Murray joining Alberta think-tank
Ex-environment minister will be succeeded by former provincial housing chief
Premier Kathleen Wynne has tinkered with her cabinet, promoting rookie Etobicoke-Lakeshore MPP Peter Milczyn after the surprise resignation of veteran Glen Murray.
As first disclosed by the Star, Murray stepped down Monday as minister of environment and climate change.
He will be succeeded by Chris Ballard, whose duties as housing minister and poverty reduction pointman will now be handled by Milczyn, a well-regarded former Toronto councillor first elected in 2014.
Murray said he would resign as Toronto Centre MPP on Sept. 1, four days before becoming executive director of the Alberta-based Pembina Institute, a 33-year-old environmental think tank.
“If Pembina hadn’t come along, I would be a candidate in the next elec- tion, and I’d be continuing on as minister if the premier would have me,” he said from Calgary.
“I wasn’t looking to leave. These things never come along at the right time.”
Murray, 59, also a former mayor of Winnipeg, has been an outspoken minister, overseeing the government’s five-year, $8.3-billion plan to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
Wynne hailed her colleague who, like her, is one of the first openly gay elected officials in Canada.
“Glen has been a friend. He has been . . . always a passionate and compassionate activist in government and outside of government,” the premier told reporters at Queen’s Park.
“I will be always be grateful for the unwavering support Glen has shown me,” she said, mindful that Murray dropped out as a candidate in the final weeks of the 2013 Liberal leadership contest to back her.
“I do not see this as a vote of nonconfidence. I see this as an individual having to make a decision about his life, and he’s a friend, and I wish him well.”
His resignation will not trigger a byelection in what is seen as a safe Liberal seat. Under Ontario law, a byelection must be called within six months of a vacancy unless a province-wide election is imminent.
Voters are headed to the polls June 7, 2018, so there was concern about Elections Ontario spending an estimated $500,000 on a byelection.
“We’re not having a byelection because there are significant costs associated with one, and we’re moving into an election period, and I think the cost associated with a byelection doesn’t justify having one,” Wynne said.
The premier, who could have called a snap byelection for this summer, denied she was ducking voters as two high-profile trials involving Liberals begin in September.
Ballard, the Newmarket-Aurora MPP first elected in 2014, said he planned to follow in Murray’s activist footsteps.
“The file is critical and so important. We can’t turn the heat down on this one, quite frankly,” he said.
Also in Monday’s mini-shuffle was Community Safety Minister MarieFrance Lalonde, whose other portfolio at Francophone Affairs has grown into a stand-alone ministry.
While some Progressive Conservatives and New Democrats privately joked Monday that Murray was like a rat leaving a sinking ship, the Toronto Centre MPP predicted Wynne would have the last laugh.
“I’m going to take them out for a beer,” he said of his political rivals. “They can come to my apartment and help celebrate the re-election of a Liberal government next year.”