Eves ' time as Opposition leader was more fruitful, when he led attacks against the McGuinty government's first budget, particularly the Ontario Health Premium — which broke the Liberals ' campaign pledge not to raise taxes and the elimination of health services such as eye examinations and physical therapy.

On May 18, 2004, Provincial Finance Minister Greg Sorbara released the McGuinty government's first budget, the first year of a four year plan focused on tackling four deficits the Liberals claim the previous Tories left behind: the " health deficit ", the " education deficit ", the " infrastructure deficit " and the " fiscal deficit ".

Other elements of the McGuinty government's first budget were a four-year plan to tackle the deficit, funding for 1, 000 new teachers, a transfer of two cents of the existing gas tax to municipalities to help fund transit, and a three per cent increase to those on social assistance, the first increase in ten years.

Premier McGuinty and Prime Minister Paul Martin debated the Ontario government's accusations throughout the spring of 2005.

On June 14, 2006, Energy Minister Dwight Duncan announced the McGuinty government's twenty-year electricity plan, which committed to spending forty-six billion dollars on rebuilding all of the province's ageing reactors.

Through a variety of factors, including dissatisfaction with the effects of the government's platform policies, deterioration of municipal services after downloading, the Walkerton Tragedy and Eves ' handling of the Northeast Blackout, the Progressive Conservatives were defeated in the 2003 provincial election by Dalton McGuinty.

On May 18, 2004, Provincial Finance Minister Greg Sorbara released the McGuinty government's first budget.

The Liberals defended the premium by pointing to the previous government's hidden deficit, and McGuinty claimed he needed to break his campaign pledge on taxation to fulfill his promises on other fronts.

Other elements of the McGuinty government's first budget were a four-year plan to tackle the deficit left behind by the Conservatives, free immunization for children, investments in education and investments to lower waiting times for cancer care, cardiac care, joint replacement and MRI and CT scans.

Bartolucci introduced the McGuinty government's Northern Prosperity Plan in December 2004, the highlights of which included a revamped Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation, a GO North program to attract investors to the region, and a pilot Northern Ontario Grow Bonds Program.

Bartolucci supported the McGuinty government's decision to renew Julian Fantino's contract as head of the Ontario Provincial Police in 2008, and announced that Fantino would be re-appointed to another one-year term in 2009.

Premier McGuinty, who admitted that finding a replacement was difficult, was reported to have set that day as a deadline for Kennedy to make a decision in order to prevent the leadership speculation from overshadowing the Ontario government's agenda.

In April 2007, Ontario Member of Provincial Parliament Kim Craitor suggested that local brewers should be able to sell their beer in local corner stores ; however, the motion was quickly rejected by Premier Dalton McGuinty.

First elected to the premiership in 2003, with his reelection in 2007 McGuinty became the first Ontario Liberal to win two majority governments since Mitchell Hepburn nearly 70 years earlier.

Although the McGuinty government originally promised to close all coal-burning plants by 2007, Energy Minister Dwight Duncan announced on June 14, 2005 that this was no longer possible, and that the that Nanticoke Coal Plant will not close until 2009.

On July 26, 2007, McGuinty forced Mike Colle to resign as Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, with his portfolio being taken over by Gerry Phillips who will also retain his current responsibilities as Minister of Government Services.

Premier McGuinty agreed to commission a special report on the matter, to be released in July 2007.

Map of the results of the 2007 Election where Dalton McGuinty won his second consecutive majority government.

In October 2006, the McGuinty Liberals held their last Annual General Meeting before the 2007 election.

On October 10, 2007, McGuinty and his Ontario Liberal party won a consecutive majority government in the 39th general provincial election.

This was later dwarfed by a further slate of new GO infrastructure proposed in MoveOntario 2020, the provincial transit plan announced by Premier Dalton McGuinty in the leadup to the 2007 provincial election.

Kinsella also was involved in the 2007 re-election campaign of Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty and his Ontario Liberal Party.

With the election of Stephane Dion as leader of the Liberal Party McGuinty became the critic for Environment in January 2007.

Sorbara served as the Minister of Finance in the Liberal government of Premier Dalton McGuinty from 2003 to 2007.

In January 2007, the McGuinty government formally applied for intervenor status to participate in injunction proceedings.

Bartolucci was re-elected without difficulty in the 2007 provincial election, in which the McGuinty government was re-elected with a second majority.

Gerretsen was reappointed on October 29, 2007, to the Ontario Cabinet as Minister for the Environment, by Premier Dalton McGuinty.

She was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2003 until 2007, and served in the cabinet in the government of Premier Dalton McGuinty.

The Liberals won a majority government under Dalton McGuinty in this election, and Berardinetti was appointed the deputy government whip on October 23, 2003, a position he held until the 2007 election.

Premier McGuinty agreed to commission a special report on the matter, to be released in July 2007.

On July 26, 2007, Premier McGuinty announced that Colle resigned as Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.

As part of a restructuring of TVOntario announced by the McGuinty government on June 29, 2006, TFO was taken over by a new, separate provincial Crown corporation, the Ontario French-Language Educational Communications Authority ( Office des télécommunications éducatives de langue française de l ’ Ontario or OTÉLFO ) in 2007, with separate management and its own budget.

In early 2007, Premier McGuinty split the province's revenue collection function away from the Ministry of Finance and resurrected the Ministry of Revenue, a ministry / portfolio that had not been used since the NDP government of Bob Rae in 1993.

An unpopular provincial budget by Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty hurt the federal Liberals ' numbers in Ontario, as did a weak performance from Martin in the leaders ' debates.

McGuinty is generally regarded as holding moderate views on economic issues, with his first budget raising personal taxes and planning to eliminate the province's tax on the capital of corporations.

On May 11, 2005, the McGuinty Liberals delivered their second budget, built around the " Reaching Higher " plan for education.

There was criticism of McGuinty and calls for Health Minister David Caplan to resign after it was revealed that eHealth Ontario CEO Sarah Kramer had approved about $ 4. 8 million in no-bid contracts during the first four months of the agency's operation, while also spending, argued that the McGuinty government spent five years and $ 647 million on the Smart Systems for Health Agency, which used 15 per cent of its $ 225-million annual budget on consultants despite employing 166 people with annual salaries exceeding $ 100000, before the project was shut down and restarted as eHealth Ontario.

The May 2004 budget, however, announced that most eye exams and all chiropractic and physical therapy would be " delisted ", or removed from coverage, by the Liberal government of Dalton McGuinty.

The opposition noted that the McGuinty government spent five years and $ 647 million on the Smart Systems for Health Agency, which used 15 per cent of its $ 225 million annual budget on consultants despite employing 166 people with annual salaries exceeding $ 100, 000, before the project was shut down and restarted as eHealth Ontario.

The budget, along with the failure to prevent construction on the environmentally sensitive Oak Ridges Moraine after his election made the McGuinty government unpopular during its first few months.

Eves was unable to make any headway in the leadership debate, appearing uncharacteristically restrained in the face of criticism from McGuinty, and was unable to revive support for his party in the final days of the campaign.

An inquiry was called after the government of Dalton McGuinty was elected in 2003.

This timeline was confirmed by Premier Dalton McGuinty on May 24, 2012.

Upon election in 2003 the government of Dalton McGuinty was not immediately prepared to proceed with the restart of Pickering A.

McGuinty was born in Ottawa, Ontario.

The Liberal government of David Peterson was unexpectedly defeated by the social democratic Ontario New Democratic Party ( NDP ) in that election, and McGuinty was the only rookie Liberal MPP elected.

Kennedy, a former head of Toronto's Daily Bread food bank, was popular on the progressive-wing of the party, while McGuinty built his core support on its establishment and pro-business right-wing which some nicknamed the " anything-but-Kennedy movement ".

McGuinty was fourth on the first and second ballots but he was not far behind third-place finisher Dwight Duncan.

The Progressive Conservative Party was re-elected, but McGuinty was able to rally his party in the election's closing days and drew 40 % of the popular vote for the Liberals, the party's second-best performance in fifty years.

With the Liberals consolidated as the primary opposition to Harris's Progressive Conservatives, McGuinty was able to present his party as the " government in waiting ".

McGuinty was able to maintain his party's standing in the polls in the last stages, preventing Eves from making up ground during the leader's debate.

The Conservatives questioned Peters's methodology, and suggested that the McGuinty government was overstating the province's financial difficulties to break or delay some of its campaign spending promises.