Kathleen Wynne plans cabinet changes, improved transit
Armed with a majority mandate - and promising a revamped cabinet - Premier Kathleen Wynne expects local mayors to climb aboard $15-billion transit plan for the Greater Toronto-Hamilton Area.

Thestar.com
June 18, 2014
By Robert Benzie

Armed with a majority mandate - and promising a revamped cabinet - Premier Kathleen Wynne expects local mayors to climb aboard her $15-billion transit plan for the Greater Toronto-Hamilton Area.

In her first sit-down interview since leading the Liberals to victory in the provincial election last Thursday, Wynne told the Star that “there will be changes for sure” in her executive council.

“People will find out in the next week or so. I have a lot of talented people in my caucus,” she said in her office at Queen’s Park before attending her first meeting with Grit MPPs.

“There may be some changes within and you may see some new people in. There are some spaces.”

The premier cautioned her 16 rookie MPPs not to expect ministerial posts right away.

“My belief is that it is very valuable as a new MPP to have the opportunity to do committee work, to get to understand how government works. I benefitted from that and I’ve watched since 2003 and I think people do benefit from that.”

The Liberals won 58 seats in the 107-member legislature to 28 for Tim Hudak’s Progressive Conservatives and 21 for Andrea Horwath’s New Democrats.

Wynne, who has committed $15 billion for transit in the GTHA and an additional $14 billion for transportation projects in the rest of the province, said curbing gridlock is a top priority.

In the campaign, she touted Metrolinx’s Big Move plan, which includes expanded light-rail, and electrifying GO Train lines with more frequent all-day, two-way service.

With civic elections in October, the premier said she hopes the mayors of Toronto, Mississauga, Vaughan, and other municipalities in the region will work with her on transit.

“If we think that we can continue to make decisions based...on a parochial jurisdictional basis we are going to miss a huge economic opportunity,” said Wynne.

“(Retiring Mississauga Mayor) Hazel McCallion is great on this and she’ll be pushing very hard from wherever she’s sitting to get us to think about the regional transit in the Greater Toronto-Hamilton Area,” she said.

When it was noted Toronto mayoralty hopeful John Tory’s Smart Track transit strategy dovetails with her Liberal government’s plans, the premier smiled.

“I don’t know if John Tory was betting on me,” Wynne said with a laugh before emphasizing she is remaining neutral in all the civic contests.

“I’ve been careful not to weigh in.

“But I will say I very much hope that whoever is the mayor of Toronto, and quite frankly whoever is the mayor of Mississauga and the regional mayors, that they will all be mayors who have a regional view of transit in the Greater Toronto-Hamilton Area and who want to work with the provincial government and the plan that we’ve laid out.”

Wynne said “having mayors in all of those municipalities that understand...the regional vision is going to be the best for their constituencies” is “extremely important for me.”

The premier also spoke of the historic nature of her triumph - it’s the first successful transition of leaders within the same Ontario party since Progressive Conservative premier John Robarts passed the torch to Bill Davis in 1971.

“It’s a long time,” she said, acknowledging she hasn’t yet chatted with her controversial predecessor, former premier Dalton McGuinty, now a fellow at Harvard University.

“I’ve heard from him. We’ve communicated by email,” said Wynne, conceding that McGuinty’s cancellation of two gas-fired power plants in Oakville and Mississauga before the 2011 election dogged her campaign.

“There’s no doubt there were issues...we all know that. There were issues that I had to deal with and I’ve dealt with them and I’ve made changes. I never dissociated myself from the achievements of the government that I was part of because I’m proud of them,” she said, admitting she looks forward to governing with a majority after the challenges of a minority.

“We’ve been able to do that and win a majority government. For me, that validates the work that I’ve done for the last 16 months and it validates the work that we did from 2003.”