(Toronto) Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced his new cabinet on Friday and named the province’s former solicitor general his new deputy premier and health minister.
Posted at 1:42 p.m.
It is therefore Sylvia Jones who will take over as Minister of Health, following the departure of Christine Elliott, who did not seek a new mandate in the last elections.
PHOTO NATHAN DENETTE, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Ontario’s new Minister of Health, Sylvia Jones
Most ministers in the 30-person cabinet retain the same portfolio as before the recent poll. Stephen Lecce therefore remains in Education, Peter Bethlenfalvy remains Minister of Finance and Caroline Mulroney keeps her place in Transport.
Among the names that appear in the same boxes are Steve Clark at Municipal Affairs and Housing, Monte McNaughton at Labor and Vic Fedeli at Economic Development. Doug Downey will also return as Attorney General.
A few new faces will make their way into the cabinet, however, including Doug Ford’s nephew, Michael Ford, who has been named Minister of Citizenship and Multiculturalism.
PHOTO NATHAN DENETTE, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Doug Ford named his nephew Michael Minister of Citizenship and Multiculturalism.
Michael Kerzner, a bioscience and technology entrepreneur, will become Solicitor General. He was elected in the riding of York Centre.
A change occurs in the post of Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport. Lisa MacLeod, who is one of the only ministers from the previous cabinet to be excluded from this one, will be replaced by former Canadian Football League player Neil Lumsden.
Merrilee Fullerton will return as Minister of Children’s, Community and Social Services and will have to tackle the issue of people with an autism spectrum. A few people also demonstrated outside the Legislative Assembly just after the swearing-in ceremony to denounce the growing waiting list to receive services.
The new cabinet has seven women, compared to nine in the previous term of the Progressive Conservatives.
No change either in the post of Minister of the Environment, which will again be occupied by David Piccini, while Todd Smith will take over the role of Minister of Energy.
Another newcomer will be Graydon Smith, the former mayor of Bracebridge, who will be Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry. His predecessor, Greg Rickford, was transferred to Northern Development and Aboriginal Affairs.
Mr. Rickford has also held the Mining portfolio in the past. In this new mandate, he will be entrusted to George Pirie. The former mayor of Timmins stole the seat from the NDP, which had held it for 32 years.
Several other ministers keep their portfolio, but with a slightly revised mandate. For example, Prabmeet Sarkaria remains President of the Treasury Board, but with an expanded mandate to include emergency management and procurement.
In the same vein, Kinga Surma remains Minister of Infrastructure, but with a broader mandate to manage government real estate.
Kaleed Rasheed gets a promotion and is appointed to the new post of Minister of Public and Business Services.
Michael Parsa is also entering the Cabinet as Associate Minister of Housing, a new role. Newly elected Charmaine Williams will serve as Associate Minister for Women’s Social and Economic Opportunities, another newly created position.