The Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development is responsible for labour issues in the

Canadian province Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Canada, Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three pr ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. The Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development and its agencies are responsible for employment equity and rights,

occupational health and safety Occupational safety and health (OSH), also commonly referred to as occupational health and safety (OHS), occupational health, or occupational safety, is a multidisciplinary field concerned with the safety, health, and welfare of people at wor ...

, labour relations, and supporting apprenticeships, the skilled trades, and industry training. The ministry’s three program responsibilities are delivered from a head office in Toronto and 19 offices organized around four regions, centred in Ottawa, Hamilton, Sudbury and Toronto. As well, the ministry oversees the work of eight specialized agencies. The current minister of labour, immigration, training and skills development is

Monte McNaughton Monte Gary McNaughton (born March 11, 1977) is a Canadian politician who has served as the minister of labour, immigration, training and skills development in Ontario since June 20, 2019. A Progressive Conservative (PC), McNaughton has sat as a ...

History

The Province entered the field in 1882 with the creation of the Bureau of Industries, which was attached to the Department of the Commissioner of Agriculture. In 1900, it was transferred to the Department of the Commissioner of Public Works and renamed as the Bureau of Labour, which subsequently became the Trades and Labour Branch in 1916. In 1919, the Conservative government of

William Howard Hearst Sir William Howard Hearst, (February 15, 1864 – September 29, 1941) was the seventh premier of Ontario from 1914 to 1919. Hearst was born in Bruce County, Ontario. He practiced law in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario before being voted to provinc ...

secured passage of an Act to raise the Branch into a Cabinet-level department to be known as the Department of Labour. Finlay MacDiarmid, the Minister of Public Works, was appointed the first Minister of Labour as well, but the first full-time minister was Walter Rollo of the

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse working-class candidates ...

in the government of E.C. Drury that took office after the Conservative defeat in the 1919 general election. In 1972, as part of a general reorganization of departments initiated by the government of

Bill Davis William Grenville Davis, (July 30, 1929 – August 8, 2021) was a Canadian politician who served as the 18th premier of Ontario from 1971 to 1985. Davis was first elected as the member of provincial Parliament for Peel in the 1959 provincia ...

, the Department was renamed the Ministry of Labour. In 2019, the Ministry of Labour changed its name to Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development to reflect its expanding mandate of training, apprenticeships and Employment Ontario. Following the 2022 provincial election, the ministry was renamed to Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development.

List of Ministers

Minister of Labour * Walter Rollo, 1919–1923 * Forbes Elliott Godfrey, 1923–1930 * Joseph Dunsmore Monteith, 1930–1934 * John Morrow Robb, 1934 (January–July) * Mitchell Frederick Hepburn, 1937 (April–October) *

Norman Otto Hipel Norman Otto Hipel (March 21, 1890 – February 16, 1953) was a Canadian politician, noted for his service as Minister of Labour for Ontario in the cabinet of Mitchell Hepburn. He served as MLA for Waterloo South. Personal background and care ...

, 1938–1941 * Charles Daley, 1943–1961 * Bill Warrender, 1961–1962 * Leslie Rowntree, 1962–1966 *

Dalton Bales Dalton Arthur Bales (February 21, 1920 – October 30, 1979) was a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1963 to 1975 who represented the riding of York Mills. He was ...

, 1966–1971 *

Gordon Carton Gordon Robert Carton (July 14, 1921 - April 6, 2017) was a Canadian politician from Ontario. He was a Progressive Conservative member the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1963 to 1975 who represented the riding of Armourdale. He served as a ...

, 1971–1972 *

Fernand Guindon Joseph Roméo Fernand Guindon (May 30, 1917 – August 21, 1985) was a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1957 to 1974 who represented the ridings of Glengarry and ...

, 1972–1974 *

John Palmer MacBeth John Palmer MacBeth (November 19, 1921 – March 20, 1991) was a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1975 to 1981. He represented the ridings of York West and H ...

, 1974–1975 *

Bette Stephenson Bette Mildred Stephenson Pengelly (July 31, 1924 – August 19, 2019) was a Canadian medical doctor and politician in Ontario. She served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1975 to 1987, and was a cabinet minister in the Progressive Co ...

, 1975–1978 *

Robert Elgie Robert Goldwin "Bob" Elgie (January 22, 1929 – April 3, 2013) was a politician in Ontario, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1977 to 1985, and was a cabinet minister in the Progressive Conservative governments o ...

, 1978–1982 *

Russ Ramsay Russell Harold Ramsay (August 5, 1928 — February 9, 2003) was a politician in Ontario, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1978 to 1985, and was a cabinet minister in the government of William Davis. Ramsay was a mem ...

, 1982–1985 *

, 1985 (May–June) *

Bill Wrye William Munro Wrye (born December 25, 1944) is a Canadian former politician in Ontario, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as a Liberal from 1981 to 1990, and was a cabinet minister in the government of David Peterson. ...

, 1985–1989 *

Greg Sorbara Gregory Samuel Sorbara (born September 4, 1946) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1985 to 1995, and again from 2001 to 2012 who represented ridings north of Toronto in t ...

, 1987–1989 *

Gerry Phillips Gerry Phillips (born September 11, 1940) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario who represented the eastern Toronto riding of Scarborough—Agincourt from 1987 to 2011. He served ...

, 1989–1990 * Bob Mackenzie, 1990–1994 * Shirley Coppen, 1994–1995 *

Elizabeth Witmer Elizabeth Witmer (née Gosar; born October 16, 1946) is a former Deputy Premier of Ontario, Canada. She was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1990 until 2012, representing Waterloo North and later Kitchener—Waterloo as a m ...

, 1995–1997 *

Jim Flaherty James Michael Flaherty (December 30, 1949 – April 10, 2014) was a Canadian politician who served as the federal minister of finance from 2006 to 2014 under Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper. First elected to the Legislative Assemb ...

, 1997–1999 *

Chris Stockwell Chris Stockwell (March 9, 1957 – February 10, 2018) was a Canadian politician from Ontario. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1990 to 2003, and served as Speaker of the legislature and cab ...

, 1999–2002 * Brad Clark, 2002–2003 * Chris Bentley, 2003–2005 * Steve Peters, 2005–2007 * Brad Duguid, 2007–2008 *

Peter Fonseca : ''For other people with a similar name, see Pedro da Fonseca (disambiguation)'' Peter Fonseca (born October 5, 1966) is a Portuguese-born Canadian politician and former athlete. He is a Liberal member of the House of Commons of Canada, r ...

, 2008–2010 *

Charles Sousa Anthony Charles Sousa (born September 27, 1958) is a Canadian politician who has served as the Member of Parliament from Mississauga-Lakeshore since December 12, 2022. He previously served as the Minister of Finance for Ontario from 2013 to ...

, 2010–2011 * Linda Jeffrey, 2011–2013 *

Yasir Naqvi Yasir Abbas Naqvi (born January 25, 1973) is a Canadian politician who has served as the member of Parliament (MP) for Ottawa Centre since the 2021 federal election, sitting as a Liberal. Prior to his election to the House of Commons, Naqvi w ...

, 2013–2014 * Kevin Flynn, 2014–2018 * Laurie Scott, 2018-2019 *

, 2019 Minister of Labour, Training and Skills Development *

, 2019–2022 Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development *

, 2022

References

External links

* {{Authority control Ontario,Labour

Labour

1919 establishments in Ontario