Doug Ford shuffles cabinet, including education and energy ministers

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TORONTO — Ontario Premier Doug Ford swapped his energy and education ministers in a cabinet shuffle Thursday and brought a minister who resigned over the Greenbelt controversy back into the fold.

Ford’s changes come as the legislature rose for an extended summer break — to late October — and as the premier has been fuelling early election speculation by refusing to commit to waiting until 2026 to go to the polls.

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Stephen Lecce moves from education, where he has served as minister since 2019, to energy, swapping portfolios with Todd Smith, who has been the minister of energy for the past three years.

Lecce, who butted heads with teachers unions many times over the years, said he was honoured to serve in that role but is excited to lead the re-titled Ministry of Energy and Electrification.

“In order to grow the economy, with millions of people coming to our shores and significant industry moving to Ontario, including the fact that under our previous leadership, we’ve put (Ontario) on the map as one of the primary destinations for EV construction,” he said Thursday.

“We need a significant supply of affordable, reliable energy for the people of Ontario. We will build the energy capacity we will need to supply the energy to grow our economy.”

Several new people have been promoted into cabinet, with new associate minister positions being created and some other ministries such as Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs being split into two, bringing the size of cabinet to 36 people.

One of the new faces in cabinet is Mike Harris, the son of the former premier, and he takes over the red-tape reduction portfolio, which has been vacant since Parm Gill resigned in January to run for the federal Conservatives.

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Steve Clark, who resigned last fall as municipal affairs and housing minister amid the Greenbelt controversy, has been appointed government house leader. It’s not a cabinet position, but is a key role within the government, as that person frequently fields the questions in question period.

Paul Calandra had served as government house leader since 2019. He sheds that role but retains the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

The ministers of health, finance, and colleges and universities, and environment are among those who are staying put.

Stan Cho moves from long-term care to become minister of tourism, culture and gaming, with responsibility for OLG. Neil Lumsden has been minister of tourism, culture and sport since 2022 but will now simply be minister of sport.

Natalia Kusendova-Bashta moves from the backbenches into long-term care.

Lisa Thompson, who had been minister of agriculture, food and rural affairs, is now only minister of rural affairs, while Rob Flack becomes minister of farming, agriculture and agribusiness. He previously served as associate minister of housing.

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That role now goes to Vijay Thanigasalam, who previously served as associate minister of transportation. That role appears to have been done away with, but several new associate minister positions were created.

Stephen Crawford enters cabinet as associate minister of mines, Trevor Jones joins the cabinet table as associate minister of emergency preparedness and response, and Nolan Quinn becomes associate minister of forestry.

Sam Oosterhoff, who became Ontario’s youngest-ever member of provincial parliament in 2016 when he was elected in a byelection at the age of 19, is now in cabinet as associate minister of energy-intensive industries.

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