The Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development is responsible for labour issues in the Canadian province of Ontario.
The Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development and its agencies are responsible for employment equity and rights, occupational health and safety, 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.
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 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 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, 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, 1938–1941 Charles Daley, 1943–1961 Bill Warrender, 1961–1962 Leslie Rowntree, 1962–1966 Dalton Bales, 1966–1971 Gordon Carton, 1971–1972 Fernand Guindon, 1972–1974 John Palmer MacBeth, 1974–1975 Bette Stephenson, 1975–1978 Robert Elgie, 1978–1982 Russ Ramsay, 1982–1985 Robert Elgie, 1985 (May–June) Bill Wrye, 1985–1989 Greg Sorbara, 1987–1989 Gerry Phillips, 1989–1990 Bob Mackenzie, 1990–1994 Shirley Coppen, 1994–1995 Elizabeth Witmer, 1995–1997 Jim Flaherty, 1997–1999 Chris Stockwell, 1999–2002 Brad Clark, 2002–2003 Chris Bentley, 2003–2005 Steve Peters, 2005–2007 Brad Duguid, 2007–2008 Peter Fonseca, 2008–2010 Charles Sousa, 2010–2011 Linda Jeffrey, 2011–2013 Yasir Naqvi, 2013–2014 Kevin Flynn, 2014–2018 Laurie Scott, 2018-2019 Monte McNaughton, 2019 Minister of Labour, Training and Skills Development Monte McNaughton, 2019–2022 Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development