In 1997, Elinor Caplan resigned her seat in the Ontario legislature to seek election to the
House of Commons of Canada. David Caplan contested his mother's former riding of
Oriole in the subsequent by-election, and defeated his
Progressive Conservative opponent, former federal
Member of Parliament Barbara Greene, by a significant margin. He subsequently served as the Liberal critic for Youth and Training. Ontario's electoral map was significantly altered in 1996, when Progressive Conservative Premier
Mike Harris introduced a bill to reduce the number of members in the legislature from 130 to 103. These changes did not apply to by-elections for the sitting legislature, but came into effect for the
provincial election of 1999. As a result, Caplan was forced to face another incumbent
Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP),
Minister of Education David Johnson, in the new riding of
Don Valley East. Johnson had surprised many observers by not running in the safer riding of Don Valley West. In one of the most closely watched races of the campaign, Caplan defeated Johnson on election night by just over 3,000 votes. There are several public school teachers in Don Valley East, and many suspect that "strategic voting" by this group against the Tories was a leading factor in Caplan's victory. The Progressive Conservatives won the election. Caplan became his party's Housing Critic and Deputy
Whip. Like his mother, David Caplan was a prominent politician in the
Jewish community of the
North York area. He did not, however, join with several other politicians from this community (including fellow Liberal MPP
Monte Kwinter) to support provincial funding for non-Catholic religious schools in 2001. The initiative was brought forward by the Progressive Conservative government of
Mike Harris, and the Liberal Party opposed it on the grounds that it would divert money from public schools. While Kwinter publicly disagreed with his party's position, Caplan supported it and referred to the Harris government's plan as "the first step toward a voucher system".
2003 session Caplan was easily re-elected in Don Valley East in the
provincial election of 2003, defeating his Progressive Conservative opponent, former city councillor
Paul Sutherland, by over 9200 votes. The Liberals won the general election, and Caplan was appointed to Cabinet on October 23, 2003, as
Minister of Public Infrastructure Renewal. Caplan was responsible for leading the modernization of the province's infrastructure and planning for future population and economic growth. He released a long-term $30 billion plus infrastructure investment strategy called ReNew Ontario, which used a private financing model expanding and building new hospitals, schools, colleges and universities, and transit and transportation systems. Caplan was responsible for the Places to Grow Act, 2005, which allows for a better way of accommodating growth across the province through the development of growth plans. The first growth plan under this legislation, the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, was a 25-year strategy to maximize the benefits of growth and maintain a high quality of life for the fastest growing urban region in Canada. Minister Caplan also had responsibility for several major government agencies managing public assets, including: The Ontario Realty Corporation, Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, Liquor Control Board of Ontario, Infrastructure Ontario and the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation. Caplan came under heavy criticism after the
Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation was mired in a scandal which saw retailers were winning a disproportionate number of jackpots. He stayed on despite opposition calls for his resignation. After a cabinet shuffle on June 29, 2005, Caplan was given the additional position of Deputy Government
House Leader.
2007 session On June 20, 2008, Premier Dalton McGuity announced a cabinet shuffle that saw Caplan swapping portfolios with
George Smitherman. Caplan was appointed Minister of Health, while Smitherman was appointed both the Minister of Public Infrastructure Renewal and the Minister of Energy (taking over from Gerry Phillips). There was criticism of Caplan's new portfolio, as he suffered from weight issues and was formerly a heavy smoker, but he dismissed it, saying "My own conversations between me and my doctor are private matters, (as) they are for all of us, and they'll remain private". In May 2009, there were opposition calls for Caplan's resignation after it was revealed that
eHealth Ontario CEO Sarah Kramer had approved about $4.8 million in no-bid contracts during the first four months of the agency's operation, while also spending $50000 to refurnish her office, and paying consultants up to $300 an hour. Nine senior eHealth employees were fired, reportedly for challenging the agency's tendering practices. eHealth Ontario argued that the no-bid contracts were necessary due to the rapid transition process to eHealth from its predecessor Smart Systems for Health Agency, while Caplan defended Kramer's bonus as part of her move from another agency. The opposition noted that the McGuinty government spent five years and $647 million on the Smart Systems for Health Agency, which used 15 per cent of its $225 million annual budget on consultants despite employing 166 people with annual salaries exceeding $100,000, before the project was shut down and restarted as eHealth Ontario. Premier Dalton McGuinty said he was concerned about eHealth's spending information and said that he would act upon the auditor general's report. McGuinty and Caplan said that it was tough to recruit top experts to build a provincewide electronic health records system. On October 6, 2009, Caplan resigned his post as Health Minister in advance of a report detailing irregularities in spending and expense accounts related to eHealth Ontario, a government agency tasked with the creation of electronic health records. He announced on July 14, 2011, that he would not be a candidate in the October 6, 2011 provincial election.
Cabinet positions ==Post-political career==