Ontario Premier Doug Ford announces new cabinet with familiar names, few changes

TORONTO — Ontario Premier Doug Ford named a new cabinet Wednesday with many familiar faces to tackle the challenges that a trade war with the United States will bring, though he did shuffle his housing, education and environment ministers.

Ford focused much of his speech after he and his new cabinet were sworn in discussing Canada-U.S. relations and dealing with U.S. President Donald Trump, who has imposed and threatened various rounds of tariffs on his northern neighbour.

The premier pledged to invest in infrastructure and manufacturing and made a big push to mine the resources buried underground in northern Ontario.

“We will rise to the occasion because this is the greatest province in the greatest country on earth,” Ford said at the ceremony at the Royal Ontario Museum.

“And it’s a country that has been blessed with abundant resources, incredible people, talented workers, and a proud history. So together, let us stand strong and firm. Let’s be clear: Canada will never be the 51st state. Canada is not for sale.”

A crowd several hundred people strong, including many family and friends, stood in ovation.

Few faces on Ford’s front benches will change, and that is deliberate, said Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy, who remains in his portfolio.

“I think the message of stability and certainty in this environment, that’s one of the things that we bring to the table,” he said after the ceremony.

Amanda Galbraith, a partner at the public affairs firm Oyster Group, said keeping most of his top team in place naturally follows Ford’s messaging during the election.

“I think the premier went to the Ontario electorate projecting an image of re-electing a government and stability in the face of what is a very threatening and unstable U.S. government, and for him to overhaul his cabinet at this time wouldn’t make any sense,” she said in an interview.

“I think what you’ll see is the government certainly hit the ground running and that’s probably some of the benefits of keeping ministers in the same portfolios.”

Paul Calandra is among the notable changes to cabinet as he moves from housing to become the education minister, taking over from Jill Dunlop, who has moved to emergency preparedness. Todd McCarthy is taking on the role of environment minister, a higher-profile role than his previous job as minister of public and business service delivery.

Sylvia Jones remains deputy premier and health minister and Vic Fedeli continues as minister of economic development, job creation and trade.

Rob Flack, previously the agriculture minister, is taking the housing portfolio. Labour Minister David Piccini retains the same position.

Greg Rickford remains as minister of Indigenous affairs, but also takes on the newly created role as the minister responsible for Ring of Fire economic and community partnerships.

The long-sought development of the Ring of Fire, a massive area in northwestern Ontario said to be replete with critical and rare minerals, has become a focal point of late for Ford as demand for those materials grows worldwide.

“We need to make our economy more competitive by cutting red tape, speeding up approvals to make Ontario the best place in the world to invest, create jobs and do business,” Ford said.

“We need to develop our vast natural resources. We need to unlock the enormous economic potential of the Ring of Fire. We need to build up homegrown critical mineral supply chains, including by building out Ontario’s processing capacity so we can create good paying jobs and make Ontario more prosperous and more secure.”

Stephen Lecce, who was previously the energy minister, now becomes minister of energy and mines. He suggested he wants to move aggressively on the latter file.

“President Trump has upended the world order, and we’re going to need every government, every regulator, every agency, to move with absolute speed to get shovels in the ground,” he said.

Ford has long been enamoured with infrastructure projects large and small and now, in the face of tariffs, he wants the rest of the country to get on board with building.

“We need all levels of government to get behind nation-building infrastructure, so we can reduce our reliance on the United States and build the highways, pipelines and railroads that will bind our country together and help businesses find new customers in new markets,” he said.

Ford also moved former environment minister Andrea Khanjin to red tape reduction. Graham McGregor is taking on the role of minister of citizenship and multiculturalism, a post previously held by Michael Ford, the premier’s nephew, who did not run again in the February snap election.

Zee Hamid is the lone new face in cabinet as he becomes the associate minister of auto theft and bail reform.

Ford has kept the cabinet the same size. He had increased the number of ministers since he was first elected in 2018, and his last cabinet grew to 37 people in August after he brought new associate ministers on board.

Many of the prominent ministers remain in their previous roles, including Doug Downey as attorney general, Michael Kerzner as solicitor general, and Caroline Mulroney as President of the Treasury Board and francophone affairs minister.

Michael Tibollo, who was the associate minister of mental health and addictions, has been shuffled to become the associate attorney general, while Vijay Thanigasalam takes over his old post.

George Pirie is out as mining minister and is moving to become minister of northern economic development and growth.

Former housing minister Steve Clark, who resigned in the wake of the Greenbelt land-grab scandal, remains as government house leader, though it’s not a cabinet position.

NDP and Official Opposition Leader Marit Stiles said it was “not the time for more of the same.”

“This cabinet includes the same minister of transportation who couldn’t open a transit line, the same minister of health who downplayed the doctor shortage, and the same minister of infrastructure who spent weeks dodging basic questions,” she said in a statement.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 19, 2025.

Liam Casey and Allison Jones, The Canadian Press