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The move comes as the premier is considering an election next spring, a year earlier than the scheduled June 2026 date and against the backdrop of an RCMP investigation into the $8.28-billion Greenbelt land swap scandal.

“We’re at an important moment in our province’s history with clear choices,” Ford said in a statement.

The premier is so confident the Mounties’ probe will not touch his office he has brought back Steve Clark — who resigned as housing minister last September over the Greenbelt imbroglio — to be government house leader. However, that role will no longer be a cabinet position.

Clark takes over the job from Paul Calandra, who keeps his other duties as minister of municipal affairs and housing. 

The most significant change is plugging Lecce into the rebranded Ministry of Energy and Electrification, with increased responsibilities for electric vehicle infrastructure as well as boosting Ontario’s nuclear power generation fleet. 

“It has been a very inspiring experience for me to learn from young people in Canada and Ontario,” he told reporters after being sworn in.

Replacing one of the longest-serving education ministers in the province’s history is Smith, who inherits a department that has labour peace with teachers until 2026, recently banned cellphones in schools and will require high school students to pass a financial literacy test in order to graduate, among other back-to-basics changes.

Smith was in France on nuclear trade mission and was not at the swearing-in. His wife is a secondary school vice-principal.

Joining the enlarged cabinet is Natalia Kusendova-Bashta (Mississauga Centre), a registered nurse who worked hospital shifts during the COVID-19 pandemic emergency, as minister of long-term care, replacing Stan Cho (Willowdale) who goes to the rebranded ministry of tourism, culture and gaming with responsibility for the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation.

In a sign that the son also rises at Queen’s Park, Mike Harris Jr. (Kitchener-Conestoga), the scion of former premier Mike Harris, becomes minister of red tape reduction, replacing former Milton MPP Parm Gill who quit the legislature in January to run for Pierre Poilievre’s federal Conservatives. 

Other newcomers to cabinet are: Nolan Quinn (Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry) who becomes associate minister of forestry and gives cabinet the eastern Ontario representation is has lacked since Clark left; Stephen Crawford (Oakville) as associate minister of mines; and Sam Oosterhoff (Niagara West) as Lecce’s associate minister in energy.

Some ministries are changing their names or being split, such as agriculture, food and rural affairs. 

Rob Flack (Elgin-London-Middlesex) moves from associate minister of housing to minister of the renamed Ministry of Farming, Agriculture and Agribusiness, while former agriculture minister Lisa Thompson helms the smaller adjacent Ministry of Rural Affairs.

Greg Rickford (Kenora-Rainy River) heads the now-standalone Ministry of Indigenous Affairs and First Nations Economic Reconciliation and continues as northern development minister. 

Vijay Thanigasalam (Scarborough-Rouge Park) shifts to associate minister of housing from associate minister of transportation. Trevor Jones (Chatham-Kent-Leamington), a former OPP officer, becomes associate minister of emergency preparedness and response under the Treasury Board Secretariat.

Former CFL star Neil Lumsden (Hamilton East-Stoney Creek) becomes Minister of Sport. He loses responsibility for tourism and culture that he had enjoyed since being appointed to cabinet in 2022.

Earlier in the day, the governing Progressive Conservatives took opposition parties by surprise, rising a week early and extending the summer break by six weeks to Oct. 21. 

“I know that there are some out there — and all parties will agree — that (think) everyone’s sitting on the beach for the next few months. That’s the furthest from the truth,” Ford told the legislature.

MPPs had been expected to resume their legislative duties Sept. 9.

“They can’t get out of here fast enough,” said New Democrat Leader Marit Stiles, noting the unusually long break after a session that saw several key policy reversals, including the $8.28 billion Greenbelt land swap scandal that is under investigation by the RCMP.

“They obviously don’t want to spend any time here being held to account.”

In terms of political strategy, the extended break also sets the table for Ford to prorogue the legislature in the fall, which would allow the Tories to deliver a throne speech outlining their agenda ahead of a possible election in spring 2025.

The unusually long recess comes two weeks after the premier dropped hints of an early election before the next scheduled vote in June 2026 despite a housing shortage, overcrowded hospital emergency rooms, temporary ER closures in some towns, a shortage of family doctors and the cost of living after years of high inflation.

But Ford is enjoying a healthy lead in the latest Abacus monthly tracking poll for the Star. His Tories were at 39 per cent to 26 per cent for Bonnie Crombie’s Liberals, 22 per cent for the NDP under Stiles and nine per cent for Mike Schreiner’s Greens.

Crombie said Ford was in a rush to adjourn the legislature because of the heat he’s taking over what the Liberals estimate is the $1-billion cost of putting beer, wine, cider and mixed drinks into convenience stores a year ahead of schedule.

“What kind of leader prioritizes this when you can’t get a family doctor … when your grocery bill is through the roof and you’re scraping to make ends meet?” said Crombie, calling the deal a “billion-dollar booze boondoggle.”

“They’re utterly failing to address the housing affordability crisis, and so I can understand why this government doesn’t want to come back,” Green Leader Mike Schreiner told reporters.