Queen’s Park is officially known as the Legislative Assembly of Ontario – the province’s elected lawmaking body. Here, which parties sit on the left or the right depend on who is in power, the majority sits on the left and the minority on the right, so the two sides have different numbers of legislators. Sometimes, the majority party is so large that they have to spill over to the other side.
Before confederation, the Canadian parliament was held in Montreal but alternated between Toronto and Quebec City after the Montreal legislative building was burned down in 1849. The current building was built in 1892 and replaced an academic building from the University of Toronto, the land was leased to the university in 1859 for 999 years, but the provincial government leased it back to build the legislative building. The park that surrounds it is leased from the university to the city of Toronto.
Queen’s Park was named after Queen Victoria. Large civic squares are a feature of British town planning, a space for subjects to exercise their right to assembly, free speech, and debate commonwealth politics. Tours are free but book ahead to avoid disappointment.
