It is now, officially, Premier Doug Ford.Ford and his 20 fellow cabinet ministers were sworn in Friday at Queenâs Park by Lt.-Gov. Elizabeth Dowdeswell three weeks after toppling former premier Kathleen Wynneâs Liberals.âWe have an all-star team thatâs ready right now to give the people of Ontario the kind of leadership and direction they deserve,â the new premier, who is also intergovernmental affairs minister, said of his 14-man, seven-woman cabinet.Christine Elliott, runner-up to Ford in the March 10 PC leadership, is the deputy premier and health minister. The Newmarket-Aurora MPP served as Wynneâs patient ombudsman before resigning to return to politics.Vic Fedeli, who was interim Tory leader after Patrick Brown resigned in January, is the new finance minister. The Nipissing MPP was his partyâs long-time opposition finance critic.In a surprise move, MPP Lisa Thompson (Huron-Bruce), is the education minister. Thompson, a farmer, will have to stickhandle Fordâs controversial rewriting of the provinceâs sex-education curriculum.Caroline Mulroney, who finished third in the March leadership, is the attorney general and minister responsible for francophone affairs. The bilingual daughter of former prime minister Brian Mulroney was elected for the first time in York Simcoe on June 7.Rod Phillips, the newly elected Ajax MPP, has the daunting job of environment, conservation, and parks ministry. Phillips, the former head of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., and Postmedia, will be tasked with keeping Fordâs promise to extricate the province from its cap-and-trade alliance with Quebec and California.Read more: Ontario government hiring freeze ices plan to strengthen workplace inspectionsOntarioâs first Green MPP calls on Doug Ford to detail climate-change plan âbefore killing whatâs in placeâOpinion | Martin Regg Cohn: Behind the âchangeâ election that changed Ontario ...
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