TORONTO - Premier Dalton McGuinty left several key ministers in place, turfed out four others and promoted 10 new faces to the Liberal cabinet table Tuesday, including two brand-new female members of the Ontario legislature - one a political novice, the other a Parliament Hill veteran.
Scarborough's Margarett Best, a newly minted political rookie, was named the new minister of health promotion, replacing Jim Watson, who takes over Municipal Affairs and Housing.
Aileen Carroll, minister of international co-operation under former prime minister Paul Martin, was appointed culture minister just three weeks after joining Ontario's legislative ranks by defeating a Conservative incumbent in the Oct. 10 election.
Others promoted from the Liberal backbenches included London's Deb Matthews in Children and Youth Services, Ted McMeekin of the Hamilton area in Government Services and Kitchener's John Milloy as minister of training, colleges and universities.
The ministers were sworn in Tuesday by Lt.-Gov. David Onley in a ceremony at the Ontario legislature.
Rabbi Reuven Bulka livened up the normally staid proceedings by offering "a faith-based observation," a reference to the religious schools funding issue that dominated the recent election campaign, and again when he urged everyone to register to be an organ donor.
"Think of the implications: an NDP heart giving life to a Conservative, a Liberal kidney cleansing NDP blood, a Conservative cornea enhancing Liberal vision," said Bulka.
"Or consider the prospect of a Muslim liver filtering Jewish blood, Jewish lungs breating life into a Christian, Christian veins enhancing Mulsim circulation, all the while affirming the sacred value of recycling."
McGuinty waxed philosophical in his brief speech to the new cabinet, describing his government as "dedicated to the hopes and dreams" of new families and signalling his intention to do more to tackle poverty and improve medicare.
"We resolve . . . to fight against child poverty, by implementing the Ontario Child Benefit, and committing to introduce a new dental benefit for children in low-income families," he said.
"We will further strengthen medicare by tackling chronic disease, training more doctors, hiring more nurses, and continuing to bring wait times down."
Also moving up to the cabinet table were Scarborough's Brad Duguid as labour minister, Thunder Bay member Michael Gravelle to Northern Development and Mines, Mississauga's Peter Fonseca in Tourism, North Bay member Monique Smith in Revenue and John Wilkinson, from the Stratford area, as minister of research and innovation.
David Docherty, dean of arts at Sir Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, cautioned Tuesday that promoting so many rookies to cabinet could backfire on McGuinty.
"It's always dangerous putting new folks into cabinet if they haven't spent any time there, even if they have federal experience; the culture of Queen's Park is very different," Docherty said in an interview.
"For those (new) individuals, the learning curve is really a lot steeper."
Several veterans had to give up their jobs to make room for the newcomers: Natural Resources Minister David Ramsay, Environment Minister Laurel Broten, Labour Minister Steve Peters and Public Safety Minister Monte Kwinter.
Tourism Minister Jim Bradley moved to Transportation, John Gerretsen from Municipal Affairs to Environment, while Sandra Pupatello remained in place as economic development and trade minister.
Cabinet veteran Dwight Duncan moved from Energy to Finance to replace Greg Sorbara, who quit the Liberal cabinet suddenly last week, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family.
Duncan held the Finance post for seven months beginning late in 2005 and even tabled the 2006 budget while Sorbara stepped down briefly during a police investigation over a land deal. Duncan returned to Energy when Sorbara was cleared of wrongdoing.
Conservative Leader John Tory said McGuinty's new "stand-pat" cabinet fails to signal that the Liberals are serious about addressing the faltering economy and the loss of tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs.
"The Ontario economy needed to see a real firm statement that we were going to put people in place that had a record of getting things done," Tory said.
"Maybe he didn't have any of those around."
NDP Leader Howard Hampton called it "a cosmetic cabinet shuffle," and said McGuinty owes poor people a lot more than some new faces in his administration.
"A post-election cabinet shuffle is a lot like the NHL pre-season," said Hampton.
"The roster moves are all very interesting, but the true measure of success is whether your team gets the job done when it counts. That's where the McGuinty government underachieved in its first term," he said.
Several other key ministers kept their old portfolios, including George Smitherman in Health and Kathleen Wynne in Education - the two largest ministries. Public Infrastructure Minister David Caplan, who is also responsible for the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., also stayed put.
Toronto's Donna Cansfield moved from Transportation to Natural Resources, Michael Chan became citizenship and immigration minister, Rick Bartolucci takes over Community Safety and Correctional Services, and Harinder Takhar stayed put as small business minister.
Michael Bryant moved from the Ministry of the Attorney General to Aboriginal Affairs, as well as government house leader, while former colleges minister Chris Bentley was named attorney general and Gerry Phillips moved to the challenging Energy post from Government Services.
McGuinty himself has taken over the Ministry of Intergovernmental Affairs, taking on the regular battles with the federal government for more funding for Ontario.
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Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty's cabinet ministers as announced Tuesday (previous ministry in brackets where applicable):
Aboriginal Affairs: Michael Bryant (Attorney General)
Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs: Leona Dombrowsky
Attorney General: Chris Bentley (Training, Colleges and Universities)
Children and Youth Services: Deb Matthews
Citizenship and Immigration: Michael Chan (Revenue)
Community and Social Services: Madeleine Meilleur
Community Safety and Correctional Services: Rick Bartolucci (Northern Development and Mines)
Culture: Aileen Carroll
Economic Development and Trade: Sandra Pupatello
Education: Kathleen Wynne
Energy: Gerry Phillips (Government Services)
Environment: John Gerretsen (Municipal Affairs and Housing)
Finance: Dwight Duncan (Energy)
Government Services: Ted McMeekin
Health and Long-Term Care: George Smitherman
Health Promotion: Margarett Best
Intergovernmental Affairs: Premier Dalton McGuinty
Labour: Brad Duguid
Municipal Affairs and Housing: Jim Watson (Health Promotion)
Natural Resources: Donna Cansfield (Transportation)
Northern Development and Mines: Michael Gravelle
Public Infrastructure Renewal: David Caplan
Research and Innovation: John Wilkinson
Revenue: Monique Smith
Small Business and Entrepreneurship: Harinder Takhar
Tourism: Peter Fonseca
Training, Colleges and Universities: John Milloy
Transportation: Jim Bradley (Tourism)
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Bounced from cabinet: Laurel Broten (Environment); Monte Kwinter (Community Safety and Correctional Services); Steve Peters (Labour); David Ramsay (Natural Resources)
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