Frost ministry

Frost ministry
ministry of Ontario
The Hon. Leslie Miscampbell Frost
Date formed	May 4, 1949 (1949-05-04)
Date dissolved	November 8, 1961 (1961-11-08)
People and organisations
Monarch	George VI (1949–52) Elizabeth II (1952–61)
Lieutenant Governor	Ray Lawson (1949–52) Louis O. Breithaupt (1952–57) John Keiller MacKay (1957–61)
Premier	Leslie Frost
Member party	Progressive Conservative
Status in legislature	Majority
Opposition party	CCF (1949–51)  Liberal (1951–61)
Opposition leader	Ted Jolliffe (1949-1951)   Farquhar Oliver (1951–58)   John Wintermeyer (1958–61)
History
Incoming formation	1949 PC leadership convention
Outgoing formation	resignation
Elections	1951, 1955, 1959
Legislature term	23rd, 24th, 25th & 26th Parliaments of Ontario
Predecessor	Drew ministry
Successor	Robarts ministry

The Frost Ministry was the cabinet (formally the Executive Council of Ontario) of the Government of Ontario from May 4, 1949, to November 8, 1961. It was led by the 16th Premier of Ontario, Leslie Frost, nicknamed Old Man Ontario for his longevity in tenure. The council of ministers was made up of members of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, which commanded a majority of the seats in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario throughout its duration.

The ministry was formed in 1949 following Frost's victory at the 1949 Progressive Conservative Party leadership convention. It succeeded the Drew-Henry ministry, in which Frost served as Treasurer and Minister of Mines for its entire duration. Frost succeeded cabinet colleague Thomas Kennedy who served as interim Premier for the final six months of the Drew ministry. The Progressive Conservative Party led by Frost contested the following three provincial general election, in 1951, 1955 and 1959, and won majority mandates in all three instances. The ministry governed through the second part of the 23rd Parliament of Ontario, the entirety of the 24th and 25th Parliaments of Ontario, and the first part of the 26th Parliament of Ontario.

The Ontario ministry experienced a number of expansions during the Frost ministry, with the enactment of numerous new ministerial portfolios in response to the growth of commerce in the province.

The Frost ministry was the second of four ministries that were later collectively referred to as the Big Blue Machine, a forty-two year period of continual Progressive Conservative rule of the province. Frost resigned in 1961 and was succeeded by education minister John Robarts, who Frost promoted into cabinet less than two years prior.

Initial composition

Despite fervent speculation of a major cabinet shakeup following Frost's victory at the 1949 Progressive Conservative leadership convention, the ascension of Frost to the premiership initially brought little change to the make up of the ministry. Press reports in the days that followed the convention forecasted four to five new faces for the new ministry. Among the speculated names were M. C. Davies (MPP for Windsor—Walkerville and Speaker of the legislature at the time), Welland Gemmell (Sudbury), William Hamilton (Wellington South), William Murdoch (Essex South). Mac Phillips (Grey North), and Tommy Thomas (Elgin). The departure of health minister Russell Kelley, who was in hospital following a heart attack, was also widely presumed.

When the new ministry members took their oath on May 4, 1949, only one new face were among them. Of the fourteen ministers who served under interim Premier Thomas Kennedy, all but one were retained, most of them continued to hold the same portfolios they held prior. Former Attorney General Leslie Blackwell, Frost's leadership rival and long time friend who had rescinded his previous resignation from cabinet to enter the leadership contest, opted to retired as he had originally planned. was the only departure from cabinet. Dana Porter, another leadership rival, replaced Blackwell as Attorney General and retained the education portfolio. Porter was succeeded as Provincial Secretary by George Welch, who would also serve as chair of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario, with John Foote, a Victoria Cross decorated military chaplain, serving as vice chair. Welch relinquished the planning and development portfolio (which he also inherited from Porter) to William Griesinger, previously a minister without portfolio. The only new minister, Welland Gemmell, succeeded Frost as Minister of Mines. Frost designated George Doucett, who's support was instrumental to Frost's leadership victory, as Deputy Premier. Health minister Russell Temple Kelley remained in cabinet despite reports of his ill health. He however missed the swearing in as he was still recovering in hospital.

Of the seventeen ministerial departments, twelve retained their incumbent minister. remained in place in the new ministry, including Frost himself at the treasury department. Seven departments had the same minister since the start of the Drew ministry in 1943. The new Premier indicated however that Porter and Dunbar, each heading two departments, would hold their respective education and reform institution portfolios on interim basis only, as he required more time to confirm the appointments of his preferred choices for those portfolios.

Composition of Frost Ministry, May 4, 1949

Portfolio	Minister	Held role since	First entered ministry
Prime Minister President of the Council	Leslie Frost	May 4, 1949	August 17, 1943
Treasurer		August 17, 1943
Deputy Premier	George Doucett	May 4, 1949	August 17, 1943
Minister of Public Works		August 17, 1943
Ministry of Highways		August 17, 1943
Minister of Agriculture	Thomas Laird Kennedy	August 17, 1943	September 16, 1930
Provincial Secretary and Registrar	George Arthur Welsh	May 4, 1949	March 25, 1946
Chair, Liquor Control Board of Ontario		May 4, 1949
Attorney General	Dana Porter	May 4, 1949	May 8, 1944
Minister of Education		October 19, 1948
Minister of Municipal Affairs	George Dunbar	August 17, 1943	August 17, 1943
Minister of Reform Institutions		April 15, 1946
Minister of Health	Russell Temple Kelley	January 7, 1946	January 7, 1946
Minister of Public Welfare	Bill Goodfellow	January 7, 1946	January 7, 1946
Minister of Labour	Charles Daley	August 17, 1943	August 17, 1943
Minister Travel and Publicity	Louis-Pierre Cécile	October 19, 1948	September 17,1948
Minister of Planning and Development	William Griesinger	May 4, 1949	April 15, 1946
Minister of Lands and Forests	Harold Robinson Scott	November 28, 1946	November 28, 1946
Minister of Mines	Welland Gemmell	May 4, 1949	May 4, 1949
Ministers Without Portfolios	George Holmes Challies	August 17, 1943	July 31, 1931
Vice Chair, Hydro Commission		August 17, 1943

Expansion of Ministry

Economy and government services

The Frost ministry saw the emergence of macro economic development and industrial policy as a distinct ministerial portfolio separated from the internal financial management function of the treasury department. In 1956 the Office of the Provincial Economist in the treasury department was established as the new Department of Economics. It was specifically mandated to study and advise on economic and financial policy, and fiscal relations between other levels of governments. The legislation did not provide for a separate ministerial position, but place the department in the Treasurer's charge. Furthermore, a new committee of cabinet members, known as the Treasury Board was established in 1958 to be chaired by the Treasurer. It was vested with the authority to approve spending requests from departmental ministers.

In the throne speech that opened the second session of the 26th Parliament in November 1960, the government signaled an increased focus on economic and industrial growth. A key feature of its plan was the establishment of a new department of commerce and development. Noting the increasing threats from developing European and Asian industries, the new department was given a mandate to search for new industries and new ways of selling Ontario goods in other countries and to identify solution to reduce the trade imbalance with the United States. A couple weeks later Premier Frost personally introduced legislations for these three departments reorganization. The enactment of those legislations in January 1961 resulted in the following changes:

• The economics department was renamed the Department of Economics and Federal and Provincial Relations, specifically tasked to handle the increasing load of intergovernmental functions beyond taxation issues
• The planning and development department, initially established for the purpose of postwar rehabilitation efforts, was renamed the Department of Commerce and Development with objectives to increase production, extend trade and formulate plans to create, assist. develop and maintain productive employment and to develop Ontario's human and material resources. In anticipation of its increased focus on industry and commerce, the department transferred its community planning branch to the municipal affairs department earlier in 1960. The department however retained the civil defence function, with its deputy minister Thomas Tyrrell, a brigade major with the Royal Canadian Engineers, being named head of the province Emergency Measures Organization.
• The Department of the Provincial Secretary and Registrar, in existence since before Canadian Confederation and one of the five provincial executive offices specifically established by the British North America Act, 1867, for the new province, was renamed Department of Provincial Secretary and Citizenship. In addition to its traditional functions in registration and central government administration, the department was given the high-minded objective to "in the cause of human betterment, advance and encourage the concept and ideal of full and equal citizenship among the residents of Ontario in order that all may exercise effectively the rights, powers and privileges and fulfil the obligations, duties and liabilities of citizens"

The two new economic departmental names did not last past the year end. They were amalgamated to form the new Department of Economics and Development in the early days of the Robarts ministry

Department of Energy Resources

The Department of Energy Resources was established in May, 1959.

Department of Transport

On July 1, 1957, legislation was passed to establish the Department of Transport. It assumed functions for motor vehicles (previously held by the Provincial Secretariat from 1903 to 1919, and the highways department from 1919) and other functions not directly related to constructions of transport infrastructures from the Department of Highways including driver licencing, traffic engineering and highway safety. Both departments remained in the charge of highways minister James Allen until Allen was promoted to be Treasurer the following year.

Change in composition

In the early years of the ministry, small changes were made to the cabinet line up as events took place. There were no discernable effort toward major shuffles at any point. It was also routine for senior ministers who relinquished their portfolios voluntarily to be retained by Frost as ministers without portfolio for extended period of time.

Early additions and changes

Some of the speculations at the start of the ministry in May 1949 were not entirely unfulfilled, but merely delayed, some by over two years. Frost's preferred education minister – wildly assumed to be Speaker M. C. Davies – did not material however.

William Hamilton was elevated to cabinet and assumed the reform institutions portfolio from Dunbar in July. The next change took place a year later, when Dr. Mac Phillips succeeded the ailing health minister Russell Kelley in August 1950 as widely expected. Welfare minister Bill Goodfellow had been acting health minister during Kelley extended absence, was reportedly concerned about workload given the pending old-age security negotiation with Ottawa. Kelley remained in cabinet as a minister without portfolio until after his retirement from the legislature in the 1951 election, and died shortly after in February 1952. Hamilton's tenure as a portfolio minister was brief. In November 1950 he resigned in order to become the head of Paul Revere Life Insurance Co. newly established operation in Canada. He was replaced by John Foote as Minister of Reform Institutions, but was retained as a minister without portfolio until after his departure from the legislature at the 1955 election.

Frost elevated two new member into ministry following the 1951 elections, reliving two senior ministers form double-duty and finalizing moves outstanding form his ministry formation in 1949. Tommy Thomas, who has been subject of cabinet speculation for over two years, took over from Deputy Premier Doucett the public works portfolio, one of two portfolios he held since 1943. William James Dunlop, a newly elected members and former University of Toronto professor, was named education minister, relieving Dana Porter from over two years of carrying the Attorney General and education portfolio, two of the most significant ministerial portfolios, concurrently.

One new minister was elevated in each of the following three years: Philip Kelly as Minister of Mines in 1952, Bill Warrender as Minister of Planning and Development in 1953, and Clare Mapledoram as Minister of Lands and Forests in 1954. Warrender's entry was triggered by the retirement from cabinet its dean the former premier Thomas Kennedy in anticipation of turning seventy-five that year. Kennedy declined to remain as a minister without portfolio but continued to served in the legislature for another seven years until his death in 1959.

Forced departures

Two separate scandals claimed casualties from the Frost ministers in the mid 1950s.

The first scandal, involving substantial road-building frauds, implicated no ministers personally but dealt a body blow to the premier by claiming an important ally who was also a key power broker within the governing party. Transport minister George Doucett was widely seen as a likely leadership contender upon Premier Drew’s departure. His decision not to enter the contest and to back Frost instead not only helped Frost consolidate the key rural base, but more importantly, left Frost as the sole rival to three urbane Toronto candidates. His backing of Frost was considered instrumental in securing Frost's lopsided victory. In return, Frost designated Doucett as deputy premier, consistently seating him to his right at cabinet, in the house, and at other key functions.

In 1953-54 the scandal broke from the highways department with reports of officials facilitating bid-rigging by construction companies, construction plan tempering, fraudulent billings, and irregular payments in various directions numbered in millions. As the scandal grew, the provincial auditor unveiled other financial misconducts such as accepting kickbacks or inappropriate gifts,  while less serious, were rampant in the department due to lack of proper oversight of major procurement. Frost initially tried to contain the matter by diverting opposition’s demand for a royal commission to a select committee. Nonetheless, the position of Doucett and his deputy minister became untenable as the number of dismissed officials piled up and charged for fraud and conspiracy were laid. The situation was further complicated by the animosity harboured by the party's Toronto power broker toward Doucett. Despite not personally implicated, Doucett resigned in January 1955 on account of ministerial responsibility, ending an eleven-year tenure overseeing some of the most rapid building out of the province highway network.

Another scandal two years later rocked the ministry much more seriously, implicating three ministers personally for profiting from inappropriate investment opportunities. The furor over the Northern Ontario natural gas pipeline stock broke in 1957 when it was disclosed that politicians at all levels were from many communities along the pipeline from Western Canada had been given special opportunities to purchase stock options at bargain price in a project underwritten by the taxpayers' money and approved by the Provincial Secretary, grew by over two hundred folds in matters of months. Minister of Mines Philip Kelly initially denied any interest in the company, but as more and more information was revealed, more and more of his denial were proven untrue. He eventually admitted having made a large amount of money on speculations but insisted it was an "honest investment” as he has no say on the routing of the pipelines. As Kelly faced increasing heat, it as also revealed that he also ushered in others in the legislature into the company's investor roster, including newly elected Liberal leader John Westermeyer, public works minister William Griesinger and lands and forest minister Clare , all having profited during the relevant period. Instinctively saw the perils posed for the party and the heat the issue was creating. While Frost insisted that Kelly resigned voluntarily in preparation for a federal run, Queen's Park insiders told a version which Kelly's resignation letter was typed out for him on which the Premier demanded Kelly's signature. Frost also forced the resignations of Griesinger and Mapledoram for not divesting when when they were instructed to. In commenting on the matter years after leaving office however, Frost clearly see Kelly as the primary culprit for bringing discredit on the government, for damaging the careers of two promising ministers and an opposition leader he actually liked at a personal level, and for causing him "more anxiety and distress than any other incident in my long public life."

Notable facts

Thirty-nine men served in the ministry over its twelve years tenure. Thirteen of the fourteen initial ministers served in the predecessor Drew ministry. The most senior member, Thomas Kennedy, Frost immediate predecessor as Premier, first served in cabinet in 1930, and have served under three other earlier premiers. George Holmes Challies, entered cabinet a year after Kennedy, was the only other member with cabinet experience from prior to the Drew ministry.

Aside from Frost, three ministers – Charles Daley, Bill Goodfellow and Louis-Pierre Cécile – started their cabinet career in the Drew ministry and served for the entire duration of the Frost ministry. All three went on to serve in the succeeding Robarts ministry.

Frost and Daley were among six ministers who held onto the same portfolios through Drew ministry's six-year tenure. Daley was however the only member of the Frost ministry to have helmed a department for its entire twelve-year duration. His combined eighteen-year tenure as labour minister not only made him Ontario's longest-serving labour minister, it is also put him in third place for Ontario ministerial portfolio longevity, behind only Sir Oliver Mowat's twenty-four-year tenure as Attorney General in his own ministry, and the twenty-year tenure of Mowat's public works minister Christopher Fraser.

Aside from Daley, three members of the Frost ministry hold the distinction as the longest serving minister of other portfolios:

• Health - Dr. Matthew Dymond served eleven years as health minister
• Municipal Affairs - George Dunbar helmed the Department of Municipal Affairs for twelve years to the day
• Highways - Despite having his cabinet tenure cut short by a departmental scandal, George Doucett's eleven-year tenure as highways minister remains to date the longest for the portfolio inclusive of the successor transportation portfolio

Coincidently, the ministry's most senior and most junior member each held the agriculture portfolio for more than thirteen years, though neither had the distinction of being the longest serving minister. When former premier Thomas Kennedy retired from cabinet in 1953 upon reaching the age of seventy-five, his thirteen years (non-consecutive) made him the second longest serving agriculture minister. By the time William Atcheson Stewart enter the Frost ministry, the last person to do so, Kennedy had already pass away. Stewart bumped Kennedy from his place as the second longest serving agriculture minister in 1975.

List of ministers

  Involuntary, unplanned departure (e.g. death, resignation due to poor health, resignation requested by premier)
Specific to members at dissolution of Frost ministry:
  Retained portfolio at the start of Robarts ministry
  Continued service in the Robarts ministry in different portfolio
  Did not continue in the Robarts ministry

List of ministers ordered by seniority

Minister	Previous service	Entered ministry	Exited ministry	Electoral district	First elected	Note
Leslie Frost	1943-08-17	1949-05-04	1961-11-08	Victoria	1937
Thomas Kennedy	1930-09-16	1949-05-04	1953-01-20	Peel	1919
George Challies	1931-07-31	1949-05-04	1955-08-17	Grenville—Dundas	1929
George Doucett	1943-08-17	1949-05-04	1955-01-05	Lanark	1937
George Dunbar	1943-08-17	1949-05-04	1958-12-22	Ottawa South	1937
Dana Porter	1943-08-17	1949-05-04	1958-01-30	St. George	1943
Charles Daley	1943-08-17	1949-05-04	1961-11-08	Lincoln	1943
Bill Goodfellow	1946-01-07	1949-05-04	1961-11-08	Northumberland	1943
Russell Temple Kelley	1946-01-07	1949-05-04	1952-01-18	Hamilton—Wentworth	1945
George Arthur Welsh	1946-03-25	1949-05-04	1955-01-20	Muskoka–Ontario	1945
William Griesinger	1946-04-15	1949-05-04	1958-05-06	Windsor—Sandwich	1945
Harold Scott	1946-11-28	1949-05-04	1958-04-28	Peterborough	1943
Louis-Pierre Cécile	1948-09-17	1949-05-04	1961-11-08	Prescott	1948
Welland Gemmell		1949-05-04	1954-06-18	Sudbury	1948
William Ernest Hamilton		1949-07-15	1955-08-17	Wellington South	1945
Mac Phillips		1950-08-08	1960-05-15	Gray North	1945
John Weir Foote		1950-11-16	1957-07-18	Durham	1948
Tommy Thomas		1951-10-02	1956-08-01	Elgin	1945
William James Dunlop		1951-10-02	1960-11-21	Eglinton	1951
Philip Kelly		1952-06-03	1957-07-18	Cochrane North	1951
Bill Warrender		1953-01-20	1961-11-08	Hamilton Centre	1951
Clare Mapledoram		1954-07-07	1958-07-04	Fort William	1951
James Allan		1955-01-05	1961-11-08	Haldimand—Norfolk	1951
William McAdam Nickle		1955-01-20	1961-11-08	Kingston	1951
Bryan Cathcart		1955-08-17	1961-11-08	Lambton West	1945
Kelso Roberts		1955-08-17	1961-11-08	SI. Patrick	1943
Ray Connell		1956-11-01	1961-11-08	Hamilton—Wentworth	1951
Matthew Dymond		1957-07-18	1961-11-08	Ontario	1955
Wilf Spooner		1957-07-18	1961-11-08	Cochrane South	1955
Frederick Cass		1958-04-28	1961-11-08	Grenville—Dundas	1955
John Yaremko		1958-04-28	1961-11-08	Bellwoods	1951
Robert Macaulay		1958-05-26	1961-11-08	Riverdale	1951
John Robarts		1958-12-22	1961-11-08	London North	1951
John Henry Haines Root		1958-12-22	1961-11-08	Wellington-Dulferin	1951
George Wardrope		1958-12-22	1961-11-08	Port Arthur	1951
James Anthony Maloney		1958-12-22	1961-11-08	Renfrew South	1956
Allan Grossman		1960-11-21	1961-11-08	St. Andrew	1955
Leslie Rowntree		1960-11-21	1961-11-08	York West	1956
William Atcheson Stewart		1960-11-21	1961-11-08	Middlesex North	1957

List of ministers by portfolio

Portfolio	Minister	Tenure
		Start	End
Central administration portfolios
Prime Minister of Ontario President of the Council	Leslie Frost	May 4, 1949	November 8, 1961
Deputy Premier	George Doucett	May 4, 1949	January 5, 1955
Treasurer (from March 28, 1956) Treasurer and Minister In Charge of the Department of Economics (from January 27, 1961) Treasurer and Minister of Federal and Provincial Relations	Leslie Frost	May 4, 1949	August 17, 1955
	Dana Porter	August 17, 1955	January 30, 1958
	Leslie Frost	February 3, 1958	April 28, 1958
	James Allan	April 28, 1958	November 8, 1961
Provincial Secretary and Registrar (from January 27, 1961) Provincial Secretary and Minister of Citizenship	George Arthur Welsh	May 4, 1949	January 20, 1955
	William McAdam Nickle	January 20, 1955	August 17, 1955
	George Dunbar	August 17, 1955	December 22, 1958
	Mac Phillips	December 22, 1958	May 26, 1960
	John Yaremko	May 26, 1960	November 8, 1961
Minister of Municipal Affairs	George Dunbar	May 4, 1949	August 17, 1955
	Bill Goodfellow	August 17, 1955	November 1, 1956
	Bill Warrender	November 1, 1956	November 8, 1961
Law and order portfolios
Attorney General	Dana Porter	May 4, 1949	August 17, 1955
	Kelso Roberts	August 17, 1955	November 8, 1961
Minister of Reform Institutions	George Dunbar	May 4, 1949	July 15, 1949
	William Ernest Hamilton	July 15, 1949	November 16, 1950
	John Weir Foote	November 16, 1950	July 18, 1957
	Matthew Dymond	July 18, 1957	April 28, 1958
	Ray Connell	April 28, 1958	December 22, 1958
	George Wardrope	December 22, 1958	November 8, 1961
Public assets portfolios
Minister of Public Works	George Doucett	May 4, 1949	October 2, 1951
	Tommy Thomas	October 2, 1951	January 20, 1953
	William Griesinger	January 20, 1953	May 6, 1958
	James Allan	May 14, 1958	December 22, 1958
	Ray Connell	December 22, 1958	November 8, 1961
Ministry of Highways	George Doucett	May 4, 1949	January 5, 1955
	James Allan	January 5, 1955	April 28, 1958
	Fred Cass	April 28, 1958	November 8, 1961
Minister of Transport	James Allan	June 26, 1957	April 28, 1958
	Matthew Dymond	April 28, 1958	December 22, 1958
	John Yaremko	December 22, 1958	November 21, 1960
	Leslie Rowntree	November 21, 1960	November 8, 1961
Social & human services portfolios
Minister of Education	Dana Porter	May 4, 1949	October 2, 1951
	William James Dunlop	October 2, 1951	December 17, 1959
	John Robarts	December 17, 1959	November 8, 1961
Minister of Health	Russell Temple Kelley	May 4, 1949	August 8, 1950
	Mac Phillips	August 8, 1950	December 22, 1958
	Matthew Dymond	December 22, 1958	November 8, 1961
Minister of Public Welfare	Bill Goodfellow	May 4, 1949	August 17, 1955
	Louis-Pierre Cécile	August 17, 1955	November 8, 1961
Minister of Labour	Charles Daley	May 4, 1949	November 8, 1961
Natural resources portfolios
Minister of Lands and Forests	Harold Robinson Scott	May 4, 1949	June 3, 1952
	Welland Gemmell	June 3, 1952	June 18, 1954
	Clare Mapledoram	July 7, 1954	July 4, 1958
	Wilf Spooner	July 4, 1958	November 8, 1961
Minister of Mines	Welland Gemmell	May 4, 1949	June 3, 1952
	Philip Kelly	June 3, 1952	July 18, 1957
	Wilf Spooner	July 18, 1957	December 22, 1958
	James Anthony Maloney	December 22, 1958	November 8, 1961
Minister of Energy Resources	Robert Macaulay	May 5, 1959	November 8, 1961
Economic portfolios
Minister of Agriculture	Thomas Laird Kennedy	May 4, 1949	January 20, 1953
	Tommy Thomas	January 20, 1953	August 1, 1956
	Bill Goodfellow	August 1, 1956	November 8, 1961
Minister Travel and Publicity	Louis-Pierre Cécile	May 4, 1949	August 17, 1955
	Bryan Lewis Cathcart	August 17, 1955	November 8, 1961
Minister of Planning and Development (from January 27, 1961) Minister of Commerce and Development	William Griesinger	May 4, 1949	January 20, 1953
	Bill Warrender	January 20, 1953	August 17, 1955
	William McAdam Nickle	August 17, 1955	November 8, 1961
Ministers without portfolios
Ministers Without Portfolios	George Holmes Challies	May 4, 1949	August 17, 1955
	Russell Temple Kelley	August 8, 1950	January 18, 1952
	William Ernest Hamilton	November 16, 1950	August 17, 1955
	Harold Scott	June 3, 1952	April 28, 1958
	Bill Warrender	August 17, 1955	November 1, 1956
	Ray Connell	November 1, 1956	April 28, 1958
	John Yaremko	April 28, 1958	December 22, 1958
	Robert Macaulay	May 26, 1958	May 5, 1959
	John Henry Haines Root	December 22, 1958	November 8, 1961
	John Robarts	December 22, 1958	December 17, 1959
	William James Dunlop	December 17, 1959	November 21, 1960
	Allan Grossman	November 21, 1960	November 8, 1961
	William Atcheson Stewart	November 21, 1960	November 8, 1961

References

• Graham, Roger (1990). Old Man Ontario: Leslie M. Frost. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-1487597771.
• Service records of individual members of ministry, see "Members, Legislative Assembly of Ontario". Legislative Assembly of Ontario.

Legislations establishing or altering departments

• British North America Act, 1867. UK General Public Acts. Vol. 30 & 31 Victoria (U.K.). 1867. c.3, s. 63.
• The Department of Economics Act, 1956. Statutes of the Province of Ontario. Vol. 4/5 Elizabeth II. 1956. c.16.
• The Department of Transport Act, 1957. Statutes of the Province of Ontario. Vol. 5/6 Eliz. II. 1957. c.26.
• The Financial Administration Amendment Act, 1958. Statutes of the Province of Ontario. Vol. 6/7 Elizabeth II. 1958. c.29.
• The Department of Energy Resources Act. Statutes of the Province of Ontario. Vol. 7/8 Elizabeth II. 1959. c.26.
• The Department of Economics Amendment Act, 1960-61. Statutes of the Province of Ontario. Vol. 9/10 Elizabeth II. 1960. c.19.
• The Department of Commerce and Development Act, 1960-61. Statutes of the Province of Ontario. Vol. 9/10 Elizabeth II. 1960. c.18.
• The Department of the Provincial Secretary and Citizenship Act, 1960-61. Statutes of the Province of Ontario. Vol. 9/10 Elizabeth II. 1960. c.20.
• The Department of Economics and Development Act, 1961-62. Statutes of the Province of Ontario. Vol. 10/11 Elizabeth II. 1961. c.30.