Earlier this afternoon (Wednesday, March 19, 2025) a new cabinet was sworn in by Lieutenant Governor Edith Dumont. While returning with a rare third legislative majority, the Progressive Conservative party saw a slight reduction of seats. There are 37 ministers including the Premier and Deputy Premier.
Premier Ford retained the Ministry of Intergovernmental Affairs and Sylvia Jones remains Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. Of particular interest to our members and the municipal sector are the following cabinet appointments (* indicates minister change):
- Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing: Rob Flack*
- Associate Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing: Graydon Smith*
- Attorney General: Doug Downey
- Associate Attorney General: Michael Tibollo*
- Minister of Education: Paul Calandra*
- Minister of Finance: Peter Bethlenfalvy
- Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement: Stephen Crawford*
- Minister of Infrastructure: Kinga Surma
- Solicitor General: Michael Kerzner
- Minister of Red Tape Reduction: Andrea Khanjin*
- Minister of Seniors and Accessibility: Raymond Cho
Other notable appointments include:
- Minister of Rural Affairs: Lisa Thompson
- Minister of Transportation: Prabmeet Sarkaria
- Minister of Emergency Preparedness and Response: Jill Dunlop*
Additionally, the Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks will now have responsibility over conservation authorities, and the Minister of Energy and Mines and the Associate Minister of Energy-Intensive Industries will now have responsibility over broadband expansion and connectivity.
The full list of appointments to Cabinet is available here. Appointments to parliamentary assistant roles are expected to come later. To continue our Association’s government relations and advocacy work, we will be sending letters of congratulations to the various ministers and the Premier.
The Legislature will return April 14, 2025. The new session must begin with the election of speaker and a Speech from the Throne outlining the Government’s priorities for the parliamentary session. The speech will be read on April 15, 2025. It is widely expected that immediate priorities for this Government are to increase housing supply and affordability, address relief at the gas pumps, build highway infrastructure as well as address US tariffs.
A budget will also need to be introduced and passed. We took part in the province’s pre-budget consultations prior to the election with our pre-budget submission that included series of recommendations focusing on improving the municipal-provincial relationship and fiscal arrangements. We hope to see some of these requests reflected in the Government’s 2025 budget.
We look forward to meeting with the new members of cabinet and parliamentary assistants over the coming months to continue advocating for functional foundations (our local government priorities) among other member interests.
For further information about this update, contact our advocacy team.