[2] The Progressive Conservative Party of Mike Harris won a majority government in this election, and Bartolucci entered the legislature as a member of the Official Opposition.
In December 1995, he helped organize a meeting at Queen's Park where artists and cultural workers criticized the Harris government's cuts to the arts sector.
[5] A similar incident took place in March 1996, when riot police contracted by the Harris government burst into Bartolucci's legislative office without any warning or explanation, just before a melee with protesting public service workers.
Bartolucci introduced a Private Member's Bill in early 1997 to limit class sizes in Ontario's public and separate schools.
[18] Bartolucci made frequent calls for Highway 69 to be twinned between Sudbury and Parry Sound, citing a growing number of fatal accidents in the area.
[19][20] He also chaired the JoeMac committee, which undertook a national campaign to have the killers of Sudbury police officer Joe MacDonald moved to a maximum security prison.
Bartolucci had criticized this decision at the time, arguing that it would allow wealthy cottage communities to access funds earmarked for northern development.
After criticism by groups such as DeBeers Canada, Bartolucci modified the tax to include deductions for new mining construction, and for expenditures made through agreements with aboriginal communities.
[37] Bartolucci criticized the federal government of Stephen Harper in April 2006, arguing that its proposed settlement of a softwood lumber dispute with the United States would amount to "selling out Ontario".
[38] In August 2006, Justice Patrick Smith of the Ontario Superior Court issued a ruling against the mining exploration company Platinex Inc. in its ongoing battle with the remote Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug aboriginal community.
The protesters, who were supported by several members of the local non-aboriginal community, noted that they had not been consulted by the province before the company Frontenac Ventures began prospecting in the area.
[42] Bartolucci amended the province's sex offender registry in December 2007, after the provincial Auditor General reported that prisoners released from federal institutions had been omitted from the list.
[47] Bartolucci and Attorney General Chris Bentley appealed to the federal government to introduce stricter gun control legislation in March 2008, including a ban on handguns.
[50] This report confirmed previous media revelations that several people had been wrongly convicted of serious crimes due to errors made by discredited pathologist Charles Randal Smith.
[53] In October 2009, Bartolucci faced some criticism from his constituents for avoiding a vote on Peter Kormos' private member's bill to ban the use of replacement workers during a strike.