Mowat ministry

As Premier Edward Blake was contemplating his departure in the summer of 1872, Mowat was neither a member of the legislative assembly nor a member of the predecessor Blake ministry, but was at the time the Vice-Chancellor of the Court of Chancery. He was however no stranger to Liberal politics, having been a key lieutenant of George Brown, the leader of the Liberal Party before Canadian Confederation, and a member of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada between 1858 and 1864. He served as Postmaster General, a cabinet post, in the short-lived Liberal ministry led by George Brown in 1858, in the Liberal ministry led by John Sandfield Macdonald between May 1963 and March 1964, and in the early days of the Great Coalition from June to November 1864. He also had an instrumental role in working out the division of powers between the federal and provincial governments at the 1864 Quebec Conference. With the imminent departure of not only Blake but also the provincial treasurer, the future prime minister Alexander Mackenzie, and at the urging of his mentor Brown, Mowat resigned his judicial post and became premier and attorney general of Ontario. The controversial move was deprecated by his political opponents and Mowat responded with a constitutional justification: “Her Majesty has a right to call to her Council any of her subjects, whether he happens to hold a judicial or any other office” and likewise used constitutional forms to avoid any personal explanation for his decision. == Changes to ministry ==

Mowat's initial cabinet consist of only five members, conforming to the five offices prescribed by section 63 of the British North America Act, 1867. The act had no specific mention of the position of the Premier, and there was no separate department or a budget for either a premier's office or cabinet office. Mowat took on the office of the Attorney General, following a tradition set by many pre-confederation premiers. Of the six members of the outgoing Blake ministry, provincial secretary Peter Gow departed for health reasons in addition to Blake and treasurer Mackenzie. Commissioner of Agriculture and Public Works Archibald McKellar and Commissioner of Crown Lands Richard Scott continued in their roles while Adam Crooks assumed the role of Treasurer. The were joined by Timothy Pardee as Provincial Secretary in addition to Mowat, who doubled duty as Attorney General for the entire duration of the ministry. Expansion & creation of new department The government of Ontario, and correspondingly the cabinet, expanded from five to seven departments/members on a permanent basis over Oliver Mowat's 24-year premiership. The first structural change came in 1874, when a sixth department was created with public works formally splitting off from agriculture. In 1876 upon the retirement of Rev. Dr. Egerton Ryerson, the long time civil servant who served as Chief Superintendent of Schools for Upper Canada and then Ontario for a total of 32 years, education was formally made a ministerial portfolio. The size of cabinet however remained at six for another 12 years. The education portfolio was initially held concurrently by Treasurer Adam Crooks, who served as vice-chancellor of the University of Toronto prior to his election. While Crook was relieved of the treasury portfolio in 1877 to focus on education matters, subsequent treasurers instead concurrently held the agriculture portfolio, then the principal department responsible for a wide range of economic development matters. Cabinet was finally expanded to seven members in 1888 with the entrant Charles Drury as Commissioner of Agriculture. Drury's son Ernest would in a few decades head a ministry of a rival party, add three more departments in four short years, and break the Liberal-Conservative duopoly in Ontario politics while at it. An eighth member was added in 1890, when Mowat appointed Erskine Henry Bronson, an early advocate for industrial policy and active government involvement with industry, as a minister without portfolio. Change to the ministry For a cabinet that held office for 24 years, it experienced remarkably few changes. Mowat led the Liberals through six general elections, securing six majority mandates. He made no changes to ministry before or after two of those elections. == List of ministers ==

By order of precedence By portfolio == Notes ==