The Government of Ontario (French: Gouvernement de l'Ontario), or more formally, His Majesty's Government of Ontario (French: Gouvernement de l’Ontario de Sa Majesté) is the subnational government in the Canadian province of Ontario responsible for the administration of matters within provincial jurisdiction, as assigned by the Constitution Act, 1867. On matters that are within provincial justification, the Government of Ontario exercises its authorities independently and is not subject to restrain by the federal government.
| Government of Ontario Gouvernement de l'Ontario | |
|---|---|
| Overview | |
| Established | July 1, 1867 |
| Country | Canada |
| Polity | Province |
| Leader | Premier Doug Ford |
| Appointed by | Lieutenant Governor Edith Dumont |
| Main organ | Executive Council |
| Responsible to | Legislative Assembly |
| Headquarters | Toronto |
| Website | www |
Depending context, the term Government of Ontario in day-to-day communication usually refers specifically to one of the following:
- The Executive Council of Ontario, more colloquially known as the Ontario cabinet, a group of political ministers of the Crown led by and appointed on the advice of the premier, drawn from the parliamentary caucus of the provincial political party commanding the confidence of and accountable to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario
- The Ontario Public Service, the functional workforce of more than 60,000 non-partisan civil servants in various ministries and agencies responsible for the execution of the policy decisions of the cabinet and for the delivery of programs and services that of public interest. The entire organization corporately brands itself as the Government of Ontario
- Queen's Park, the moniker commonly used to refer to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, Ontario's parliament, due to its location in said park. Members of the executive council are drawn from the elected members of this legislative body, and the Premier must command the support of the majority of its elected members on an ongoing basis to remain in office.
Authority exercised in the name of the Crown
As a Westminster-style parliamentary democracy, the Ontario Government draws its formal legal authority from the constitutional construct of the Monarchy in Ontario, or the Crown in Right of Ontario, in which the institutions of government act under King Charles III, as the monarch of Canada is also the King in Right of Ontario. As a Commonwealth realm, the Canadian monarch is shared with 14 other independent countries within the Commonwealth of Nations. Within Canada, the monarch exercises power individually on behalf of the federal government, and each of the 10 provinces.
The powers of the Crown are vested in the monarch and are exercised in the name of the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, who is appointed by the governor general, on the advice of the prime minister of Canada. Formally speaking, executive power is vested in the Crown and exercised "in-Council", meaning the premier and ministers forming the executive council advise the lieutenant governor in exercising the royal prerogative and granting royal assent. In reality, the lieutenant governor can be appropriately described as the ceremonial figure head of the government. The Constitution Act, 1867 requires executive power to be exercised only "by and with the Advice of the Executive Council" and Westminster convention dictates that the advice of the executive commanding the confidence of parliament, in this case the elected Legislative Assembly on Ontario, is binding on the crown. The lieutenant governor may only refuse advice if the executive or the premier does not clearly command such confidence, likely in a scenario of a constitutional crisis.
The executive government - premier and the executive council
The term Government of Ontario, in the context of the executive leadership of the provincial administration, refers to the Premier on Ontario, as determine through the electoral process, and the cabinet they select and head. Currently, the government is led by Progressive Conservative Premier Doug Ford, who received his first electoral mandate and assumed the Ontario premiership in June 2018, and was most recently reelected in February 2025.
The executive government, with electoral mandate, directs the non-partisan Ontario Public Service, a workforce of more than 60,000 that staffs the numerous provincial departments, agencies. and crown corporations and perform the day-to-day operation and activities of the Government of Ontario
Premier
The premier of Ontario is the first minister of the Crown. The premier acts as the head of government for the province, chairs and selects the membership of the Cabinet, and advises the Crown on the exercise of executive power and much of the royal prerogative. As premiers hold office by virtue of their ability to command the confidence of the elected Legislative Assembly, they typically sit as a MPP and lead the largest party or a coalition in the Assembly. Once sworn in, the premier holds office until their resignation or removal by the lieutenant governor after either a motion of no confidence or defeat in a general election.
Cabinet membership
In Canada, the Cabinet (French: Conseil des ministres, lit. 'council of ministers') of provincial and territorial governments are known as an Executive Council (French: Conseil exécutif).
Doug Ford and his Cabinet were sworn in by Lieutenant Governor Elizabeth Dowdeswell on June 29, 2018, following the 2018 general election. Ford conducted six major cabinet shuffles (with substantial numbers of ministers changing roles) since 2018 and 7 minor adjustments (triggered by resignations and impacted small numbers of ministers). The cabinet has numbered at 37 members since August 2024, the largest ever cabinet in Ontario history. It currently consists of the following ministers.
Current ministers and members of council
(Per Ministry of Intergovernmental Affairs' Ontario order of precedence, members of the council are to be ordered "in accordance with the precedence document issued by the Cabinet Office", but no such documents is currently made public. Previous version of the document follow ordering similar to that in the Table of Precedence of Canada, primarily by the date a member first joined council, followed by the date of their first election to the legislature. This table is ordered as such.)
| Minister | Portfolio | Assumed office | Joined cabinet | First elected |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Doug Ford | Premier of Ontario | 2018 | 2018 | 2018 |
| Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs | ||||
| Sylvia Jones | Deputy Premier | 2022 | 2007 | |
| Minister of Health | ||||
| Vic Fedeli | Chair of Cabinet | 2018 | 2011 | |
| Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade | 2019 | |||
| Lisa Thompson | Minister of Rural Affairs | 2021 | 2011 | |
| Peter Bethlenfalvy | Minister of Finance | 2020 | 2018 | |
| Raymond Cho | Minister of Seniors and Accessibility | 2018 | 2018 | |
| Caroline Mulroney | President of the Treasury Board | 2022 | 2018 | |
| Minister of Francophone Affairs | 2018 | |||
| Greg Rickford PC | Minister of Indigenous Affairs and First Nations Economic Reconciliation | 2018 | 2018 | |
| Minister Responsible for Ring of Fire Economic and Community Partnerships | 2025 | |||
| Paul Calandra | Minister of Education | 2025 | 2019 | 2018 |
| Doug Downey | Attorney General | 2019 | 2018 | |
| Jill Dunlop | Minister of Emergency Preparedness and Response | 2025 | 2018 | |
| Stephen Lecce | Minister of Energy and Mines | 2025 | 2018 | |
| Prabmeet Sarkaria | Minister of Transportation | 2023 | 2018 | |
| Kinga Surma | Minister of Infrastructure | 2021 | 2018 | |
| Stan Cho | Minister of Tourism, Culture and Gaming | 2024 | 2021 | 2018 |
| David Piccini | Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training, and Skills Development | 2023 | 2018 | |
| Michael Parsa | Minister of Children, Community and Social Services | 2023 | 2022 | 2018 |
| Michael Kerzner | Solicitor General of Ontario | 2022 | 2022 | |
| George Pirie | Minister of Northern Economic Development and Growth | 2025 | 2022 | |
| Neil Lumsden | Minister of Sport | 2024 | 2022 | |
| Rob Flack | Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing | 2025 | 2023 | 2022 |
| Todd McCarthy | Minister of the Environment, Conservation, and Parks | 2025 | 2022 | |
| Andrea Khanjin | Minister of Red Tape Reduction | 2025 | 2023 | 2018 |
| Stephen Crawford | Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement | 2025 | 2024 | 2018 |
| Mike Harris | Minister of Natural Resrouces | 2025 | 2018 | |
| Natalia Kusendova-Bashta | Minister of Long-Term Care | 2024 | 2018 | |
| Trevor Jones | Minister of Agriculture, Food, and Agribusiness | 2025 | 2022 | |
| Nolan Quinn | Minister of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security | 2025 | 2022 | |
| Graham McGregor | Minister of Citizenship and Multiculturalism | 2025 | 2024 | 2022 |
| Michael Tibollo | Associate Attorney General | 2025 | 2018 | 2018 |
| Nina Tangri | Associate Minister of Small Business | 2023 | 2021 | 2018 |
| Charmaine Williams | Associate Minister of Women's Social and Economic Opportunity | 2022 | 2022 | 2022 |
| Graydon Smith | Associate Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing | 2025 | 2022 | |
| Vijay Thanigasalam | Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions | 2025 | 2023 | 2018 |
| Sam Oosterhoff | Associate Minister of Energy-Intensive Industries | 2024 | 2024 | 2016 |
| Kevin Holland | Associate Minister of Forestry and Forest Products | 2025 | 2024 | 2022 |
| Zee Hamid | Associate Solicitor General for Auto Theft and Bail Reform | 2025 | 2025 | 2024 |
First elected indicates the minister was first election in the general election held that year unless otherwise noted.
Assumed office and Joined Cabinet contain years correspond to the major cabinet shuffles that took place on the follow date, unless otherwise noted.
- June 29, 2018
- June 20, 2019
- June 18, 2021
- June 24, 2022
- September 4, 2023
- June 6, 2024
- March 19, 2025
- December 31, 2020 small scale shuffle upon resignation of Rod Phillips
- A member of the Privy Council of Canada upon joining the federal cabinet in July 2013
- September 22, 2023, small scale shuffle upon resignation of Monte McNaughton
- March 24, 2023 small scale shuffle upon resignation of Merrilee Fullerton
- August 16, 2024, small scale shuffle upon resignation of Todd Smith
- Byelection
Crown corporations
Ontario Public Service
The Government of Ontario employs 63,000+ public servants in its non-partisan workforce called the Ontario Public Service (OPS). The OPS helps the government design and deliver policies and programs. The head of the OPS is the Secretary of Cabinet and each ministry in the OPS has a Deputy Minister. The OPS public servants work in areas like administration, communications, data analytics, finance, information technology, law, policy, program development, service delivery, science and research.
Over 80% of the OPS workforce is unionized, which includes the Ontario Public Service Employees Union and the Association of Management, Administrative and Professional Crown Employees of Ontario.
The Government of Ontario is not the same as Broader Public Sector (BPS) organizations. While both provide goods and services to Ontarians, BPS organizations receive funding from the Government of Ontario, but are not a part of the government themselves. BPS organizations are also subject to legislation and directives.
Public servants who are paid $100,000 or more are subject to the Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act. This list is colloquially known as the sunshine list.
ontario.ca
See also
- Politics of Ontario
- Lieutenant Governor of Ontario
- Premier of Ontario
- Legislative Assembly of Ontario
- Executive Council of Ontario
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