After his historic win of a third majority government, Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s unveiling of his new cabinet was a bit anti-climatic.
The ceremony took place at the Royal Ontario Museum – among the dinosaur exhibits several media pundits enjoyed pointing out. The resulting cabinet team was largely more of the same (large being the operative word as this remains the largest cabinet Ontario has ever had) with some interesting tweaks to respond to current challenges.
Facing an unprecedented tariff war and attacks on Canada’s sovereignty all launched by U.S. President Donald Trump, Ford decided that keeping his strongest players in place in key portfolios was the wisest approach.
“Ontario is facing one of the most pressing and significant challenges in the history of our province”, the Premier said, introducing the new line-up.
It was clearly his view that this is not the time for on-the-job training as he kept such steady stalwarts in cabinet as Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy. Managing the economic fall-out from a tariff war and crafting support programs for impacted companies and workers is going to prove a complicated, not to mention expensive endeavour.
Also staying in place is Vic Fedeli, Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. The success of his persistent courting of potential new investors, particularly in the automotive industry is at risk of being seriously damaged by a tariff war.
The most interesting cabinet pick was Paul Calandra as the new Minister of Education, moving from his former post at Municipal Affairs and Housing. Known as a “fixer,” Calandra had been moved to the municipal post to clean up the controversy over the government’s attempts to develop land in the protected greenbelt. While the issue still awaits the results of an RCMP investigation, Calandra successfully moved it off the front pages in time for the election.
Education is frequently regarded as the most political of the government’s portfolios. Everyone has been to school, has kids or grandkids in school or a relative who is a teacher. The teachers’ unions are notoriously intractable, having fought with provincial governments of every political stripe.
Former Education Minister Stephen Lecce managed the portfolio well, achieving new union agreements without the usual protracted labour disruptions. But it will take a deft political touch and good communication skills to do it again.
It is unusual for one minister to comment on the post of another during the post cabinet shuffle media scrum, but Lecce had good words to say about his successor. He called Calandra an experienced leader, noting that his management style would be helpful during the next round of union negotiations.
Lecce himself keeps his current role as minister of energy. He has launched several initiatives to both strengthen our energy grid and ensure that it can produce the energy the province’s economy needs, particularly as more and more functions become electrified.
Ford also added mining to Lecce’s responsibilities, in the hopes that Lecce’s own reputation for getting things done can break through the many barriers hampering the speed with which Ontario can extract its valuable minerals.
Another solid cabinet performer who was promoted is Todd McCarthy. He moves from the public and business services delivery post to environment, a portfolio that also requires careful handling in an era of climate change.
Some observers were surprised that Ford did not move Health Minister Sylvia Jones in response to voters’ concerns about the state of the province’s health care system. While voters’ first priority was responding to Trump, health was a strong sub-theme. Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie tried but was unable to successfully exploit the issue. But it has not gone away.
The government has launched several major initiatives to address the problems, but they will take time to create the impact voters will notice. It looks like Ford is giving the minister more time to make it happen.
And for those who appreciate interesting political tidbits, Ford appointed Mike Harris Jr., son of former premier Mike Harris, to the Ministry of Natural Resources. That was the former premier’s first portfolio.
All in all, the new cabinet is very much “steady as she goes” designed to focus on the crisis at hand.
Janet Ecker is a former Ontario Finance Minister, Minister of Education, Minister of Community and Social Services and Government House Leader in the governments of Premier Mike Harris and Premier Ernie Eves. After her political career, she served as the founding CEO of the Toronto Financial Services Alliance, a public-private partnership dedicated to building Toronto region into an international financial centre. She currently sits on a number of corporate and non-profit boards, agencies and advisory committees.
Ms. Ecker received the Order of Canada for her public service contributions and was recognized as one of the “Most Influential People in the World’s Financial Centres” by Financial Centres International. She also received a “Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award” from the Women’s Executive Network and the Richard Ivey School of Business, among other awards. She is also one of the founders of Equal Voice, a national, multi-partisan organization working to elect more women.
