Bay of Quinte MPP Smith named to cabinet and Government House Leader
Administrator | Jun 29, 2018 | Comments 11
MPP Todd Smith receives the Great Seal of Ontario from Lt.-Gov. Elizabeth Dowdeswell. Premier Doug Ford, at right, looks on.
Bay of Quinte MPP Todd Smith has been named Minister of Government and Consumer Services, and accepted the Great Seal of Ontario, this morning as Queen’s Park’s new Government House Leader.
Smith took his oath of office this morning after Doug Ford was sworn in as Ontario’s 26th premier at Queen’s Park. The ceremony was presided over by Lt.-Gov. Elizabeth Dowdeswell. There are 14 men and seven women in Ford’s cabinet.
As Government House Leader, Smith will lead during Question Period when the Premier is unavailable.
Ford named his former rival for the PC party leadership, Christine Elliott, as his deputy premier and minister of health. Caroline Mulroney, who also sought the Tory leadership earlier this year, has been named Attorney-General and minister responsible for francophone affairs.
Vic Fedeli was named finance minister, a key role as the new premier has promised to slash income taxes, cancel the province’s cap-and-trade system on carbon emissions and return Ontario to a budget surplus by the end of his four-year mandate.
The full cabinet of 21, including Ford, is:
Peter Bethlenfalvy, President of the Treasury Board.
Raymond Cho, Minister of Seniors and Accessibility
Steve Clark, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing
Christine Elliott, Minister of Health and Long-Term Care and Deputy Premier
Vic Fedeli, Minister of Finance and Chair of Cabinet
Doug Ford, Premier and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs
Merrilee Fullerton, Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities
Ernie Hardeman, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs
Sylvia Jones, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport
Lisa MacLeod, Minister of Children, Community and Social Services and Minister Responsible for Women’s Issues
Monte McNaughton, Minister of Infrastructure
Caroline Mulroney, Attorney General and Minister Responsible for Francophone Affairs
Rod Phillips, Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks
Greg Rickford, Minister of Energy, Northern Development and Mines, and Minister of Indigenous Affairs
Laurie Scott, Minister of Labour
Todd Smith, Minister of Government and Consumer Services, and Government House Leader
Lisa Thompson, Minister of Education
Michael Tibollo, Minister of Community, Safety and Correctional Services
Jim Wilson, Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade
John Yakabuski, Minister of Transportation
Jeff Yurek, Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry
Filed Under: Local News
I suspect Smith was not appointed Minister of Energy because Ford combined Energy with Mines, Northern Development and Indigenous Affairs into one ministry. Smith lacks experience with the latter three. Greg Rickford, the new minister, is from Northern Ontario (geographic balance) and was the federal Minister of Natural Resources under Harper (presumed experience with mines and northern development, at least).
Then I’ll look forward to seeing Todd Smith influence the new Min. of Energy and applaud when the turbine parts have been removed from the County – but I won’t be holding my breath!
Great news that Todd will be in cabinet AND that he will be Government House Leader, which makes him responsible for planning and managing the government’s legislative program.
Although Todd won’t be Minister of Energy you can expect that, as former Energy Critic, he’ll have the ear of Minister Greg Rickford.
As a cabinet minister, Todd will be at the table to present his views on major plans and proposals.
So, Todd will have ample opportunity to propose what can and should be done to cancel White Pines.
The Mayors Liberal Party approved the turbine project while he was campaigning for them.
I was thinking the exact same thing Dennis. Smith was Energy critic so that file would have been natural.If PC’s can’t deliver in stopping WPD they may have tried to move that away from Smith’s dedication to stop the project.
I find it to be an interesting development that the Conservatives didn’t appoint Todd Smith as their Min. of Energy – he served as their Energy Critic for a long time. Did they pull him out of the fire before having to live up to his promises of stopping IWTs in PEC? So after he was voted in by PEC residents by a large margin, just where does that leave us? Smith has landed on his feet and PEC is still treading water.
Must be odd for you Robert. You fought tooth and nail against wind turbines for so long and then joined the Party that stuck a knife in our back during the campaign so WPD could proceed.
Very well deserved , Congrats Todd
So Smith didn’t get the high profile Energy Ministry. Will he still be able to hold WPD and IESO boots to the fire?
Good luck Todd. If you are going to have to stand up and answer on behalf of Doug Ford I suspect you are going to need it! Well done though. Let’s hope that this brings some integrity to government.
Congratulations Todd!