  michael a. "mike" brown (born april 18, 1950) is a former politician in ontario, canada and was the speaker of the legislative assembly of ontario from october 2005 until october 2007. he sat in the ontario legislature representing the northern riding of algomaâmanitoulin for the ontario liberal party from 1987 to 2011. ==background== brown was educated at the university of western ontario and humber college, and worked as a funeral director before entering public life. he is a former member of the manitoulin planning board, and is a past president of the manitoulin island country club. ==politics== brown was elected to the ontario legislature in the provincial election of 1987, defeating new democrat ron boucher and progressive conservative ben wilson. the algomaâmanitoulin riding had been held by the progressive conservatives for several years, and brown's victory was part of a larger trend towards the liberal party in northern ontario. the liberals were defeated by the ndp in the provincial election of 1990. most ridings in northern ontario were won by the ndp, and brown was only able to defeat ndp candidate lois miller by 207 votes. he was re-elected by a larger margin in the provincial election of 1995, which was won by the progressive conservatives.
1950_births Funeral_directors Humber_College_alumni Living_people Ontario_Liberal_Party_MPPs People_from_Manitoulin_District People_from_Sarnia Speakers_of_the_Legislative_Assembly_of_Ontario University_of_Western_Ontario_alumni