Premier Doug Ford is shuffling the cabinet as the legislature adjourns for the summer

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

Ford’s changes come as the legislature adjourned for an extended summer break – until the end of October – and as the prime minister fueled speculation of a snap election by refusing to commit to waiting until 2026 to go to the polls.

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

Lecce, who has butted heads with teachers’ unions several times over the years, said he was honored to serve in the role but excited to lead the retitled Ministry of Energy and Electrification.

“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 put (Ontario) on the map as one of the top destinations for EVs. construction,” he said Thursday.

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

Several new people were promoted to the cabinet, with new associate minister posts being created and other ministries such as Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs being split in two, increasing the cabinet to 36 people.

One of the new faces in the cabinet is Mike Harris, the former prime minister’s son, who takes over the red tape reduction portfolio, which has been vacant since Parm Gill resigned in January to run for the federal Conservatives.

Steve Clark, who resigned last autumn as municipal affairs and housing minister amid the Greenbelt controversy, has been appointed leader of the government. It’s not a cabinet position, but it’s a key role in government as the person frequently answers questions during question period.

Ford was initially with Clark last summer when the Greenbelt land swap unfolded with two devastating wells.

The integrity commissioner found Clark breached ethics rules during a trial that was marked by “unnecessary haste and deception”.

Integrity Commissioner J. David Wake found that Clark’s chief of staff — who resigned last summer — was the driving force behind the land swap that benefited certain land developers and that the minister failed to – supervise his staff.

Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk found that developers who had access to Clark’s chief of staff, Ryan Amato, finished with 92 percent of the land removed from the Greenbelt. Amato has denied any wrongdoing.

RCMP have since opened a criminal investigation into the Greenbelt land swap.

New Democrat leader Marit Stiles said the moves mean little after a year of scandal and policy reversals.

“Playing musical chairs at the cabinet table isn’t going to fix this mess,” Stiles said. “We now have the most bloated cabinet in Ontario’s history, with the largest office of the premier, the largest deficit, and people are struggling more than they ever have before.”

Stiles also watched Clark’s return to prominence.

“It’s deeply concerning,” she said. “Let’s not forget that this was a minister who resigned in disgrace because of his central role in government and in Doug Ford’s Greenbelt corruption scandal and will now be put in charge with quite an enormous responsibility.”

Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie criticized Ford’s cabinet picks, including giving Clark more responsibilities and not promoting women enough.

“Doug Ford keeps his friends close and his friends even closer,” she wrote in a statement.

“He created the largest cabinet in history – using your money – and it included only nine women.”

Paul Calandra has served as leader of the government house since 2019. He is stepping down from that role but retaining the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing after taking over from Clark. One of his first orders of business was to roll back the changes to the Greenbelt.

Calandra had worn several hats in government, including quietly taking over as bureaucracy minister when Parm Gill left for the federal Conservatives in the spring.

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

Stan Cho moves from long-term care to become Minister of Tourism, Culture and Gaming with responsibility for OLG. Neil Lumsden is Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport from 2022, but will now simply be Minister for Sport.

Natalia Kusendova-Bashta moves from backbenches to long-term care.

Lisa Thompson, who had been minister for agriculture, food and rural affairs, is now only minister for rural affairs, while Rob Flack becomes minister for agriculture, farming and rural affairs. He was previously Associate Minister of Housing.

That role now falls to Vijay Thanigasalam, who was previously the associate minister of transport. This role appears to have been eliminated, but several new Associate Minister posts have been 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 Deputy Minister of Forestry.

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

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on June 6, 2024.

Allison Jones and Liam Casey, The Canadian Press