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Official portrait of former premier Kathleen Wynne to be unveiled

TORONTO — The official portrait of Ontario's first female premier is set to be unveiled at the legislature later today.

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TORONTO — The official portrait of Ontario's first female premier is set to be unveiled at the legislature later today.

TVO reports that Kathleen Wynne's picture was done by artist Linda Kooluris-Dobbs, who also painted the official portraits of former premier David Peterson and former lieutenant-governor Hal Jackman.

Wynne became premier in 2013 after winning the Liberal leadership following her predecessor Dalton McGuinty's resignation.

She took the party from a minority government to a majority one in 2014, but after a few years her popularity sharply declined and the Liberals were reduced to third place — not enough for official party status in the legislature — in the 2018 election.

Wynne introduced many popular policies, such as ones to fight climate change, free tuition for low-income students and an increase to the minimum wage, but was widely criticized over quickly rising electricity rates, the partial privatization of Hydro One, and plunging the province back into deficit.

Wynne's north Toronto seat was one of the few the Liberals retained in the last election, and she continues to sit as a member of provincial parliament.

This story by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 9, 2019.

The Canadian Press