The Canadian Press
TORONTO—Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne promoted seven backbenchers to an expanded 30-seat cabinet table today while demoting the minister responsible for the autism file that created a public relations nightmare for her Liberal government.
Tracy MacCharles, who bore the brunt of parental anger over changes to autism therapy programs, lost her job as minister of children and youth services to be minister without portfolio responsible for women’s issues and accessibility.
Glenn Thibeault, the former NDP MP lured by Wynne to run as a provincial Liberal in a 2015 byelection in Sudbury, was rewarded for crossing party lines with the biggest promotion of the day to become Ontario’s energy minister.
The other new faces in cabinet are Eleanor McMahon (Tourism, Culture and Sport), Kathryn McGarry (Natural Resources and Forestry), Marie-France Lalonde (Consumer Services), Laura Albanese (Citizenship and Immigration), Chris Ballard (Housing), and Indira Naidoo-Harris (associate minister of finance responsible for the Ontario pension plan).
Mitzie Hunter, who had been overseeing the new pension plan, is the new education minister, replacing Liz Sandals, who becomes president of the Treasury Board.
Michael Chan moves from Citizenship and Immigration to the new Ministry of International Trade while Yasir Naqvi is the new attorney general.
Health minister Eric Hoskins, Finance minister Charles Sousa, and Environment minister Glen Murray kept their portfolios while Bob Chiarelli moved from Energy to Infrastructure, which became a stand-alone ministry.
Economic Development minister Brad Duguid got the word “Growth” added to his title while David Orazietti moved from consumer and government services to be the new minister of community safety and correctional services.
Deputy Premier Deb Matthews is now minister of advanced education and skills development, and also Ontario’s first minister responsible for digital government.
The cabinet shakeup comes with just two years until the next election scheduled for June, 2018 as the Liberals shift from planning to implementing their $8.3-billion climate change action plan, a cap-and-trade scheme for polluters, and a new Ontario pension plan.
“The plan is in place and now, at the mid-point of our mandate, our focus is on implementing our plan so that we can continue to deliver on our top priority—creating jobs and growth,” Wynne said at the swearing-in ceremony.
The premier also said it’s difficult trying to balance skill sets, geographic considerations, as well as gender politics when forming a new executive council.
“Putting a cabinet together is one of the most personally difficult tasks required of a premier, and I can tell you—as I name my third cabinet—it does not get easier,” she said.
“The new cabinet is slightly larger, reflecting our decision to create stand-alone ministries charged with implementing key parts of our plan,” she noted.
Forty percent of the cabinet is women, added Wynne.
Four cabinet veterans resigned last week to make way for the new blood, including Attorney General Madeleine Meilleur, Seniors minister Mario Sergio, Municipal Affairs and Housing minister Ted McMeekin, and cabinet chair Jim Bradley.
