Ontario cabinet shuffle: Lecce out of education, Clark back as House Leader

Long-time Education Minister Stephen Lecce is moving to the energy portfolio and former Housing Minister Steve Clark is back in a late-day provincial cabinet shuffle Thursday.

Clark has been appointed the Government House Leader. He resigned in September after a scathing report from the province’s integrity commissioner found he violated ethics rules when Ontario opened up parts of the protected Greenbelt for development.

Lecce, who has been Education Minister since 2019, will head the Ministry of Energy and Electrification, swapping with MPP Todd Smith who becomes the new Minister of Education.

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.”

Other notable changes include rookie MPP Natalia Kusendova-Bashta who moves from the backbenches to become the Minister of Long-Term Care, taking over for Stan Cho. MPP Cho will be the new 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.

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.

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.

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

In a release, Premier Ford said, “As our province and economy continue to grow, this is the team that is working side-by-side with workers, businesses, labour partners, Indigenous leaders and every member of Team Ontario to rebuild our economy.”

Biggest cabinet in Ontario political history

The moves bring the size of the cabinet to 36 people, the biggest in Ontario political history.

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 the history of Ontario, with the biggest premier’s office, the biggest deficit and people are struggling more than they ever have before.”

Stiles also took aim at 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 the government and Doug Ford’s Greenbelt corruption scandal and now he’s going to be put in charge of it with pretty enormous responsibility.”

The RCMP has opened a criminal investigation into the Greenbelt land swap.

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

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

“He’s created the biggest cabinet in history – using your money – and he only included nine women.”

A full list of the changes include:

• Steve Clark becomes Government House Leader
• Todd Smith becomes Minister of Education
• Stephen Lecce becomes Minister of Energy and Electrification
• Natalia Kusendova-Bashta becomes Minister of Long-Term Care
• Todd McCarthy becomes Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement, with responsibility for Supply Ontario
• Greg Rickford becomes Minister of Indigenous Affairs and First Nations Economic Reconciliation
• Stan Cho becomes Minister of Tourism, Culture and Gaming
• Graydon Smith becomes Minister of Natural Resources
• Neil Lumsden becomes Minister of Sport
• Lisa Thompson becomes Minister of Rural Affairs
• Mike Harris becomes Minister of Red Tape Reduction

The last cabinet shuffle happened in September 2023 when Labour Minister Monte McNaughton announced he would be leaving provincial politics to take a job in the private sector.

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MPP minister policy areas post-June 6 cabinet shuffle

MPP after June 6, 2024 shuffle	Policy Area
Doug Ford	Premier
Doug Ford	Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs
Sylvia Jones	Deputy Premier
Sylvia Jones	Minister of Health
Peter Bethlenfalvy	Minister of Finance
Paul Calandra	Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing
Raymond Cho	Minister of Seniors and Accessibility
Stan Cho	Minister of Tourism, Culture and Gaming, with responsibility for OLG
Doug Downey	Attorney General
Jill Dunlop	Minister of Colleges and Universities
Vic Fedeli	Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade
Rob Flack	Minister of Farming, Agriculture and Agribusiness
Michael Ford	Minister of Citizenship and Multiculturalism
Mike Harris	Minister of Red Tape Reduction
Michael Kerzner	Solicitor General
Andrea Khanjin	Minister of Environment, Conservation and Parks
Natalia Kusendova-Bashta	Minister of Long-Term Care
Stephen Lecce	Minister of Energy and Electrification
Neil Lumsden	Minister of Sport
Todd McCarthy	Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement, with responsibility for Supply Ontario
Michael Parsa	Minister of Children, Community and Social Services
Caroline Mulroney	Minister of Francophone Affairs
Caroline Mulroney	President of the Treasury Board
David Piccini	Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development
George Pirie	Minister of Mines
Greg Rickford	Minister of Northern Development
Greg Rickford	Minister of Indigenous Affairs and First Nations Economic Reconciliation
Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria	Minister of Transportation
Graydon Smith	Minister of Natural Resources
Todd Smith	Minister of Education
Kinga Surma	Minister of Infrastructure
Lisa Thompson	Minister of Rural Affairs
Stephen Crawford	Associate Minister of Mines
Trevor Jones	Associate Minister of Emergency Preparedness and Response as part of Treasury Board Secretariat
Sam Oosterhoff	Associate Minister of Energy-Intensive Industries as part of the Ministry of Energy and Electrification
Nolan Quinn	Associate Minister of Forestry as part of the Ministry of Natural Resources
Nina Tangri	Associate Minister of Small Business as part of the Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade
Vijay Thanigasalam	Associate Minister of Housing as part of the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing
Michael Tibollo	Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions as part of the Ministry of Health
Charmaine Williams	Associate Minister of Women’s Social and Economic Opportunity as part of the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services

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MPP minister policy areas pre-June 6 cabinet shuffle

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With files from The Canadian Press