David Onley, a Toronto-based television reporter, anchor and host, has been named lieutenant governor of Ontario.
CBC News – He will become the Queen’s 28th representative in that role, replacing James Bartleman, whose term ends on July 31.
Onley, 57, who has worked for CityTV since 1984, has been a vocal champion for the disabled.
He himself was partially paralyzed from the neck down at age three by polio, and uses leg braces, a cane and a motorized wheelchair to get around.
He said his new job — involving touring all over the province — is a great platform from which to promote greater accessibility for other people with physical disabilities.
“The places that I can go to have to be accessible,” Onley told CBC’s Ontario Today host Rita Celli, shortly after his appointment. “And more and more, this province is, of course, accessible, but we still have a way to go.”
Onley, who described himself as a “real political junkie,” said he was first asked if he would agree to be nominated for the job about a year ago.
“It’s never something I’d ever, ever thought of doing,” he said. He asked his wife, Ruth Ann, and his three sons about the idea, and they were very supportive, he said, so he agreed to let his name stand, and many people wrote to the government endorsing him.
Finally, last Wednesday, he received a phone call from Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s office. “I quickly concluded that he was not calling me to let me know that I’d been turned down,” Onley said, who added he finally got a chance to speak to the prime minister while stuck in traffic in the pouring rain on his way home from work.
In an interview on CityTT, Onley said it was a “distinct privilege and a distinct blessing to have been given this vote of confidence by the prime minister.”
Premier Dalton McGuinty also congratulated Onley and thanked the outgoing lieutenant governor in statement issued Tuesday. “David Onley, through his work as a journalist and as an advocate for the disabled, has dedicated himself to helping make our province a stronger and fairer society where everyone can be at their best,” said McGuinty.
Onley has worked for CityTV for 22 years. According to the lieutenant governor’s office, he was first person with a disability to work as a reporter in Ontario. He has been active in community organizations such as the Canadian Foundation for Physically Disabled Persons and his advocacy work has earned him both an honourary doctorate and an induction into the Terry Fox Hall of Fame.
In 2005, Onley was appointed Chair of the Accessibility Standards Advisory Council to the Minister of Community and Social Services.
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