Struggling Wynne shuffles cabinet, adds 7 new ministers
Cabinet has ballooned to 30 members, including Wynne, up from 27.
Thestar.com
June 13, 2016
By Robert Benzie and Rob Ferguson
It’s out with the old and in with the new as Premier Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals try to shake off the mid-term blues by expanding the cabinet.
Languishing behind Patrick Brown’s Progressive Conservatives in public opinion polls as her party approaches its 13th year in office this fall, Wynne shuffled her ministers on Monday, revamping departments and bringing in seven new backbenchers after four veterans “voluntarily” departed.
Cabinet has ballooned to 30 members, including Wynne, up from 27. There are now 12 women in the executive council, up from eight, making cabinet 40 per cent female.
In contrast, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s similar-sized federal Liberal cabinet boasts gender parity.
New to Wynne’s executive team are MPPs Laura Albanese (York South-Weston), Chris Ballard (Newmarket-Aurora), Marie-France Lalonde (Ottawa-Orléans), Kathryn McGarry (Cambridge), Eleanor McMahon (Burlington), Indira Naidoo-Harris (Halton), and Glenn Thibeault (Sudbury).
The biggest surprise was the promotion to Education of Scarborough-Guildwood MPP Mitzie Hunter, formerly an associate minister of pensions.
Hunter takes over from Liz Sandals, who is now at the Treasury Board.
Another significant change is moving Thibeault, a former NDP MP who defected to the provincial Liberals, to Energy to replace Bob Chiarelli.
Chiarelli, who will oversee a new stand-alone infrastructure department, had some advice for his rookie colleague about the complex electricity system.
“It’s like a Rubik’s Cube. You make a decision in one aspect of the energy sector and it impacts on everything else. That’s been proven to me over and over and over again. So I’m just saying, I hope he’s good at puzzles,” he said.
Thibeault joked that “some people have wished me condolences.”
“The interesting thing about the Rubik’s Cube is I actually had a manual and figured it out ... I’m actually not bad at puzzles,” the energy minister added.
Wynne defended her “slightly larger” cabinet - 11 per cent bigger than before - saying the new departments were needed as the government focuses on priority areas.
“I want our plan implemented. We’ve got some very important items on our plan that need focus and need the energy of a strong ministry,” the premier said.
To that end, Deputy Premier Deb Matthews will take over a rebranded Training, Colleges and Universities ministry now dubbed “Advanced Education and Skills Development.”
Paving the way for Matthews’s new post, the former post-secondary minister, Reza Moridi, clung to his previous side duties at the renamed Ministry of Research, Innovation and Science.
The Liberals’ troubled redesign of services for autistic children led to Tracy MacCharles being demoted to minister responsible for women’s issues and minister responsible for accessibility.
It’s now up to a promoted Children and Youth Services Minister Michael Coteau, formerly at Tourism, Culture and Sport, to try to fix one of the government’s most difficult and emotional files.
Coteau, seen as a future Liberal leadership candidate, will remain minister responsible for anti-racism.
Another potential successor to Wynne, Yasir Naqvi, has been elevated to attorney general from the Ministry of Community Safety. Naqvi, as government house leader, will also continue to be responsible for the political fundraising reform legislation sparked by the Star.
Gone from cabinet are Jim Bradley, 71, minister without portfolio, Seniors Affairs Minister Mario Sergio, 75, Attorney General Madeleine Meilleur, 67, and Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Ted McMeekin, 67, who relinquished their seats so Wynne could bring in fresh blood.
Bradley, a 39-year St. Catharines MPP, served for 18 years in the cabinets of Wynne, Dalton McGuinty and David Peterson.
Still, with Finance Minister Charles Sousa and Health Minister Eric Hoskins staying put, critics suggested the shuffle is much ado about nothing.
In a statement, the Conservatives’ Brown said “this tweaked executive is bloated and tired.”
“After 13 years of Liberal scandal, mismanagement and waste, this remains a stale, tired and self-interested government,” said the Tory leader.
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath was dismissive of the premier’s “superficial reboot.”
“Today’s cabinet shuffle is a public relations exercise by a government that has grown out of touch with Ontarians and more concerned with the fortunes of the Liberal party,” Horwath said in a statement.
Monday was the first time Wynne had rearranged her cabinet since winning the 2014 election.
With Ontarians headed to the polls in two years, the premier believed a mid-mandate shuffle might help get her government back on track.
The Liberals, vying for a fifth consecutive term in June 2018, are facing challenges on other fronts including:
- A https://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2016/06/10/ontarios-bold-but-vague-climate-change-plan-walkom.html - climate change strategyEND to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that will cost the average household $13 a month.
- A new https://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2016/01/04/ontario-pension-plan-will-launch-in-2017-regardless-of-cpp-changes-kathleen-wynne-says.html - Ontario Retirement Pension PlanEND that will reduce take-home pay for millions of workers who don’t have an employers’ pension while forcing their employers to match contributions.
- A massive infrastructure push that entailed the sell-off of much of Hydro One.
Cabinet ministers earn $165,851 compared with $116,550 for backbench MPPs.
