McGuinty ministry

Place in history

The formation of the McGuinty ministry kick-started a fifteen-year period of Liberal administration in Ontario. It accomplished several feats that drew comparisons to the nineteenth-century Liberal Mowat ministry, the longest-tenured ministry in Ontario's history, having lasted twenty-three years and nine months, and placed the McGuinty ministry as among the most successful ministries in Ontario's history.

In office for nine years and three months, the McGuinty ministry was the second longest-tenured Liberal ministry in Ontario's history, and ranks sixth among all Ontario ministries, being one day shorter than the fifth-ranked Robarts ministry. The McGuinty ministry is the only Liberal ministry since the 19th-century Mowat ministry to have won more than two electoral mandates.

Dalton McGuinty was the only fourth Ontario Liberal leader to lead the party from the opposition bench into government,^[a] and is to date the only Liberal leader to have secured a comeback victory following prior electoral defeat.^[b] The Liberals were previously ousted from power in 1990, the year McGuinty became the caucus' only rookie.

In handing the baton to Kathleen Wynne, McGuinty became the fourth Liberal Premier to have successfully orchestrated a leadership transition to a successor who went on to secure their own electoral mandate, and the only one to have done so handing power to a successor democratically chosen by the party. The three previous Liberal Premiers to have accomplished this, Edward Blake, Oliver Mowat and Arthur Hardy, did so respectively in 1872, 1896 and 1899 (the 1899 transition to George Ross) while enjoying largely unfettered ability to designate their successors.

The Liberal administration of the McGuinty ministry and the successor Wynne ministry was the third period in Ontario history where a political party successfully retained power under more than one leader. The two prior periods of successive ministries of the same political party were the 34-year Blake-Mowat-Hardy-Ross Liberal government (1871 to 1905), and the 42-year continuous Progressive Conservative rule known as the Big Blue Machine (1943 to 1985).

Nexus in Liberal legacy

Having been in power just thirteen years earlier, the 2003 Liberal caucus consisted of seven cabinet veterans who served in the Peterson ministry (in office 1985–90). Among them, McGuinty secured the speakership for Alvin Curling, and included five of the seven in his inaugural cabinet: Jim Bradley, Monte Kwinter, Greg Sorbara, David Ramsay, and Gerry Phillips. A ministry member who joined in 2007, Aileen Carroll, had prior federal cabinet experience from the Martin ministry.

McGuinty included all four former leadership rivals who were in caucus in 2003 in his cabinet and entrusted them with key portfolios. Principal rival Gerard Kennedy served as the first education minister to the self-styled "education premier". Despite having backed Kennedy in the final ballot, Dwight Duncan served as finance and energy minister and was designated as deputy premier in 2011. John Gerretsen, whose unexpected support gave McGuinty the crucial momentum to leapfrog Duncan and to remain a viable contender, served in various portfolios including Attorney General and environment. Kingmaker Joe Cordiano was given the prominent economic development portfolio.

A noticeable exclusion from the McGuinty ministry was Tony Ruprecht, the only Peterson era minister not included. Ruprecht was one of only four caucus supporter of McGuinty 1996 leadership bid, the only one not from Ottawa and the only one remaining in caucus in 2003. McGuinty did have some backers of his leadership bid in his ministry, however, including Greg Sorbara (who was not an MPP in 1996) and later Bob Chiarelli (a caucus supporter who left the legislature in 1997 and was Ottawa Mayor in 2003, returned to Queen's Park in 2010).

Seventeen members of the McGuinty ministry continued to serve in the Wynne ministry, and an eighteenth member, Monique Smith, served as Wynne's transition chief of staff and then Washington envoy. Jim Bradley, who had served the entire duration of the Peterson ministry and was the dean of the legislature at the start of the McGuinty ministry, served the entire duration of the McGuinty ministry, and continued in the Wynne ministry. He was the only minister to have served in all three contemporary Ontario Liberal ministries, and was the environment minister in all three ministries.

Size and composition

The McGuinty ministry had 46 members in total over its almost decade-long tenure. Its membership grew from its initial 23 members to reach its peak of 28 members after its second majority victory. McGuinty reduced his cabinet to 22 members following the 2011 election while promising to "lead with humility" in acknowledgement of the reduced minority mandate given by the electorate.^[1] The ministry was reduced to 17 members in ministry's final months, as five of its members resigned to enter the contest to be McGuinty's successor.

Ministerial Tenure

Six members of the McGuinty ministry served for its entire duration (9 yrs, 3 mns, 22 days): Jim Bradley; Rick Bartolucci; Dwight Duncan; John Gerretsen; Chris Bentley; Madeleine Meilleur. A seventh member, Harinder Takhar, would also have done so if not for McGuinty requiring ministers wishing to enter the leadership contest to step down. Three members have previously served for the entire duration of the Peterson ministry (5yrs, 3mns, 7days): Jim Bradley; Monte Kwinter; Greg Sorbara. Five members went on to serve the entire duration of the successor Wynne ministry (5yrs, 4mns, 17days): Kathleen Wynne; Michael Chan; Michael Gravelle; Bob Chiarelli; Charles Sousa.

As the only person to have served in all three Ontario Liberal ministries in the contemporary era, Jim Bradley's 17-year, 10-month, 27-day accumulated cabinet tenure is by far the lengthiest among Liberals in well over a century,^[c] and the fifth longest-serving among all Ontario Liberals since confederation, behind only the three nineteenth century Premiers Sir Oliver Mowat (26 years from 1872–96 in his own ministry, plus 1863–64 in pre-confederation ministries, and 1896–97 in the Laurier ministry), Arthur Hardy (over 22 years, 1877–99), and Sir George Ross (over 21 years, 1883–1905) and Mowat's Commissioner of Public Works Christopher Fraser (over 20 years, 1873–94)

In addition to Bradley, eight McGuinty ministry members accumulated over a decade of cabinet services: Madeleine Meilleur (12yrs, 8mns, 21days); Kathleen Wynne (11yrs, 7mns, 5days); Michael Chan (11yrs, 5mns, 8days); Gerry Phillips (11 years, 1 day shy of); John Gerretsen (10yrs, 9mons, 1day); Michael Gravelle (10yrs, 9mns); Brad Duguid & Deb Matthews (10yrs, 3mns, 20days)

Portfolio Tenure

McGuinty was not in the habit of keeping ministers in portfolios for extended periods. Other than McGuinty himself holding the premiership, no ministers held an actual ministerial portfolio for the ministry's entire tenure (Madeleine Meilleur was responsible for Francophone Affairs throughout, but it was not a ministerial portfolio at the time). Discounting McGuinty's three stints as his own intergovernmental affairs ministers, only three ministers held any single portfolio for more than five years: Dwight Duncan (finance 2007–13); Madeleine Meilleur (community and social services 2006–11), Rick Bartolucci (northern development & mines 2003–07, 2011–13). (Brad Duguid and Michael Gravelle would later accumulate more than five years of services respectively as economic development minister and northern development minister, holding those portfolios for extended periods in the Wynne ministry.)

Women in charge

The McGuinty ministry counted 16 women among its members over its decade-long tenure. Between January 2010 and October 2011, 11 women served in cabinet simultaneously and occupied 42% of the cabinet seats, rivaling the record of 12 women, 43% of cabinet set by the NDP Rae ministry in 1991. Several women held positions from which they exercised significant influence. The five portfolios with the largest budget – health, education, community and social services, training colleges and universities, and transportation – were all held by women in McGuinty ministry at some point, and so were the high-profile economic portfolios like economic development and natural resources. The substantial power wielded by women in the McGuinty ministry was evident with its curtain call, the 2013 Ontario Liberal leadership contest, which featured two women as principal contenders.

However, the outlook for women did not look promising at the beginning. It entered office with only five women, one fewer than the predecessor Progressive Conservative Eves ministry, making up of just 22% of cabinet. More jarring was that none of the prominent or powerful roles were occupied by women, a sharp contrast to the Eves' cabinet where women held the most powerful roles (finance minister; deputy premier) and some of the portfolios with the largest budget (education; training, colleges and universities). At the start of the McGuinty ministry, Sandra Pupatello and Mary Anne Chambers held Community and Social Services and Training, Colleges and Universities respectively, the third and the forth largest-budget, but relatively low profile portfolios in the government.

In his first major shuffle in 2005, McGuinty elevated 37-year-old lawyer Laurel Broten to cabinet in the high-profile role of environment minister. Later in 2005, Donna Cansfield was elevated and was given the sensitive energy portfolio. In early 2006, Sandra Pupatello was promoted to the top-tier post of education minister upon Gerard Kennedy's resignation. Madeleine Meilleur was promoted to Pupatello's community and social services portfolio while Caroline Di Cocco was elevated to cabinet to fill Meilleur previous role of culture minister. Pupatello's time in education was brief, however. The departure of Joe Cordiano led to Pupatello being given his prestigious, high-profile economic development portfolio, and the elevation of Kathleen Wynne to cabinet and a direct promotion as education minister.

As the end of its first term, the McGuinty ministry counted nine women among its 26 ministers. Two of the original members, Marie Bountrogianni and Mary Anne Chambers did not stand for re-election, and two newer members did not survive the post-election shuffle. Caroline Di Cocco was the only cabinet casualty in the 2007 election. Laurel Broten attracted controversy with the Flick Off marketing campaign for energy conservation, and returned to the backbench at the 2007 post election shuffle. Women's presence was maintained with the entrance of Deb Matthews (a former party president), Monique Smith (a former chief of staff to McGuinty), Aileen Carroll (a former federal minister), and Margarett Best. Three more women entered ministry in January, 2010: Linda Jeffrey, Carol Mitchell, and Sophia Aggelonitis.

Reflecting Ontario's diversity

Compared to previous ministries, the McGuinty ministry slightly improved the representation of Ontario's significant visible minorities population (which stood at just over 20% when the McGuinty ministry took office). Four racialized persons – Mary Anne Chamber, Harinder Takhar, Michael Chan, Margarett Best – served in the ministry, with the first three serving together from February to October 2007, and the latter three serving together from October 2007 onward. All four were elevated to cabinet immediately following their first election, with Chan being sworn in as revenue minister just 13 days after his by-election victory.

The 2003 Liberal caucus consisted of eight racialized persons. Among them, Mary Anne Chamber, a retired senior vice president of Scotiabank who was born in Jamaica, and Harinder Takhar, a certified management accountant born in the Indian state of Punjab, were among the inaugural members of the McGuinty ministry. The inclusion of Takhar made him the first South Asian person to serve in the Executive Council of Ontario.

The number of racialized persons in the Liberal caucus increased to 11 after the 2007 election. The number of racialized persons in the ministry remained at three for the rest of its tenure.

The Liberal caucus had two francophone members following the 2003 election, Jean-Marc Lalonde and Madeleine Meilleur. Meilleur was the only francophone member of the McGuinty ministry for its entire duration, and in the early years of the successor Wynne ministry.

Out in cabinet

With regard to LGBT representation in provincial ministry, Ontario lagged behind Quebec and British Columbia.^[d] The McGuinty ministry caught Ontario up to those provinces with the appointment of Ontario's first,^[e] second, and third openly LGBT ministers: George Smitherman, Kathleen Wynne, and Glen Murray. Each was at various times among the most prominent and influential members of the ministry, and was at different points entrusted with the largest, second largest, and fourth largest budget portfolios in the government.

George Smitherman, whose 1999 election in Toronto Centre made him the first out gay person elected to the Ontario legislature, became Ontario's first openly LGBT cabinet minister when the McGuinty ministry entered office. McGuinty appointed him the Minister of Health, a particularly significant portfolio for the LGBT community, and designating him the regional minister for Toronto.^[2] McGuinty further designated Smitherman as Deputy Premier, with specific acknowledgement of the "tremendous progress in bringing down wait times".^[3] The designation came three days after the second LGBT person being appointed to cabinet.

Kathleen Wynne, the first out woman to be elected at either the federal or provincial levels in Canada,^[f] was elevated to cabinet on September 18, 2006 as education minister,^[4] making her the first out woman to serve in cabinet not just in Ontario but anywhere in Canada.^[g] With Smitherman and Wynne respectively holding the health and education portfolios, McGuinty entrusted two core functions of his government, along with the stewardship of over 60% of the government budget,^[h] to openly LGBT cabinet members.

Smitherman resigned in 2010 to seek the Toronto mayoralty. Glen Murray, a former Winnipeg mayor, was recruited to contest his downtown Toronto seat,^[6] and was elevated to cabinet six months later. After the 2011 election, Murray was promoted to training, colleges and universities minister while Wynne was given the portfolios of municipal affairs and aboriginal affairs.^[7]

A fourth member of the McGuinty ministry came out publicly years after his departure. Jim Watson resigned in 2010 to seek the Ottawa mayoralty, and came out in 2019 during his fourth term as Ottawa's mayor.^[8]

Formation

• Re-entered: 5 veterans with experience from the Peterson ministry, 4 former leadership rivals, 8 members with experience from the opposition benches; 5 rookie members

The Ontario Liberal Party led by Dalton McGuinty won a decisive victory in the provincial election held on October 2, 2003, securing 72 of the 103 seats in the legislature. The McGuinty ministry, with 23 members, entered office on October 23, 2003.^[9]

There were several instances of ministerial portfolio reorganisation as McGuinty took over from Eves:

• Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services was divided into two ministries: the "Ministry of Children's Services" (renamed "Ministry of Children and Youth Services" in 2004), tasked with implementing the government's Best Start Plan and early childhood education commitments; and the "Ministry of Community and Social Services".
• Ministry of Enterprise, Opportunity and Innovation was reorganised into the "Ministry of Economic Development and Trade," as it was restored to the role and to the name that it had held before.
• Ministry of Public Safety and Security was renamed "Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services".
• A new secretariat, headed by a "Minister Responsible for Democratic Renewal" (not a cabinet level position in its own right) was also created to improve participation in the democratic process by the youth and broader public.
• all "Associate Ministry" positions were eliminated, and McGuinty did not at first appoint any ministers without portfolio.

Thus the McGuinty ministry began with 23 cabinet members serving in 25 portfolios (including the Premiership). Two cabinet members held multiple portfolios.

2005 Midterm Shuffle

• Elevated: Laurel Broten; Mike Colle

McGuinty's first cabinet shuffle occurred June 29, 2005,^[10] about four months before reaching the midway point of his first mandate. The shuffle ushered in Mike Colle, a veteran caucus member and 37-year-old lawyer Laurel Broten, who clerked at the Surpreme Court, with no minister exiting. McGuinty shuffled eight incumbent ministers , updated one minister's title to reflect a office name change and assigned himself an additional new portfolio. It was reported that placing more women in cabinet positions was a priority for McGuinty.^[15]

There were several instances of ministerial portfolio reorganization, all involving established cabinet ministers:

• Ministry of Research and Innovation was created.
• Ministry of Health Promotion was created, dedicated to promoting healthy living and illness prevention.
• Ministry of Government Services was created to improve human resources management and internal government operations. It also absorbed the "Ministry of Consumer and Business Services."
• Chair of the Management Board of Cabinet ceased to be a cabinet level position in its own right; many of its areas of responsibility were transferred to the new "Ministry of Government Services." Henceforth "Chair of the Management Board" would be the title of the head of a cabinet committee, and always exercised by whoever held the position of Minister of Finance.

Thus, the number of portfolios swelled to 26 (including the Premiership), held by 25 cabinet members.

Scandalous non-scandal

• Brief departure: (1) Greg Sorbara
• Elevated: (1) Donna Cansfield

The McGuinty ministry was rocked by its first major crisis in the fall of 2005, when it was revealed that finance minister Greg Sorbara was named as a target in the criminal fraud investigation by the RCMP of Royal Group technologies Inc.,^[16] a company for which he was a director prior to the Liberals entering government.^[17] Sorbora resigned from cabinet on October 12, 2005, and was replace by Dwight Duncan as finance minister. Duncan retained his non-portfolio title as chair of cabinet, while relinquishing his role as government house leader to veteran Jim Bradley. The event led to the entrance of Donna Cansfield into cabinet as energy minister. Canfield's elevation brought the number of women in cabinet to seven. She was third new entrant to the ministry, and the third Toronto caucus member and the second from Etobicoke to be promoted.^[18]

Being out of cabinet, Sorbara aggressively sought to clear his name. It soon became clear that the allegations specifically relating to Sorbara was limited to the pricing of a few minor real estate transaction worth $2.5 million completed by one of more than a hundred subsidiaries of Royal Group Technologies, within a sweeping investigation over transactions worth billions,^[19] and even that allegation was based upon the investigator misstating his conjecture and speculation as inference.^[20] A scathing decision issued on May 18, 2006 by the Superior Court of Justice concluded that there were no reasonable grounds for Sorbara to be named in the search warrant in the first place,^[21] and ordered that all portions of order naming Sorbara to be severed and quashed.^[22][23] McGuinty reinstalled Sorbara to his treasury perch days after, returned Duncan to the energy portfolio, and used the opportunity to put Harinder Takhar in a new portfolio titled "small business and entrepreneurship, partially unwinding the merger of consumer and business services into government services executed just a year earlier. Cansfield took over transportation from Takhar.^[24][25]

Old rivals depart, new rivalries foretold

• Departed: (2) Gerard Kennedy, Joe Cordiano
• Elevated: (2) Caroline Di Cocco; Kathleen Wynne

Gerard Kennedy, McGuinty's erstwhile leadership rival on the final ballot, and Joe Cordiano, the rival who dealt the final blow to Kennedy's leadership bid and made McGuinty king, both voluntarily resigned in 2006 within months of each other. Kennedy stepped down on April 5, 2006, from the Ontario cabinet to entered the 2006 federal Liberal leadership contest.^[26] His crucial education brief was given to Sandra Pupatello, while his parliamentary assistant Kathleen Wynne remained in the junior post to serve the new minister.^[27] This transition of the education portfolio was a unique convergence of three caucus members who would be top three contenders at the party's subsequent leadership contest, and provide some clues into the dynamic of their later rivalry. Upon Kennedy's departure, McGuinty moved Madeleine Meilleur into Pupatello's social services portfolio, and elevated Sarnia MPP Caroline Di Cocco to take on the culture ministry.^[27]

Cordiano stepped down to join the private sector after the summer on September 18, 2006.^[28] The departure led to Pupatello being given his prestigious, high-profile economic development portfolio, and the elevation of Kathleen Wynne to cabinet and a direct promotion as education minister.^[4] The direct promotion of Wynne to the government's second largest portfolio, and the one priority file of the premier, surprised pundits, though discerning observers would have been aware of the McGuinty being impressed by the poverty-reduction strategy Wynne and Deb Matthews drew up in the early years of the government, which sparked the government's pursuit of the Ontario Child Benefit, various after-school programs and dental care for low-income people.^[29]

Wynne's promotion also made her the first out lesbian to serve in cabinet anywhere in Canada. An just three days later, McGuinty elevated another openly gay member, when he designated George Smitherman as deputy premier, a post he previously left dormant.^[3]

2007

2008

On June 20, 2008, in the wake of a controversy surrounding a wave of C. diff infections at Ontario hospitals, George Smitherman was replaced as Minister Health and Long Term Care by Minister of Public Infrastructure Renewal David Caplan.^[35] A new portfolio would be created:

• Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, a "super-portfolio" combining two existing ministries.

A second small shuffle occurred September 18, 2008, when, in an effort to confront Ontario's sagging economy and shrinking manufacturing sector during the Great Recession^[36] McGuinty reorganised several ministerial portfolios:

• Ministry of Economic Development and Trade was divided into two new ministries, the "Ministry of Economic Development", and the "Ministry of International Trade and Investment,".
• Ministry of Revenue was folded back into the Ministry of Finance.

Three other established cabinet ministers were involved in the September 18 shuffle. The year ended with the number of cabinet members and number of portfolios (including the Premiership) equal at 28, with Dalton McGuinty himself still covering two portfolios (Premier and Intergovernmental Affairs), while Gerry Phillips was minister without portfolio.

2009

2010

2011

2012

Dalton McGuinty announced his retirement as Premier October 15, pending the election of a new Liberal Party leader.^[45] He required all cabinet members entering the leadership contest to resign from ministry, and their portfolios were taken up by incumbent ministers in the final months of the McGuinty ministry.

Wynne succeeded to the Premiership February 11, 2013, and thus the McGuinty ministry came to a close. Seventeen members of the McGuinty served in the Wynne ministry, with six of them retaining charge of the portfolio held at the end of the McGuinty ministry (Jim Bradley in environment; John Gerretsen in the Ministry of Attorney General; Deb Matthews in health; Madeleine Meilleur in community safety and correctional services; Harinder Takhar in government services; Michael Chan intourism and culture), one minister resuming a previously held portfolio (Michael Gravelle in northern development and mines) and two retaining their non-portfolio responsibilities (Laurel Broten for women issues, and John Milloy as government house leader). Two further minister would resume the portfolio they held in the McGuinty ministry later on in the Wynne ministry (Brad Duguid in economic development and Bob Chiarelli in infrastructure).

Trivia

Madeleine Meilleur's last name is French for "best;" Margarett Best's last name is English for "meilleur."

David Caplan, in taking over as Minister of Health on June 20, 2008, holds the same position his mother Elinor held under Premier David Peterson 1987-1990.^[46]

By seniority

  served in Peterson ministry        service in McGuinty ministry       service in Wynne ministry^[a]
  Involuntary, unplanned departure (e.g. electoral defeat, demotion, resignation due to scandal etc)

By portfolio