Ontario Education Minister Todd Smith resigned his seat and from cabinet Friday to accept a job in the private sector less than three months after being given the education portfolio.
Smith has served in cabinet since Premier Doug Ford’s government was first elected in 2018, but spent the longest amount of time in the energy portfolio.
Sources who were not authorized to publicly discuss the issue have told The Canadian Press that Smith was not happy about the move to education in a cabinet shuffle in June, following three years as energy minister.
Ford’s office said he will announce who will be stepping into the role of education minister at some point Friday afternoon.
Smith’s resignation comes just one day after he announced a long-awaited new funding formula for child-care operators in the national $10-a-day program and an upcoming cut to the fees parents pay.
Smith, a widely liked politician at the legislature who got his start in radio broadcasting, said it was a very difficult decision to leave and he thanks his wife and children for their support over the years he has spent at the legislature.
“It hasn’t always been easy,” he wrote in his statement.
“The life of a politician is hard and takes its toll. Especially when I was away from home as often as I’ve been over the past 13 years. I couldn’t have asked for a better support system at home.”
Ford thanked Smith for his years of public service.
“He leaves politics with a record that he can be incredibly proud of, including and especially fixing the previous government’s energy policies and bringing electricity prices down for hardworking families and businesses,” Ford wrote in a statement.
“Todd will always be a friend and I can’t wait to watch his every success as he starts this next chapter of his life.”
Smith served as the provincial representative for Bay of Quinte and was first elected when the Progressive Conservatives were in opposition in 2011.
During Ford’s tenure as premier, Smith also served as the economic development minister, minister of children, community and social services, and minister of government and consumer services. He was government house leader between June 2018 and June 2019.
Born and raised in New Brunswick, Smith studied at Loyalist College in eastern Ontario, then worked in local radio as the voice of Belleville Bulls hockey and later as news director of Quinte Broadcasting.