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 latter part of the 23rd Parliament of Ontario, the entirety of the 24th and 25th Parliaments of Ontario, and the first half 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 three 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.
Of the seventeen ministerial departments, twelve retained their incumbent minister in the new ministry, including Frost himself at the treasury department. Health minister Russell Temple Kelley remained in cabinet despite reports of his ill health, his health so precarious that he remained in the hospital and missed the cabinet swearing-in. 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.
Designation of deputy One significant change announced on the day the ministry entered office was that George Doucett, who was widely accepted as having been instrumental to Frost's lopsided leadership victory, was designated as deputy to the premier. Doucett was widely seen as a likely leadership contender upon Premier Drew’s departure. As highways minister he had travel extensively throughout the province and had build a robust network among the party grassroots. His decision not to enter the contest and to publicly back Frost not only helped Frost consolidate the key rural base, but more importantly, left Frost as the sole rival to three urbane Toronto candidates. Frost noted that Doucett would act as his "deputy both in and out of the house".
For much of the duration of the Frost ministry, Doucett was consistently seated to Frost right at cabinet, in the house, and at other key functions. He was occasionally referred to by the press as the Deputy Premier. While his standing as Frost's deputy was generally accepted and unquestioned, the title Deputy Premier did not appear on any formal instrument or government document however.
+Composition of Frost Ministry, May 4, 1949 Portfolio Minister Held role sinceFirst entered ministry Prime MinisterPresident of the Council Leslie Frost May 4, 1949 August 17, 1943 Treasurer Deputy Premier George DoucettMay 4, 1949August 17, 1943 Minister of Public Works Ministry of Highways Minister of AgricultureThomas Laird KennedyAugust 17, 1943September 16, 1930 Provincial Secretary and Registrar George Arthur Welsh May 4, 1949March 25, 1946Chair, Liquor Control Board of Ontario Attorney General Dana Porter May 4, 1949May 8, 1944 Minister of Education Minister of Municipal Affairs George Dunbar August 17, 1943August 17, 1943 Minister of Reform Institutions 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 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, Frost approached changes to his cabinet line-up in similar ways as most of his predecessors, making small and targeted changes as events occurred. 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 periods of time. Wider-scope shuffles impacting multiple ministers and departments occurred only three times under Frost, twice in 1958. August 17, 1955 - two ministers without portfolio retired from cabinet, seven ministers changes portfolio (including Frost relinquishing the Treasury portfolio he held since 1943 to Dana Porter), two new ministers promoted (including former leadership rival/future leadership frontrunner Kelso Roberts as Attorney General)