TORONTO — Premier Doug Ford shuffled his cabinet Thursday and cast the changes as preparation for a long trade fight with President Donald Trump — while moving Labour Minister David Piccini off the Skills Development Fund and into infrastructure.“Ontario won’t back down,” Ford said in a statement. “We’re preparing for the long haul, and that means putting the right team in place to protect Ontario workers and jobs today.”The practical work was filling three holes left over the summer. Caroline Mulroney quit as Treasury Board president and MPP in June and later took a job at RBC. Stan Cho left tourism, culture and gaming after $16,000 in Toronto hotel bills despite living in the city. Neil Lumsden resigned as sport minister and Hamilton East—Stoney Creek MPP last month; Progressive Conservative Jeff Beattie held that seat in the Sept. 3 byelection.Kinga Surma leaves infrastructure after five years to become president of the Treasury Board, ending Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy’s dual acting role. She takes the spending chair after an auditor general’s report put the Ontario Place redevelopment she oversaw at about $2 billion — far above what Queen’s Park first told the public. Piccini takes her infrastructure file..Trevor Jones moves from agriculture to labour, immigration, training and skills development, the ministry that still runs the fund Auditor General Shelley Spence called “not fair, transparent or accountable.” Sam Oosterhoff takes agriculture from Jones.Zee Hamid, the associate solicitor general for auto theft and bail reform, becomes minister of tourism, culture and gaming. Queen’s Park said that associate mandate has been “fulfilled” and the post is gone. Brian Saunderson, the Simcoe—Grey MPP and a former Olympic rower, takes sport. Vijay Thanigasalam is named to a new associate minister of artificial intelligence adoption post under Vic Fedeli at economic development.The list still runs to 37 names, matching the largest cabinet in Ontario history after one associate job is killed and another is created. Sylvia Jones stays deputy premier and health minister. Stephen Lecce keeps energy and mines, Prabmeet Sarkaria transportation, Paul Calandra education, and Greg Rickford the Ring of Fire and indigenous affairs files. Bethlenfalvy remains at finance only.Ford issued the list the same day as a Board of Trade speech on tariffs. The legislature does not sit again until Oct. 27. Integrity Commissioner Cathryn Motherwell is still examining whether Piccini broke ethics rules in his handling of the $2.5-billion program.
