Ontario Premier Doug Ford set to name cabinet after winning third majority mandate

Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford speaks to supporters after he was re-elected as the Premier of Ontario in Toronto on Thursday, February 27, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

TORONTO — Ontario Premier Doug Ford is set to name his new cabinet today, 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.

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.

But he 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 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.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 19, 2025.

Liam Casey and Allison Jones, The Canadian Press