Wynne ministry

The Wynne ministry was the government of Ontario, a province in Canada, from February 11, 2013, to June 29, 2018. It was named after the 25th Premier of Ontario Kathleen Wynne, who chaired the cabinet of this government. Ms. Wynne was invited to form the government upon her election two weeks prior as the leader of Ontario's governing party, the Ontario Liberal Party,

The Wynne ministry inherited a minority governing mandate from the McGuinty ministry, the province's government from 2003 to 2013 of which Ms. Wynne and many members of her ministry were members. At the start of Wynne's premiership, her party commanded a minority that was only one seat shy of majority. It was weakened in the summer of 2013 by three byelection losses, followed by a fourth in February 2014, and the resignation of one of Ms. Wynne's closest ally in March 2013. At the dissolution of the 40th Parliament of Ontario, the government's 48 members faced 58 opposition members across the aisle. Following the election held in June, 2014, the Ontario Liberals regained its majority in the 41st Parliament of Ontario, allowing the Wynne ministry to govern until the party's historic defeat in the 2018 election.

Wynne's inaugural cabinet consisted of 27 members including herself, 11 among them severed for her entire premiership. Five of them held their portfolios for the entire duration of the ministry:

• Charles Sousa at Ministry of Finance
• Michael Gravelle at Ministry of Northern Development and Mines
• Jeff Leal at Ministry of Rural Affairs (including the term after it merged with Ministry of Agriculture and Food)
• Reza Moridi at Ministry of Research, Innovation and Science
• David Zimmer as Minister of Indigenous Affairs.

44 individuals served in the Wynne ministry. The size of her cabinet at one point reached 30 members, the largest cabinet in approximately 30 years. (The short-lived Miller ministry in 1985 had 33 members, the 1987 cabinet of the Peterson ministry also had 30 members) Ironically, Doug Ford, the successor who ousted Wynne partially on a campaign on fiscal restraints, surpassed this number by over 20%, forming the largest cabinet in Ontario history with 37 members in 2024.^[1]

The Wynne ministry was the first significantly racially diverse ministry in the history of Ontario, with nine people of colour, many of them occupying some of the most prominent roles. She appointed to her inaugural cabinet the first two person of Muslim faith to serve in Ontario cabinet - Yasir Naqvi, a trade lawyer born in Pakistan (who was appointed Minister of Labour and later became her Attorney General in the final two years) and Reza Moridi, a nuclear physicist born in Iran (who served as Minister of Research and Innovation for the duration of the ministry), and both served for the full duration of the ministry. She also put two black women, Mitzie Hunter and Indira Naidoo-Harris in charge of Ministry Education, one of the largest and most sensitive provincial portfolio, and a ministry she herself once headed.

As the first female Premier of Ontario, Wynne brought 18 other women into her cabinet. High-profile woman cabinet members include Deb Matthews and Liz Sandals, both of whom filled multiple vital roles including Deputy Premier and Minister of Education. While shy of having reached gender parity, her ministry surpassed the previous records of number and proportion of women presence in cabinet, both previously set by the McGuinty ministry in August 2010 (with 11 women in a cabinet of 26). Wynne's final cabinet, with 13 women out of 28, or 46%, remains the largest number and highest proportion of women in Ontario cabinet to date.

Premier Wynne was also the first openly gay Premier in Canada. In addition to her, Glen Murray was also openly gay.

During her five-year premiership, Wynne conducted two major cabinet shuffles. At its inauguration and on these two occasions, all ministers, including those retaining their portfolio, took their oaths of office. The composition of cabinet also saw minor changes on a number of occasions.

Premier Wynne first secure her legislative seat in 2003, and was the first out lesbian elected to a legislature in Canada.^[a] She served in the cabinet of her predecessor Dalton McGuinty from 2006 to 2012, having held key portfolios including education, transportation, and municipal affairs. She resigned from the McGuinty ministry in late 2012 to contest the party leadership and secured a surprise come-from-behind victory over former cabinet colleague Sandra Pupatello.

The Wynne ministry was inaugurated on February 11, 2013.^[2] It numbered 27 cabinet members, 17 of them with previous cabinet experience from the McGuinty Ministry and 10 new ministers. The composition of her new team was influenced by the recent leadership contest in a number of notable ways:

• All ten caucus supporters of Wynne's leadership bid were included in the cabinet. The five incumbent ministers were all given prominent roles - Deb Matthews, Wynne's most trusted confidant in caucus and chair of her come-from-behind leadership leadership bid, was named Deputy Premier while retaining her role running the largest ministry in the government as Minister of Health and Long Term Care. Linda Jeffrey, a loyal ally who urged Wynne to contest the leadership and the first incumbent minister to endorsed her leadership bid, was named chair of cabinet in addition to being promoted to head Wynne's former portfolio of municipal affairs and housing. John Gerretsen, the most senior caucus members among her supporters and a contestant in the 1996 contest, remained Attorney General. Ted McMeekin, one of the most prominent left-leaning voices in caucus with a social justice background, was named Minister of Community and Social Services. Erstwhile rival Glen Murray, who dropped out of race before the convention and campaigned with Wynne in the contest's final two weeks, was given two crucial portfolios with large budget, transportation as well as the infrastructure.
• The five other caucus members who supported her leadership bid were all promoted to cabinet, most prominent among them Liz Sandals, who was named Minister of Education.
• Wynne included in her cabinet all four of her leadership rivals who were in caucus at the time, with significant promotions for the three who backed her on the final ballot. In addition to Murray, Charles Sousa was promoted to be her Minister of Finance. Eric Hoskins, who's dramatic move on the convention floor gave her a major momentum boost was named Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Employment.
• Fulfilling one of her campaign promises, Wynne served as the inaugural agriculture minister for the ministry's first year, sharing the portfolio with newly appointed Minister of Rural Affairs Jeff Leal, who took over the entire portfolio after a year.
• Among the 17 minister who served in the previous McGuinty ministry were members with extensive ministerial experience. Jim Bradley (appointed Minister of the Environment) was the most experienced cabinet member, with over fourteen years of service, spanning the entire durations of the two previous Liberal ministries of Premiers David Peterson (1985–1990) and Dalton McGuinty (2003–2013). Gerretsen (remained Attorney General), Madeleine Meilleur (remained Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services), and Takhar (resumed Minister of Government Services) all served for the entire duration of the McGuinty ministry. Wynne retained most of her former cabinet colleagues, and almost all the ministers exited have previously signaled their intention to retire from politics either publicly or internally. The only reported involuntary departure was Margarett Best, who would in turn resign her seat shortly after.
• Wynne promoted into cabinet three backbench supporters of frontrunner Sandra Pupatello, including aforementioned Leal, and also Teresa Piruzza (who was previously Pupatello's aide and local campaign manager), and David Orazietti (who mused of his own bid in the early months of the contest). These moves very likely have made the difference between majority and minority the following year, as it would have been highly unlikely for the Liberals to retain Leal and Orazietti's seats were they not the candidates.

While the new cabinet notionally created two new ministries - the Ministry of Rural Affair from Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the re-creation of the Ministry of Research and Innovation from the Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation, no legislation was passed to execute a formal administrative reorganization. Those ministers were assigned authorities over specific policy area of the parent ministries via orders-in-council. As noted above, the Agriculture & Food portfolio were reunited with Rural Affairs under Leal a year later. The Ministry of Research and Innovation's deputy minister (the top civil servant of the ministry) was a cross appointment of the deputy minister for economic development throughout, and their budget was included in the estimates and supply of the economic development ministry.

The cabinet included eight women, including the aforementioned Matthews, Jeffrey, Sandals, Meilleur, Piruzza and Wynne herself; along with holdovers from the McGuinty ministry Laurel Broten; and newly appointed Tracey MacCharles.

Of the 27 cabinet members, John Milloy (as government house leader) and Mario Sergio (as minister responsible for seniors issues) were ministers without portfolio. Milloy soon resumed being a portfolio minister upon the resignation of a colleague in three months later.

Two members of cabinet, however, were not long for service. Harinder Takhar resigned from cabinet, but not from the legislature, for health concerns on May 8,^[3] yielding his position as Chair of Management Board to Finance Minister Sousa, and his long-held position as Minister of Government Services to Milloy. Laurel Broten resigned her position as Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and her seat in the legislature in June.^[4] Wynne as Premier assumed her intergovernmental affairs portfolio, a routine practice for that portfolio (five of the seven Premiers since the position's creation served as their own Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs), and assigned responsibility for women's issues to Piruzza.

Wynne's minority ministry tabled its first budget on March 21, 2013, with measures that included a $295 million investment into a youth jobs strategy to help tackle the high youth unemployment rate, reducing auto insurance rates by 15 per cent to save motorists $225 a year, $260 million investment to boost home care health services for 46,000 seniors, $45 million investment into an Ontario Music Fund to help Ontario musicians, a $200 per month earnings exemption for those on Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program, $5 million into First Nations education, elimination of the employers health tax exemption for large companies, postponed tax cuts for big businesses, extended the capital cost allowance for machinery and equipment, increased the Ontario Child Benefit from $1,100 to $1,310 per year to support low-income families and other economic measures. PC leader Tim Hudak had earlier said that he would not support the budget regardless of its contents. He said, "the sooner there's a change in government, the better it is to give hope to people in the province who have lost hope." The many social investment included in the budget made it very difficult for the New Democratic Party to reject however. Wynne's ministry survived its first major test of parliamentary confidence on June 11, 2013, with the budget passed by a vote of 64 for and all 36 PC members against.

Wynne's tenuous hold on power suffered a significant setback over the summer. By the time the legislature rose for the summer, five members of the McGuinty ministry has resigned their seat: former finance minister Dwight Duncan, former Attorney General and Energy Minister Chris Bentley, the aforementioned Broten and Best. All five were re-elected in 2011 by reasonably comfortable margin. On August 1, the Liberals lost three of the five by-elections. Incumbent city councillor Peter Milczyn was defeated by Toronto Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday in Broten's Etobicoke—Lakeshore in a competitive fight (but would revenge the loss less than a year later). Their candidates in Bentley's London West and Duncan's Windsor—Tecumseh both faces controversy however, and finished a distant third. The Liberals retained McGuinty's Ottawa South (but with much reduced margin) with John Fraser, a long-time McGuinty aide who would serve multiple stints as interim party leader in opposition years later, and Best's Scarborough—Guildwood with a star recruit, CivicAction's CEO Mitzie Hunter in a tight three-way contest featuring former TTC Chair Adam Giambrone as the NDP candidate. The losses in Windsor and London foreshadowed the total collapse of Liberal support in southwestern Ontario in the following decade. The losses also significantly diminished the Libearals' hopes for flipping the minority for a bare majority.

On March 25, Wynne's ally Linda Jeffrey resigned from parliament for a bid to oust Brampton's scandal-plagued mayor.^[5] Jeffrey was elected mayor of Brampton later that year. Her resignation triggered a small shuffle impacting a handful of minister. The title Chair of Cabinet was assumed by John Gerretsen, who announced in the previous year announced his intention to not seek reelection and agreed to remain in cabinet as a minister without portfolio until the election.

The minor shuffle saw the promotion of two veteran caucus member into cabinet for the first time, and the promotion of two existing ministers. Gerretsen relinquished the prestigious role as Attorney General to long-time cabinet colleague Madeleine Meilleur, who became Ontario first francophone Attorney General. Meilleur's community safety portfolio went to Yasir Naqvi. Naqvi's labour portfolio went to Kevin Flynn, while Jeffrey's municipal affairs and housing portfolio went to Bill Mauro, who served on Thunder Bay City Council for over 15 years before elected MPP. Both new ministers were veteran first elected as part of the class of 2003 with Wynne.

With this shuffle cabinet numbered 26 ministers, though the number of women dropped to six.

Following posturing by the opposition NDP's against a tabled budget^[6], Wynne moved preemptively and sought the legislature's dissolution on May 2, 2014. The 2014 Ontario general election was held on June 12, and resulted in a slim 4-seat Liberal majority (58 out of 107 seats).^[7] With a renewed mandate, Wynne set out to assemble a new cabinet, which was sworn in June 24.^[8] The major cabinet shuffle saw the formal exit of three ministers: Teresa Piruzza from Windsor, the only cabinet member defeated, and John Gerretsen and John Milloy who did not seek re-election.

Wynne is known to have often expressed her firm view that prior experience as a backbencher is crucial in preparing someone for their ministerial career. According it was not surprising that she did not elevate any rookie caucus members into cabinet. The shuffle ushered in four first time ministers, two of them having won their seats in byelections in the previous parliament.

• Future Liberal Party leader Steven Del Duca, as Minister of Transportation
• Helena Jaczek as Minister of Community and Social Services
• Dipika Damerla and Mitzie Hunter were appointed ministers without portfolio but were styled as "associate ministers". Damerla was named as associate health minister responsible for long term care and wellness, to assist newly appointed health minister Eric Hoskins, who was grappling with ongoing spending scandals involving Ornge Air^[9] and electronic health records. Hunter was made an associate minister of finance minister Charles Sousa for the establishment of the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan.

There were several further instances of re-organisation of ministries. Again, the reassignments of authorities were done through orders-in-council, and most of them were not followed by permanent change in the ministries establishing statues:

• The most significant reorganization was the re-creation of the Treasury Board Secretariat, to be headed by a minister titled President of the Treasury Board. In a move reversing parts of multiple reorganizations that took place over decades, the central agency known as Management Board Secretariat since 1971 would resume its former name. Deputy Premier Deb Matthews was named the new President of Treasury Board, and was assigned authorities related to the expense control from the finance minister, and public service collective bargaining function from the government service minister, with an explicit mandate to freeze wage increases to combat the deficit.
• Matthews' health portfolio was given to Eric Hoskins, who was struggling at economic development and as a physician has long coveted the portfolio.
• A frequent target of political rebranding and turf rivalry, the economic development portfolio was substantially realigned. In a move that can be traced back to multiple precedents, Brad Duguid resumed the role of economic development minister, the prized role he held in the final year of the McGuinty ministry, but losing the trade portion of the portfolio while absorbing another full portfolio he also held in the past, the Ministry of Infrastructure, last headed by him in 2010 when it was combined with the energy ministry. Duguid took the new title Minister of Economic Development, Employment and Infrastructure. Following a 2008 precedent, the trade portion was once again carved out of the economic development portfolio, and was handed to Michael Chan, who also took on the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration. Neither of these pairing would endure beyond the next shuffle.
• Ministry of Government and Consumer Services was reestablished by combining the "Ministry of Government Services" and "Ministry of Consumer Service", to be helmed by David Orazietti.
• Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs was reestablished, with rural affairs minister Jeff Leal assuming the entire portfolio.
• Ministry of Environment was renamed "Ministry of Environment and Climate Change" and assigned to Glen Murray with an enhanced mandate to combat the effects of climate change.

Other moves impacting key ministries in the government, some with impact to the Liberals' fortune later:

• Bill Mauro moved to Natural Resources, with Forestry added to the ministry's name, and his briefly held municipal affairs portfolio going to Ted McMeekin, also a former long time municipal councillor and mayor.
• Reza Moridi was given the additional role of Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, the portfolio with the third largest operating budget after health and education, in addition to his existing role as Minister of Research and Innovation. While his academic background made him seems suitable the additional role, his patrician style would later proved ill-suited for handling the rough-and-tumble stakeholders of the skill trade files.
• Tracy MacCharles became Minister of Children and Youth Services, thrusting her soon after into the contentious autism file that became a major pain point for the government

Jim Bradley, who was newly appointed cabinet chair, and Mario Sergio remained in cabinet as ministers without portfolio. The number of women in cabinet rose to eight; incumbent cabinet member Tracy MacCharles was named Minister Responsible for Women's Issues, succeeding the outgoing Piruzza.

Most members of cabinet were involved in this shuffle (or the March 25 shuffle) in some way, including high-profile moves involving the aforementioned Duguid, Hoskins, Matthews, Meilleur, and Naqvi. Only Bob Chiarelli (Minister of Energy), Michael Gravelle (Northern Development and Mines), Mario Sergio (Minister without portfolio Responsible for Seniors), and David Zimmer (Minister of Aboriginal Affairs) remained unchanged in their roles.

After two years with no change to her cabinet, an extraordinary feat in modern politics, Wynne executed an major cabinet shuffle on June 13, the approximate midpoint till the next election,^[10] with the stated objective for bringing in new blood to ready for the next election. Given the gender-balance cabinet formed by the federal liberals late in the previous years, she also faced face pressure to improve the gender balance of her front bench team. These concurrent demands led to the exit of four veteran ministers, the elevations of seven new ministers including five women, and the largest cabinet in Ontario in 30 years.

In a move that made international news, municipal affairs minister Ted McMeekin, considered among the most left-leaning ministers, wrote in a social media post a week prior to the shuffle that he would be resigning, noting, "Sometimes the best way for a man to advance the equality of women may be to step back and make room at the table."^[11] This was followed by announcement by seniors' issue minister Mario Sergio and cabinet chair Jim Bradley, a 39 years veteran and the only person to have served in cabinet throughout all three liberal ministries of the past 30 years, of their resignations also for the expressed purpose of making room for new blood. All three indicated they will continue to serve as backbench members of the government. In the same week, Attorney General Madeleine Meilleur also announced her resignation not only from cabinet but also from the legislature.

Similar to the major shuffle in 2014, all members of the new cabinet took their oath of offices in a formal ceremony, this time taking place in the main hall way of the legislature instead of inside the legislative chamber. Seven new ministers joined cabinet, including five who were first elected in the 2014 elections - Chris Ballard, Marie-France Lalonde, Kathryn McGarry, Eleanor McMahon, Indira Naidoo-Harris, and Glenn Thibeault, a former NDP who gained a seat for the liberals in a byelection despite an ongoing a criminal probe over his nomination (which did not implicate Thibeault, but led to a high profile criminal prosecution against the Liberals campaign chief and Wynne's deputy chief of staff Pat Sorbara and a long time party elder in Thibeault's electoral district), along with Laura Albanese, who was Wynne's Parliamentary Assistant in her first year as Premier.

Key moves and reorganizations include

• Deputy Premier Deb Matthews assumed the renamed role Minister of Advanced Education and Skills Development, formerly Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities from Reza Moridi, who retained the much smaller portfolio of Research and Innovation, renamed "Ministry of Research, Innovation and Science"
• Mitzie Hunter was given charge of the important Ministry of Education from Liz Sandals, who would soon reach 70 years old and was widely expected to not contest the next election, taking on the crucial but much lower profile process role of President of Treasury Board
• Glenn Thibeault, a rookie minister, was given the high profile and highly sensitive role of Minister of Energy
• In another first for the role, Yasir Naqvi assumed the prestigious Attorney General role, the first person of colour in that role, with his community safety portfolio going to David Orazietti
• Reversing the reorganizations in the previous shuffle, Economic Development and Infrastructure were decoupled, with incumbent minister Brad Duguid retaining the portfolio with a new title of Minister of Economic Development and Growth and the Infrastructure portfolio returning to its former minister Bob Chiarelli. Similarly, Citizenship and Immigration and Trade were was decoupled, with incumbent minister Michael Chan staying as trade minister, and the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration going to newcomer Laura Albanese.
• Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing was divided, with former minister Bill Mauro resuming charge of municipal affairs and the housing portfolio, assigned to newcomer Chris Ballard, who was also named "Minister Responsible for Poverty Reduction."
• Minister of Aboriginal Affairs was renamed Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation, with incumbent minister David Zimmer given an expanded mandate to formulate the government's respond to relevant recommendations released by the by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2015.
• Having sustained much heat for her handling of the autism file, Tracy MacCharles relinquished her children and youth services portfolio to Michael Coteau, and became a minister without portfolio responsible for women's issues.

With this shuffle, the number of women increased to twelve, bringing the proportion of women in cabinet to 40%. I^[12] This set a new record for the number women in Ontario cabinet at any given time. Surpassing previous record of 11 set by the McGuinty ministry in August 2010, but left the record of proportion presence to a later shuffle.

Among those few retaining high-profile portfolios were Steven Del Duca remaining at Ministry of Transportation, Eric Hoskins remaining at Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, and Charles Sousa at Ministry of Finance

Shortly after the shuffle, the role of associate finance minister was rendered redundant by an agreement with federal government on CPP.^[13] Incumbent minister Indira Naidoo-Harris was assigned a new role on August 24 as associate education minister with responsibility for early years and child care.

On January 12, Wynne reorganised several ministries, mostly on the basis of changes to ministerial responsibilities:^[14]

• Ministry of Senior Affairs was created, elevating the portfolio (held by incumbent minister without portfolio responsible for senior affairs Dipika Damerla) to the status of a full ministry.
• Ministry of Women's Issues (soon renamed "Ministry of the Status of Women") was created, and was assigned to Indira Naidoo-Harris, who retained responsibility of early years and child care.
• Responsibility for small business, part of the economic development portfolio, was assigned to agriculture minister Jeff Leal, to relieve economic development minister Brad Duguid in anticipation of challenges from a newly elected Trump administration that had campaigned on a punitive renegotiation NAFTA.

A few weeks prior, David Orazietti resigned from parliament. His Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services was transferred to Marie-France Lalonde, while Lalonde's Ministry of Government and Consumer Services was given to Tracy MacCharles.

On July 31, yet another area of ministerial responsibility was elevated to the status of full ministry:^[15]

• Ministry of Francophone Affairs was created and assigned to incumbent Minister Responsible for Francophone Affairs Marie-France Lalonde, who also remained at her post as Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services.

Glen Murray resigned from parliament this month as well, his environment portfolio went to new minister Peter Milczyn. The number of cabinet members remained unchanged at 29.

On January 17, Wynne exited a number of veterans who have announced their pending retirement from politics at the next election: Brad Duguid, Deb Matthews, and Liz Sandals.^[16] They were replaced at their respective ministries by Steven Del Duca at Ministry of Economic Development and Growth, Mitzie Hunter at Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development, and Eleanor McMahon as President of Treasury Board. Their vacancies in Cabinet were filled by newly appointed cabinet ministers Nathalie Des Rosiers, Harinder Malhi, and Daiene Vernile, all of whom took low profile portfolios. The three new additions represented the last new faces to join Wynne's ministry. Helena Jaczek further took over as Chair of Cabinet from Matthews, while the position of Deputy Premier went into disuse for the remainder of the ministry.

With this shuffle, the number of cabinet members remained steady at 29, and the number of women increased to thirteen, or 45%, surpassing the previous record of 42% record set by the McGuinty ministry.

On February 26, the last cabinet change occurred, as Wynne lost a fourth high-profile cabinet minister in the run up to the election^[17] with the resignation of Eric Hoskins. He was replaced as Minister of Health and Long Term Care by Helena Jaczek, a former chief medical officer of health of York Region.

The results of the June 7, 2018 Ontario general election were catastrophic for the governing Liberal Party and for Wynne's cabinet alike.^[18] Of the 26 cabinet ministers who contested their seats (Michael Chan and Tracy MacCharles ended up not contesting the election), only six were returned, including Wynne herself, Michael Coteau, Nathalie Des Rosiers, Michael Gravelle, Mitzie Hunter, and Marie-France Lalonde, as the party itself only managed a total of seven seats in the 42nd Parliament of Ontario.