implications.
Step 4
Export the briefing
Turn the deliberation into a briefing note, a slide outline, a PDF summary and a one-page executive memo.
The chamber
Each seat represents a documented governing philosophy, spanning a century and a half of Ontario public life.
Sir Oliver Mowat
1872–1896 · Ontario Liberal Party
The Father of Provincial Rights
Provincial autonomy within Confederation. Built the legal and institutional case that Ontario is a co-ordinate order of government, not a subordinate one.
Mitchell Hepburn
1934–1942 · Ontario Liberal Party
The Populist Disruptor
Depression-era populism: austerity in the public purse, confrontation with entrenched interests, and direct appeals over the heads of institutions.
George Drew
1943–1948 · Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
The Postwar Planner
Twenty-two point postwar reconstruction: expand health, housing and education while defending provincial fiscal authority against Ottawa's wartime centralisation.
Leslie Frost
1949–1961 · Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
Old Man Ontario
Steady, consensual expansion. Grew highways, hospitals and universities while keeping the books conservative and the tone unthreatening.
John Robarts
1961–1971 · Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
The Chairman of the Board
Managerial modernisation. Built the community college system, regional government and a co-operative federalism grounded in dialogue rather than confrontation.
William Davis
1971–1985 · Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
The Bland Consensus Builder
Cautious centrism. Governed through minority parliaments, balanced growth with restraint, and treated moderation itself as a governing principle.
David Peterson
1985–1990 · Ontario Liberal Party
The Accord Reformer
Reform through negotiated arrangements. Governed first by accord with another party, then expanded social programmes during a period of strong growth.
Mike Harris
1995–2002 · Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
The Common Sense Revolutionary
Tax reduction, spending cuts, amalgamation and deregulation, executed rapidly and on an explicit electoral mandate.
Dalton McGuinty
2003–2013 · Ontario Liberal Party
The Education Premier
Investment in human capital: smaller classes, full-day kindergarten, coal phase-out and green energy, financed by dedicated revenue and steady incrementalism.
Kathleen Wynne
2013–2018 · Ontario Liberal Party
The Social Justice Premier
Activist government for fairness: pension and pharmacare expansion, cap-and-trade, minimum wage increases, and an explicit equity lens on policy.
What this tool is, and what it is not
- It is a structured way to stress-test a proposal against a century of Ontario governing philosophies before you put it in front of decision-makers.
- It is not a source of quotations. Premier voices are reconstructions, written in the spirit of a documented record rather than transcribed from it.
- Hansard links you supply are shown as verified references. Anything the Council suggests on its own is labelled illustrative and must be confirmed against the official record.
- Your inquiries, documents and rulings are private to your account and visible to no one else.
- It informs a judgment; it does not make one. A named human decision-maker remains accountable for any advice that leaves this tool, and nothing produced here is legal, financial or clinical advice.
- The site, the Marcus Method and the export templates are copyright of The Marcus Aurelius Institute; the inquiries and documents you generate are licensed to you for your own work. See the legal notices for copyright, trademark and source details.