Norm Sterling has lived his entire life, and raised his family, in Eastern Ontario. He was first elected to the Ontario Legislature in 1977 and was elected for a ninth consecutive term on October 10, 2007 to represent the riding of Carleton-Mississippi Mills.
Since 2003 Norm has chaired Ontario’s Public Accounts Committee which reviews the Auditor General’s Annual Reports and questions Ministries and Government Agencies about how they are improving on any deficiencies the Auditor identified. The Committee generally issues eight to 10 reports each year offering recommendations on improving efficiency and ensuring value for taxpayer’s dollars. (Click here for more information on the Public Accounts Committee.)
Norm’s knowledge of the workings of government and long relationships with representatives in other Canadian jurisdictions make him the ideal Opposition Critic for intergovernmental affairs, a role to which he was named in 2007.
Over his career Norm has been a strong advocate for increasing the role of the elected representatives at Queen’s Park. He has a record of delivering reforms that have increased the influence of both individual MPPs and the public in the Ontario Legislature. That’s why, from 2003 until 2007, he served as opposition critic for democratic renewal and in June 2005 was named as a member of the Select Committee on Electoral Reform.
During his 30 years as an MPP, Norm has held many portfolios including serving as Attorney General, Minister of Transportation, Minister of Consumer and Business Services, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Government House Leader, and Minister of the Environment and Energy. Under the Bill Davis government, he served as Minister of Resources Development and Minister of Justice.
In his various ministerial portfolios, Norm has been responsible for a long list of initiatives including reforming public accounting, overseeing the implementation of the Ignition Interlock program which targets impaired drives, initiating the province’s Drive Clean program and for bringing forward Ontario’s freedom of information and privacy rules. Early in his career, Norm took steps to protect the health of everyone on the job in Ontario with the first legislation controlling smoking in the workplace and he spearheaded new legislation on living wills and enduring powers of attorney.
Norm earned a Bachelor of Engineering (civil) from Carleton University in 1964. He received a law degree from the University of Ottawa in 1969 and was called to the Bar in 1971. He was named Queen’s Counsel in 1981. Prior to entering politics, Norm worked at Du Pont of Canada as an engineer, owned and operated a small manufacturing firm and later practised law at Sterling Clark Young.
Norm and his wife, Joan, have four adult children.
