| Agency Name: | Ministry of Infrastructure |
| Type: | Ministry |
| Formed: | 2016 |
| Preceding1: | Ministry of Economic Development, Employment and Infrastructure |
| Jurisdiction: | Government of Ontario |
| Minister1 Name: | Kinga Surma |
| Minister1 Pfo: | Minister of Infrastructure |
| Minister2 Name: | Stephen Crawford |
| Minister2 Pfo: | Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Infrastructure |
The Ministry of Infrastructure is a ministry responsible for public infrastructure in the Canadian province of Ontario. The current minister is Kinga Surma.
It is currently responsible for two crown agencies: Waterfront Toronto and Infrastructure Ontario (which was merged with the Ontario Realty Corporation in 2011).[1]
The maintenance and management of public infrastructure has consistently been a key function of the government since well before Confederation.
The Board of Works in the Province of Upper Canada was responsible for superintending, managing and controlling public works in the province. It was merged with a similar board in Lower Canada in 1841. The board was replaced in 1846 by the commissioners of public works who were responsible for "managing and controlling the construction, maintenance and repair of all canals, harbours, roads or parts of roads, bridges, slides, and other public works and buildings". Although legislations did not specifically designate the office of the commissioners as the Department of Public Works, that is how the commissioners refer to it in their first annual report.
At Confederation in 1867, responsibility for public works in Ontario was taken over by the Department of Public Works for Ontario, administered by the Commissioner of Agriculture and Public Works. In 1874, legislation was passed establishing a standalone commissioner to be responsible for the Department of Public Works. From 1896 to 1900 the Provincial Instructor in Road-Making was under the department.
In 1900, both the Office of the Commissioner of Highways and the Bureau of Labour were established as part of the Department of Public Works. In 1914, the Office of the Commissioner of Highways (by then renamed the Highways Branch), was elevated to Department status, becoming the Department of Public Highways. Similarly, by 1919, the Bureau of Labour had become the Department of Labour. Also in 1900, the Colonization Roads Branch was transferred to the Department of Public Works. Formerly with the Department of Crown Lands and responsible for constructing and repairing roads in sparsely settled areas of the province, this Branch was transferred to the Department of Lands, Forests and Mines in 1919.
The Department of Public Works continued to exist until 1972, when the government was considerably re-organized as the various Departments were restructured and renamed as Ministries. The Ministry of Government Services was created, assuming most of the functions of the former Department of Public Works, including the functions of constructing and maintaining government buildings.
In 1987, the Realty Group was formed within the Ministry of Government Services to provide accommodation and real estate services for the Ontario Government. In 1993, The Ontario Realty Corporation was established as the successor entity to the Realty Group, the Ontario Mortgage Corporation, and the Ontario Land Corporation. It was established as a Crown corporation and reported through the Management Board Secretariat. The Ministry of Government Services also ceased to exist in 1993, transferring most of its corporate services function, including buildings and facilities management, to the Management Board Secretariat. In 2003, the Ministry of Public Infrastructure Renewal was created out of the winding-up of the Ontario Superbuild Corporation, inheriting its advisory and policy development and coordination responsibilities. Between 2003 and 2008, it assumed oversight of various agencies including the Smart Growth Secretariat, Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, Ontario Realty Corporation, Infrastructure Ontario, and Liquor Control Board of Ontario.
Between 2008 and 2010, the Ministry was briefly merged with the Ministry of Energy to form the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure. Between 2014 and 2016, it was again briefly merged, this time with the Economic Development Ministry to form the Ministry of Economic Development, Employment and Infrastructure.
| Name | Term of office | Tenure | Political party (Ministry) | Note | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commissioner of Agriculture and Public Works | Liberal Conservative (MacDonald) | ||||||
| John Carling | |||||||
| Archibald McKellar | Liberal (Blake) | ||||||
| Liberal (Mowat) | |||||||
| Commissioner of Public Works | |||||||
| Christopher Finlay Fraser | Resigned due to poor health. | ||||||
| William Harty | |||||||
| Liberal (Hardy) | |||||||
| Francis Robert Latchford | Liberal (Ross) | ||||||
| William Andrew Charlton | |||||||
| Joseph Octave Reaume | Conservative (Whitney) | ||||||
| Minister of Public Works | |||||||
| Joseph Octave Reaume | |||||||
| Findlay George MacDiarmid | Conservative (Hearst) | Concurrently Minister of Highways (April 8, 1915 to November 14, 1919) | |||||
| Frank Campbell Biggs | United Farmers (Drury) | Concurrently Minister of Highways | |||||
| George Stewart Henry | Conservative (Ferguson) | Concurrently Minister of Highways | |||||
| Joseph Monteith | Concurrently Minister of Highways and Minister of Labour | ||||||
| Conservative (Henry) | Concurrently Minister of Labour | ||||||
| Leopold Macaulay | Concurrently Minister of Highways | ||||||
| Thomas McQuesten | (first instance) | Liberal (Hepburn) | Concurrently Minister of Highways | ||||
| Colin Campbell | |||||||
| Farquhar Oliver | (first instance) | Concurrently Minister of Welfare, resigned to protest Gordon Conant being named Premier. | |||||
| Thomas McQuesten | (second instance) (3 years, 297 days in total) | Liberal (Conant) | Concurrently Minister of Highways and Minister of Municipal Affairs | ||||
| Farquhar Oliver | (second instance) (2 years, 6 days in total) | Liberal (Nixon) | |||||
| George Doucett | PC (Drew) | Concurrently Minister of Highways | |||||
| PC (Kennedy) | |||||||
| PC (Frost) | |||||||
| Fletcher Stewart Thomas | |||||||
| William Griesinger | Resigned from the provincial cabinet in 1958 after he was implicated in a stock trading scandal involving Northern Ontario Natural Gas. | ||||||
| James Allan | (interim) | ||||||
| Ray Connell | |||||||
| PC (Robarts) | |||||||
| Jack Simonett | |||||||
| James Auld | (first instance) | PC (Davis) | |||||
| Minister of Government Services | |||||||
| James Snow | Ministry was formally renamed from Public Works to Government Services on April 7, 1972 | ||||||
| Margaret Scrivener | |||||||
| John Smith | |||||||
| James Auld | (second instance) (1 years, 63 days in total) | ||||||
| George McCague | |||||||
| Lorne Henderson | |||||||
| Douglas Wiseman | |||||||
| George Ashe | |||||||
| Bob Runciman | PC (Miller) | ||||||
| Jim Gordon | |||||||
| Elinor Caplan | Liberal (Peterson) | ||||||
| Sean Conway | |||||||
| Richard Patten | |||||||
| Chris Ward | |||||||
| Frances Lankin | NDP (Rae) | ||||||
| Fred Wilson | |||||||
| Chair of the Management Board of Cabinet | In 1993, most of the functions performed by the Ministry of Government Services were transferred to the Secretariat of the Management Board of Cabinet. | ||||||
| Brian Charlton | |||||||
| David Johnson | PC (Harris) | ||||||
| Chris Hodgson | |||||||
| David Tsubouchi | |||||||
| PC (Eves) | |||||||
| Minister of Public Infrastructure Renewal | Liberal (McGuinty) | ||||||
| David Caplan | |||||||
| Minister of Energy and Infrastructure | |||||||
| George Smitherman | |||||||
| Gerry Phillips | |||||||
| Brad Duguid | (first instance) | Duguid continued to be Minister of Energy until 2011 | |||||
| Minister of Infrastructure | |||||||
| Bob Chiarelli | (first instance) | ||||||
| Glen Murray | Liberal (Wynne) | ||||||
| Minister of Economic Development, Employment and Infrastructure | |||||||
| Brad Duguid | (second instance) (2 years, 202 days in total) | ||||||
| Minister of Infrastructure | |||||||
| Bob Chiarelli | (second instance) (4 years, 193 days in total) | ||||||
| Monte McNaughton | PC (Ford) | ||||||
| Laurie Scott | June 18, 2021 | ||||||
| Kinga Surma | June 18, 2021 | Present | PC (Ford) | ||||