Wynne shuffles Ontario’s Liberal cabinet halfway through mandate

By Allison Jones and Keith Leslie, The Canadian Press

Liberal politicians in Ontario are making sure their phones are fully charged as Premier Kathleen Wynne makes calls to let people know who’s in – and who’s out – of her cabinet.

Wynne will announce a new cabinet Monday, her first shuffle since she led the Liberals back to a majority government in June 2014, and two years before the next provincial election.

Several ministers were seen parading in and out of the premier’s office late last week as Wynne sounded out veterans to see who planned to run again in 2018 and talked about possible new portfolios.

Deputy premier Deb Matthews said Friday that there’s nothing unusual about doing a cabinet refresh halfway through a mandate, and Wynne is expected to promote at least a couple of new faces to the front row seats in the legislature.

Three ministers announced their resignations last week, including Attorney General Madeleine Meilleur, Seniors Minister Mario Sergio and Municipal Affairs Minister Ted McMeekin, who said he stepped down to make room for more women in cabinet.

Wynne has already said it would be difficult to match Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s 50-50 gender split in his cabinet because he started from scratch while she inherited an existing cabinet, in which she was a member, from Dalton McGuinty.

The premier’s office said it would not provide names or any other details of the cabinet shakeup until the swearing-in ceremony Monday.

Aides to most ministers were either unavailable Sunday afternoon or unaware so far of any changes in the cabinet makeup.

Observers are watching to see if Glen Murray will stay in his role as environment minister now that the Liberals’ $8.3-billion climate change action plan has been announced, to see if he’ll also get to administer its implementation.

Environment Minister Bob Chiarelli and Education Minister Liz Sandals have both been frequent targets of opposition attacks, but both are respected for how they handle their difficult portfolios, so if they change positions it will be a sign of a broad shuffle.

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