Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade

Template:Infobox government agency The Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade (formally known as Ministry of Economic Development and Growth) in the Canadian province of Ontario is responsible for programs to attract and retain business and economic development in the province. This is pursued through research and development funding, business advisory services, career exploration opportunities and business startup programs for youth, skills development and marketing Ontario to potential international business investors.

It was previously responsible for the Liquor Control Board of Ontario and the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, though this responsibility has been shifted to the Ministry of Government Services.Template:Update inline

Ministry Agencies

Template:Third party According to the Public Appointments Secretariat, Template:As of the Ministry is affiliated with the following Agencies:

• Agent-General
• Invest Ontario
• Ontario Centre of Innovation Inc.
• Ontario's Representative in Washington D. C.
• Special Advisor - PowerCO Sub Investment
• Venture Ontario

History

Template:Needs more citations Responsibilities for economic development in the Ontario government shifted over time as the province's economy evolved.

Prior to confederation, the Bureau of Agriculture of the Province of Canada was responsible for collecting facts and statistics relating to the agricultural, mechanical and manufacturing interests.

On March 4, 1868, the Act for the Encouragement of Agriculture, Horticulture, Arts, and Manufactures received royal assent, establishing the Department of the Commissioner of Agriculture and Public Works. "Arts", at the time, referred to the practical application of an industrial, manufacturing, or scientific pursuit, rather than to its current meaning. In 1877, the department was renamed the Department of the Commissioner of Agriculture and Arts. The industrial, or "arts", functions of the department were carried out through the Bureau of Agriculture and Arts from 1877 until 1882, and the Bureau of Industries from 1882. Although the Bureau was under the general direction of the Commissioner of Agriculture (or the Minister of Agriculture after 1888), the day to day operations were carried out by a small staff under the direction of the Secretary of the Bureau of Industries. From 1880 on however, the focus of that bureau was agricultural in nature. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the responsibilities for various manufacturing industrial matters were carried out at various times by the Department of the Provincial Secretary, Department of Education, and the Bureau of Labour among others.

The Department of Planning and Development was established in 1944. Initially, its mandate was focused in postwar rehabilitation efforts. Over time, the department was mandated to work with agricultural, industrial, labour, mining, trade and other associations and organisations and with public and private sector enterprises in order to create and maintain productive employment and to develop the human and material resources of the province. In addition to trade and industry, the department at various times also had responsibilities over immigration, community planning, conservation, civil defence/emergency management.

For most of 1961, the department was briefly renamed the Department of Commerce and Development. In December 1961, the department took over certain functions of the Department of Economics and Federal and Provincial Relations (predecessor of the Ministry of Finance) and was renamed the Department of Economics and Development.

In 1968, the department was renamed the Department of Trade and Development. In April 1972, the department merged with the Department of Tourism and Information to form the Ministry of Industry and Tourism.

A standalone economic portfolio was recreated in 1982, named Ministry of Industry and Trade. The ministry subsequently went through frequent name changes in the following decades, reflecting shifting economic and political priorities of the governments of the day. For example in 1985, it was renamed Ministry of Industry, Trade and Technology to reflect the growing importance of technology in Ontario's economy.

Since 1993, the department was mostly named the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade or some similar variations, except between 2002 and 2003 when it was briefly named Ministry of Enterprise, Opportunity and Innovation.

A related Ministry of Research and Innovation, and later Ministry of Research, Innovation and Science, existed between 2005 and 2018. While politically a standalone ministry, it shared a deputy minister (civil service head) with the main economic development ministry, and was supported by civil servants of the economic development ministry.

A related Ministry of International Trade existed between 2008 and 2009, and again from 2016 and 2018.

List of ministers

	Principal Ministers	Term of office		Secondary Minister	Term of office		Other Ministers	Political party (Ministry)	Note
	Minister of Planning and Development							rowspan=2; style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"| PC (Drew)
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"|	Dana Porter				Template:Dts	Template:Dts
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"|	Art Welsh				Template:Dts	Template:Dts		style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"| PC (Kennedy)
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"|	William Griesinger				Template:Dts	Template:Dts		rowspan=3; style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"| PC (Frost)
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"|	Bill Warrender				Template:Dts	Template:Dts
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"|	William Nickle				Template:Dts	Template:Dts
	Minister of Commerce and Development							rowspan=8; style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"| PC (Robarts)
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"|	Robert Macaulay				Template:Dts	Template:Dts
	Minister of Economics and Development
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"|	Robert Macaulay				Template:Dts	Template:Dts
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"|	James Allan				Template:Dts	Template:Dts
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"|	Stan Randall				Template:Dts	Template:Dts
	Minister of Trade and Development
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"|	Stan Randall				Template:Dts	Template:Dts
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"|	Allan Grossman				Template:Dts	Template:Dts		rowspan=10; style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"| PC (Davis)
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"|	John White				Template:Dts	Template:Dts
	Minister of Industry and Tourism
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"|	John White				Template:Dts	Template:Dts
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"|	Claude Bennett				Template:Dts	Template:Dts
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"|	John Reginald Rhodes				Template:Dts	Template:Dts
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"|	Larry Grossman				Template:Dts	Template:Dts
	Minister of Industry and Trade Development
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"|	Gordon Walker				Template:Dts	Template:Dts
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"|	Frank Miller				Template:Dts	Template:Dts		Elected leader of the Progressive Conservatives and became Premier while minister
	Minister of Industry and Trade							rowspan=2; style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"| PC (Miller)
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"|	Andy Brandt				Template:Dts	Template:Dts
	Minister of Industry, Trade and Technology							rowspan=3; style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"| Liberal (Peterson)
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"|	Hugh O'Neil				Template:Dts	Template:Dts
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"|	Monte Kwinter				Template:Dts	Template:Dts
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"|	Allan Pilkey				Template:Dts	Template:Dts		rowspan=4; style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"| NDP (Rae)
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"|	Ed Philip				Template:Dts	Template:Dts
	Minister of Economic Development and Trade
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"|	Frances Lankin				Template:Dts	Template:Dts
	Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Tourism							rowspan=6; style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"| PC (Harris)
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"|	Bill Saunderson	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Minister of Energy, Science and Technology
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"|	Al Palladini	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Jim Wilson	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
	Minister of Economic Development and Trade
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"|	Al Palladini	Template:Dts	Template:Dts				Resigned for personal reasons, died in office a month later.
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"|	Bob Runciman	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
	Minister of Enterprise, Opportunity and Innovation			Associate Minister				rowspan=2; style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"| PC (Eves)
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"|	Jim Flaherty	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	David Turnbull	Template:Dts	Template:Dts)
	Minister of Economic Development and Trade			Minister of Research and Innovation				rowspan=11; style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"| Liberal (McGuinty)
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"|	Joseph Cordiano	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Dalton McGuinty	Template:Dts	Template:Dts		Cordiano resigned from cabinet and legislature
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" rowspan=2;|	Sandra Pupatello	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	John Wilkinson	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
John Milloy				Template:Dts	Template:Dts
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"|	Michael Bryant	Template:Dts	Template:Dts			Minister of International Trade and Investment Sandra Pupatello (Template:Dts to Template:Dts)	Bryant resigned to become CEO of Invest Toronto
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"|	Dalton McGuinty	Template:Dts	Template:Dts				McGuinty is acting Minister while Premier
	Minister of Economic Development and Trade
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"|	Sandra Pupatello	Template:Dts	Template:Dts				Pupatello did not seek re-election
	Minister of Economic Development and Innovation
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"|	Brad Duguid				Template:Dts	Template:Dts
	Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Employment			Minister of Research and Innovation				rowspan=7; style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"| Liberal (Wynne)
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"|	Eric Hoskins	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Reza Moridi	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
	Minister of Economic Development, Employment and Infrastructure
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"|	Brad Duguid	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
	Minister of Economic Development and Growth			Minister of Research, Innovation and Science
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"|	Brad Duguid	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Reza Moridi	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Minister of International Trade Michael Chan (Template:Dts to Template:Dts) Minister Responsible for Small Business Jeff Leal (January 12, 2017 – June 29, 2018)
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"|	Steven Del Duca	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
	Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade							rowspan=12; style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"|PC (Ford)
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"|	Jim Wilson				Template:Dts	Template:Dts
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"|	Todd Smith				Template:Dts	Template:Dts		Interim minister prior to November 5, 2018
rowspan=7; style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;"|	Vic Fedeli	Template:Dts	present	Associate Minister for Small Business & Red Tape Reduction				Fedeli is Chair of Cabinet
Prabmeet Sarkaria				June 20, 2019	June 18, 2021
Nina Tangri				June 18, 2021	June 24, 2022
Minister of Red Tape Reduction
Parm Gill	June 24, 2022	January 25, 2024		Associate Minister for Small Business Nina Tangri (September 4, 2023 to Present)
Mike Harris Jr.	June 2024	Present

External links

• Official Site
• InvestInOntario Site