The council serves a similar function as the Privy Council for Canada. The "Crown in right of Ontario" is the legal entity that owns government property, employs public servants, and acts in legal proceedings like criminal prosecutions. Accordingly, the cabinet exercises executive and sovereign powers within Ontario's jurisdiction in the name of the monarch "in right of Ontario". Similar to decisions of the federal cabinet, executive decisions by the Ontario cabinet are known as Order-in-Council, formally issued by in the name of the lieutenant governor, the monarch's representative in the province, on the advice of the ministers. Though the lieutenant governor does not generally attend cabinet meetings, cabinet directives are said to be ordered by the Lieutenant Governor-in-Council.
Ministers not returned following a general election (either not having seek reelection or not having been re-elected) cease to be members of the assembly on the date of resolution of the previous assembly, but continue as members of the council until the replacement council takes office. The most recent example of this was Michael Ford, who stood down at the 2025 election and therefore ceased to be the MPP for York South—Weston on January 28 but remained the Minister of Citizenship and Multiculturalism and a member of council for 50 days until his successor Graham McGregor was appointed on March 19.
An individual who is not a current member of the assembly being named leader of the governing party would be invited to form the subsequent cabinet. The most recent example of this was Ernie Eves, who was elected Progressive Conservatives leader in 2002 on March 23, assumed the premiership on April 15, and served the first 16 days without a seat until returning to the legislature through a byelection on May 2 that year.
Until the abolishment of ministerial by-elections in 1941, certainly newly appointed ministers were required to resign and recontest their seats in the legislature.
Ministers may use the honorific prefix "The Honourable", and starting in June 2025, the post-nominal “E.C.O.”
Former ministers
Unlike federal ministers who are appointed privy councillor for life (strictly speaking, for the lifetime of the appointing monarch, but in practice upon the monarch's demise are all reappointed by the successor monarch), provincial ministers are only members of the Executive Council while in office.
Prior to 2025, former ministers and premiers were not entitled to the honorific prefix "the Honourable" unless they are otherwise entitled for reasons including:
Appointments to the Privy Council for some other reasons (e.g. former premiers David Peterson and Bob Rae were appointed after their premierships, respectively in 1992 as part of Canada's 125th anniversary commemoration and in 1998 upon joining the Security Intelligence Review Committee)
Service as justice of a superior court (e.g. former Attorney General Roy McMurtry gained the entitlement upon his appointment to the Superior Court of Justice.)
As part of the omnibus bill for implementation of the 2025 budget[1], the Ford government formally institute the post-nominal “E.C.O.” and designated all living former members who have not been convicted of an indictable or hybrid criminal offense as "Honorary Members" of the Executive Council. The designation grants former ministers the right of continued use of the honorific prefix and the post-nominals for life without the rights, obligations or privileges of a current minister.[1] Ontario is the fourth Canadian province to adopt this practice, following the examples by conservative governments in the provinces of Nova Scotia (as of 2007)[2], Saskatchewan (2019)[3], and Alberta (2022)[4].
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.[5]
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.)
Portfolio ministries were titled "department" prior to 1972. Certain ministers held titles such as secretary and commissioners of their portfolio in the past.
As much as possible, the following list groups former portfolios as predecessor to current portfolios with similar but not perfectly identical functions/mandate.
Children, Community and Social Services (since 2018)
Department of Public Welfare (1930-67)
Ministry of Social and Family Services (1967-72)
Ministry of Community and Social Services (1972-2002)
Ministry of Community, Family and Children's Services (2002–2003)
Ministry of Children's Services (2003–2004)
Ministry of Children and Youth Services (2004-18)
Ministry of Community and Social Services (2003-18)
Citizenship and Multiculturalism (since 2021)
Ministry of Citizenship (1961-83, 1987–95; 2001–03)
Ministry of Citizenship and Culture (1983–87)
Ministry of Citizenship, Culture and Recreation (1995–2001)
Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration (2003-14, 2016-18)
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