Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced his cabinet appointments late Thursday, June 6, the last day of the provincial legislature’s spring session. MPs will be home until October.
Many of the senior cabinet posts remained unchanged, but there were some significant changes to agriculture.
Lisa Thompson, who has been Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs since 2021, will now become Minister for Rural Affairs.
Rob Flack has been appointed Minister for Agriculture and Agricultural Industry.
It is not yet clear how the renaming and division of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs will affect OMAFRA’s departmental structure.
Ms Flack was first elected as the Member of Parliament for Elgin-Middlesex-London in June 2022 and served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Secretary of State for Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. She most recently served as Deputy Minister for Housing, a role she has held since September last year.
Flack has a background in agriculture and currently raises Hereford cattle. He began working for Masterfeed in 1979 as a sales trainee and rose to become the company’s president and CEO in 1993. He retired from Masterfeed in 2022.
