Ontario Premier Doug Ford shuffles cabinet
CBC
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.
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, 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.
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.
Ford initially stood by Clark last summer as the Greenbelt land swap unravelled with two devastating probes.
The integrity commissioner found Clark violated ethics rules during a process that was marked by "unnecessary hastiness and deception."
Integrity commissioner J. David Wake found Clark's chief of staff — who also resigned last summer — was the driving force behind the land swap that benefited certain land developers, and that the minister failed to oversee his staff.
Auditor general Bonnie Lysyk found that developers who had access to Clark's chief of staff, Ryan Amato, wound up with 92 per cent of the land taken out of the Greenbelt. Amato has denied all wrongdoing.
The RCMP has since opened up a criminal investigation into the Greenbelt land swap.