Kathleen Wynne Shuffles Her Cabinet
“Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne re-tooled her lineup of ministers Thursday on the heels of a federal cabinet shake-up Wednesday.
Marie-France Lalonde will take over as minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services — a posting that was temporarily filled by Labour Minister Kevin Flynn after Sault Ste. Marie MPP and former Corrections Minister David Orazietti resigned in mid-December.
Lalonde takes over responsibility for overseeing the government’s promised changes to solitary confinement as a review of segregation in Ontario’s correctional facilities, headed by former federal correctional investigator Howard Sapers, gets underway.
The Wynne government has faced sustained criticism over the province’s use of solitary confinement — in particular over the treatment of Adam Capay, a 24-year old whose spent years in solitary confinement awaiting trial, mostly in a windowless cell under 24 hours of artificial light.
Lalonde will maintain her responsibility for Francophone Affairs but she is being replaced as minister of Government and Consumer Services by Tracy MacCharles. MacCharles also will retain her role as Minister Responsible for Accessibility.
Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Minister Jeff Leal also took on the role of minister responsible for small business, while Indira Naidoo-Harris took on the new portfolio of Women’s Issues.
Naidoo-Harris also will serve as minister responsible for early years and child care.
Dipika Damerla moves from minister responsible for seniors minister for the new stand-alone ministry of Seniors Affairs.”
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