Ontario's incoming premier says she will recall the prorogued legislature by Feb. 19 and work with the opposition to avoid a general election.

Kathleen Wynne won the Ontario Liberal leadership race Saturday and is set to become Ontario's first female leader and Canada's first openly gay premier.

Wynne says Ontarians do not want a general election and don't like the fact the house has been idle since Premier Dalton McGuinty made his resignation announcement in October.

Once she's sworn in, Wynne will have to mend relations with the powerful teachers' unions, who are angry at the Liberals for using a controversial law to force contracts on about 126,000 public school teachers.

Public sector unions, who protested by the thousands outside the convention hall Saturday, have vowed to use their organizational might to defeat the Liberals in the next election.

Wynne will also have to deal with a trail of controversies McGuinty left behind _ from the political decisions to cancel two gas plants in Liberal ridings, to a criminal probe of the Ornge air ambulance service.

The Canadian Press