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Christopher Bentley
Christopher Bentley
Ontario MPP
	In office; 2003–2013
Preceded by	Bob Wood
Succeeded by	Peggy Sattler
Constituency	London West
Personal details
Born	1956 (age 67–68)
Political party	Liberal
Spouse	Wendy
Children	2
Occupation	lawyer

Christopher Bentley (born c. 1956) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2003 to 2013. He represented the riding of London West and was a cabinet minister in the government of Dalton McGuinty.

Background

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.^[1] 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 professor at Western. He helped establish the university's Law School Careers Office, and has lectured at various continuing education courses. In 2000, he published a book entitled Criminal practice manual: A practical guide to handling criminal cases.

Politics

Bentley ran for the provincial legislature in the 2003 general election, contesting the riding of London West as a Liberal. He was successful, defeating incumbent Progressive Conservative Bob Wood by over 10,000 votes.^[2] The Liberals won the election, and Bentley was appointed Minister of Labour on October 23, 2003.^[3] After a cabinet shuffle on June 29, 2005, he was named Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities.^[4]

Bentley was re-elected in the 2007 election^[5] and was named Attorney General of Ontario shortly thereafter.^[6] In January 2010 he was assigned the additional portfolio of Minister of Aboriginal Affairs.^[7]

He retained his seat in the October 2011 provincial election,^[8] and was named Minister of Energy.^[9] Bentley was soon mired in controversy over the government's decision made during the election campaign to scrap unpopular gas plants being constructed in Mississauga and Oakville - the move was seen as a politically expedient one made to improve the Liberal Party's chances of retaining the 5 ridings it held in the area. The election returned a minority government and the emboldened opposition demanded that Bentley's ministry release all documents related to the decision. Bentley delayed releasing 36,000 pages in September and insisted that all documents had been released. After it became known that there were an additional 20,000 documents Bentley was cited by a rare contempt motion by a legislative committee and was facing a contempt motion of the legislature when McGuinty unexpectedly ended the legislative session by proroguing the legislature on October 15.^[10]

Previously, Bentley had widely been seen as Premier Dalton McGuinty's apparent heir but on October 25, 2012, ten days after McGuinty announced his resignation, Bentley announced that he would not be a candidate in the Liberal Party leadership convention being held to choose McGuinty's successor and that he too would be leaving politics.^[11] Bentley resigned his seat in the legislature effective February 14, 2013.^[12]

Cabinet positions

Cabinet posts (6)
Ontario provincial government of Dalton McGuinty
Predecessor	Office	Successor
Kathleen Wynne	Minister of Aboriginal Affairs 2012-2013	David Zimmer
Brad Duguid	Minister of Energy 2011–2013	Bob Chiarelli
Brad Duguid	Minister of Aboriginal Affairs 2010–2011	Kathleen Wynne
Michael Bryant	Attorney General of Ontario 2007–2011	John Gerretsen
Mary Anne Chambers	Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities 2005–2007	John Milloy
Brad Clark	Minister of Labour 2003–2005	Steve Peters

Electoral record

v t e 2011 Ontario general election: London West
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Chris Bentley	22,610	45.65	-6.77
	Progressive Conservative	Ali Chahbar	14,603	29.49	+5.24
	New Democratic	Jeff Buchanan	10,757	21.72	+10.49
	Green	Gary Brown	1,194	2.41	-8.06
	Freedom	Tim Hodges	300	0.61	+0.13
	Republican	Chris Gupta	61	0.12	-0.09
Total valid votes			49,525	100.0
Total rejected ballots			224	0.45
Turnout			49,749	53.01
Eligible voters			93,852
	Liberal hold		Swing		-6.00
Source: Elections Ontario^[13]

v t e 2007 Ontario general election: London West
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Chris Bentley	25,967	52.42	+1.91
	Progressive Conservative	Allison Graham	12,011	24.25	-6.82
	New Democratic	Paul Pighin	5,562	11.23	-4.05
	Green	Gary Brown	5,184	10.47	+8.85
	Family Coalition	Andrew Jezierski	267	0.54
	Freedom	Paul McKeever	234	0.47	-0.46
	Independent	Mike Reynolds	201	0.41
	Republican	Chris Gupta	106	0.21
Total valid votes			49,532	100.0
Difference			13,956	28.18
Total rejected ballots			356	0.71
Turnout			49,888	57.83
	Liberal hold		Swing	+4.37
Source: ^[14] ^ Change based on redistributed results ^[15]

v t e 2003 Ontario general election: London West
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Chris Bentley	25,581	51.46	+7.12
	Progressive Conservative	Bob Wood	15,463	31.11	-13.81
	New Democratic	Patti Dalton	7,403	14.89	+5.76
	Green	Laura Wythe	805	1.62	+1.01
	Freedom	Bill Frampton	460	0.93	+0.46
Total valid votes			49,712	100.0

References

^ Howlett, Karen; Campbell, Murray (30 October 2007). "McGuinty turns to veterans for top cabinet jobs". The Globe and Mail. p. A12.
^ "Summary of Valid Ballots by Candidate". Elections Ontario. October 2, 2003. Archived from the original on September 4, 2014.
^ "Premier Dalton McGuinty and his 22-member cabinet were sworn in Thursday". Canadian Press NewsWire. 23 October 2003. p. 1.
^ "Cabinet shuffle focuses on health care, education; McGuinty to head new Research and Innovation ministry". The Kitchener Record. 30 June 2005. p. A5.
^ "Summary of Valid Ballots Cast for Each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. October 10, 2007. p. 8 (xvii). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 7, 2009.
^ Ferguson, Rob; Benzie, Robert (31 October 2007). "Premier goes for new blood; Expanded 28-member cabinet has eight ministers from Toronto, three from 905 area". Toronto Star. p. A13.
^ Kenyon, Wallace (19 January 2010). "Sweeping changes hit Queen's Park; Liberal Cabinet". National Post. p. A8.
^ "Summary of Valid Ballots Cast for Each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. 6 October 2011. p. 9. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 March 2013.
^ "Ontario's new cabinet". Toronto Star. 21 October 2011. p. A18.
^ Mills, Carys (26 October 2012). "Energy Minister Chris Bentley 'thrown under the bus'". Toronto Star. Retrieved 26 October 2012.
^ "Chris Bentley to quit politics". CBC News. Canadian Press. 26 October 2012. Retrieved 26 October 2012.
^ "Energy Minister Chris Bentley to resign his seat". Toronto Star. 8 February 2013. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
^ Elections Ontario (2011). "Official return from the records / Rapport des registres officiels - London West" (PDF). Retrieved 2 June 2014.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
^ "London West poll by poll" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 May 2014. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
^ "045-London West".