Ford set to name cabinet after winning third majority mandate

Doug Ford is set to name his new cabinet Wednesday, three weeks after winning a third Consecutive majority government.

Lt.-Gov. Edith Dumont will swear in the premier and his executive council in a ceremony at the Royal Ontario Museum, which is scheduled to start at 2 p.m.

Ford did not give any hints Tuesday as to whether he would keep a lot of his previous ministers in their posts or if he was looking at a major shake up.

“I have to make sure I put the proper cabinet ministers in, based on the mandate we received from the people that I am very grateful, and we’re just going to continue moving forward with the infrastructure projects and everything else,” he said.

But Ford said that he still plans on directly dealing with the tariff threats from the United States, suggesting he may not create a new ministerial portfolio focused on that.

Ford and the PCs were elected to 80 seats across the province in the snap election, three less than his 2022 win, and the Ontario NDP were elected the Official Opposition on Feb. 27.

Ford has been increasing the size of his cabinet since he was first elected in 2018 and his last cabinet grew in August to 37 people after he brought new associate ministers on board.

He said earlier this month that he didn’t intend on trimming the size of his cabinet.

“We’re going to sit down, review everything, but I’ll tell you one thing, these people here, they’re still in cabinet,” Ford said at an announcement, pointing to some of the cabinet ministers who were with him.

“Are we going to switch a few things? Maybe. So let’s see what happens. I want the best players on the ice. The problem is, when you have 80 players that are all the best players, that’s the toughest decision you have to make.”

The Ontario Legislature will be called back on April 14 to begin the 44th session of Parliament. The Throne Speech, delivered by the Lieutenant Governor, will happen the next day, on April 15.

The speech will outline the government’s plans and priorities for the new session.

With reports from Liam Casey and Allison Jones, The Canadian Press