Christopher Bentley
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Christopher Bentley | |
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MPP for London West
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office October 2, 2003 |
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| Preceded by | Bob Wood |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office October 30, 2007 |
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| Preceded by | Michael Bryant |
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| Political party | Liberal |
Christopher "Chris" Bentley is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He is currently a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, and is the province's Attorney General in the Liberal government of Premier Dalton McGuinty.
[edit] Academic endeavours
Bentley received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, and obtained a law degree from the University of Toronto in 1979. Two years later, he obtained a Master's degree from Cambridge University in England. Bentley has practiced criminal and labour law, with the firm of Bentley & LeRoy LLP. In 1985, he was a founder and first chairperson of Neighbourhood Legal Services London & Middlesex, a legal clinic intended to assist low-income clients.
Since 1992, Bentley has worked as a part-time teacher at Western. He helped establish the university's Law School Careers Office, has lectured at various continuing education courses. In 2000, he published a book entitled Criminal practice manual: A practical guide to handling criminal cases.
[edit] Member of Provincial Parliament
Bentley first ran for the provincial legislature in the 2003 general election, contesting the riding of London West as a Liberal. He was successful, defeating incumbent maverick Progressive Conservative Bob Wood by over 10,000 votes. The Liberals won the election, and Bentley was appointed Ontario Minister of Labour on October 23, 2003. Bentley is on the left-wing of the Liberal Party, and his appointment was regarded favourably by the province's organized labour community.
As Minister of Labour,Bentley announced an increase in the province's minimum wage in early 2004. In November 2004, he announced that his government would restore powers to the Ontario Labour Relations Board which had been removed by previous Conservative governments, and that it would eliminate 65 as a mandatory retirement age. In July 2004 Bentley doubled the number of health and safety inspectors.
On January 6, 2004, Bentley was appointed caucus liaison to the Ontario Young Liberals.
After a cabinet shuffle on June 29, 2005, he was named as Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities.
As Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, Bentley was charged with implementing the McGuinty’s government’s “Reaching Higher” plan, a $6.2 Billion, five-year investment in postsecondary education and training.
Bentley has overseen an increase of 86,000 college and university students in Ontario in just 3 years, enabled in part by a doubling of the government’s investment in student financial aid, bringing back upfront tuition grants and increasing the amount each student can qualify for by a third.[1]
In March 2006, Bentley implemented a controversial new tuition framework that allows colleges and universities to increase tuition by 5% annually, resulting in an average increase of $100 per year for most college students and $200 per year for most university students. Bentley justified the tuition increase with the pledge to match each extra dollar in tuition revenue with three extra dollars of government investment in college and university budgets and student aid.[2]
Several student groups voiced opposition to the tuition increase as compromising the financial accessibility of post-secondary education institutions.[3] Since the announcement, students collected petitions, held public forums and met MPPs to oppose the tuition fee increase. On February 7, 2007 thousands of students across Ontario attended the annual Canada-wide Day of Action demonstrations encouraging all governments to freeze and eliminate tuition fees.[4].
In February 2005, Bentley signed the Labour Market Development Agreement with the Government of Canada, transferring almost $525 million in federal programs and services to the Government of Ontario. Bentley oversaw the creation of Employment Ontario, a $1 billion dollar training and employment network serving almost 1 million people through 1200 service providers throughout the province.[5]
On October 30th, 2007, Bentley was named Attorney General of Ontario.
[edit] References
- ^ Ontario post-secondary education minister defends position, <http://www.thefulcrum.ca/view.php?aid=38695>
- ^ Ont. post-secondary tuition to rise five percent, <http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20060308/ont_tuition_060308?hub=TorontoHome>
- ^ "Dalton McGuinty/Bob Rae Tuition Fee Increase Announcement" (HTML), youtube.com, March 8, 2006. Retrieved on 2007-02-19.
- ^ CBC. "Students stage protests over high tuition fees" (HTML), Top Stories, CTV.ca, February 7, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-02-19.
- ^ [http://www.thestar.com/News/article/167163 Minister launches Employment Ontario], <http://www.thestar.com/News/article/167163>
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