Saturday March 5, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday March 5, 2022

Ontario Deputy Premier Christine Elliott confirms she won’t seek re-election

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is facing another high-profile resignation just months away from the provincial election as Christine Elliott, his deputy premier, announced on Friday that she’s leaving politics.

CBC News broke the news of Elliott’s departure late Thursday.

Elliott has served as health minister since Ford’s Progressive Conservatives took office in 2018, putting her at the forefront of the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In a statement issued Friday morning, Elliott said she made the decision to not run in the coming provincial election after “considerable reflection and discussion” with her family.

” I sought elected office in 2006 because of my strong desire to improve the quality of life of individuals with special needs, as well as mental health challenges. I saw gaps in care and that motivated me to action,” Elliott said.

Elliott says Ford asked her to stay on as health minister until the spring, and she agreed.

At a news conference Friday, she thanked Ford for the opportunity to serve as Ontario’s minister of health.

“It has truly been an honour and a very great privilege, especially during a pandemic,” she said.

In a statement following Elliott’s announcement, Ford called her a “close, personal friend” and says she did her work as health minister “with grace, dignity, professionalism and compassion.”

The premier lauded Elliott’s character during Friday’s news conference.

“I couldn’t ask for a better person, a better friend, a leader, someone with integrity, and just an honest person,” Ford said.

The announcement makes Elliott the second senior member of Ford’s cabinet to step down this year. Rod Phillips, who was serving as minister of long-term care and was once the province’s finance minister, announced his resignation in January. 

Elliott came within a whisker of beating Ford in the 2018 Ontario PC leadership race. Although more members voted for her than Ford in their head-to-head race on the third and final ballot, Elliott lost by a margin of one per cent in the party’s mathematically complex points system.