Fullerton replaced by Rod Phillips as Minister of Long-Term Care as Ford shuffles cabinet
Fullerton #Fullerton
Premier Doug Ford has shuffled his Cabinet, removing Merrilee Fullerton as Minister of Long-Term Care. The move comes after the deaths of almost 4,000 long-term care residents during the COVID-19 pandemic.
She will be replaced by Rod Phillips, who was forced to resign his cabinet post as Finance Minister last December following a much-maligned trip to St. Barts.
Fullerton now becomes Minister of Children, Community and Social Services.
At the time, Ford released a statement saying he was “extremely disappointed” with Phillips decision to travel, ordering him to cut his trip short and return home.
Phillips later resigned as Finance Minister, apologizing for what he called “a significant error in judgment.”
Ford said the resignation showed his government “takes seriously our obligation to hold ourselves to a higher standard.”
Fullerton, along with several other senior government officials, came under fire for the way the province handled the COVID-19 outbreak in long-term care settings in reports tabled by Ontario’s auditor general and an independent commission.
“Unfortunately, neither the Ministry of Long-Term Care, nor the long-term-care sector was sufficiently positioned, prepared or equipped to respond to the issues created by the pandemic in an effective and expedient way,” Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk concluded.
In an ill-timed comment, Fullerton compared the situation last spring to firefighters rushing to a raging fire, saying “I didn’t start the fire.”
One high-profile cabinet minister who is keeping their job is Stephen Lecce, who will remain Minister of Education. As well, all the major players during the pandemic, with the exception of Fullerton, are keeping their existing posts, including Health Minister Christine Elliott, and Labour Minister Monte McNaughton
Out of cabinet is Jeff Yurek, Minister of Energy, John Yakabuski, Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry, Laurie Scott, Minister of Infrastructure, and Ernie Hardeman, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.
New faces in cabinet are Kinga Surma who will take the post of Minister of Infrastructure, David Piccini is in as Environment Minister and Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria, MPP for Brampton South, becomes President of the Treasury Board.
Lisa MacLeod remains as Minister of Tourism. Greg Rickford, MPP for Kenora-Rainy River, assumes a merged role as Minister of Northern Development, Mining, Natural Resources and Forestry, as well as Indigenous Affairs.
Peter Bethlenfalvy, MPP for Pickering-Uxbridge and Minister of Finance, will assume responsibility for Ontario’s digital government strategy within the Ministry of Finance.
The shuffle comes less than a year before the next scheduled provincial election in June 2022.
Following is a list of changes in the Ford cabinet shuffle: