Health Minister Christine Elliott has formally announced that she will not seek re-election in June but she says that she has agreed to remain at the cabinet table for the final three months of this government’s term.
CTV News reported on Thursday night that Elliott had decided not to seek re-election as MPP in the riding of Newmarket-Aurora, marking just the latest departure of a key figure in the Ford government.
In a statement issued on Friday morning Elliott confirmed the news, noting that the decision was made “after considerable reflection and discussion” with her family.
Elliott did not specifically say why she is leaving provincial politics in her statement but later told a pool camera that she is “looking at some possibilities in the private sector” and also intends to “continue to do more work helping the people of Ontario in a different way; not in the government.”
“I got into politics in the first place because I wanted to make a difference. I saw that there were some gaps in health-care and social services and working with people with special needs and that's always been a passion for me. That's why I got involved and being able to try and help make a positive difference has been very, very important to me,” she said. “I am so grateful to the people of first Whitby-Oshawa and then Newmarket-Aurora that elected me and gave me that opportunity.”
Elliott is just the latest cabinet minister to announce that they will not seek re-election in June, following Minister of Long-Term Care Rod Phillip’s decision to step aside in January.
Her departure marks an end to a long career in provincial politics that began when she was first elected in 2006.
Elliot did leave Queen’s Park in 2015 following a second failed bid to become the leader of the Progressive Conservative party but returned three years later for a third kick at the can, only to be defeated by Ford.
She was then elected as MPP for Newmarket-Aurora and appointed as Ford’s deputy premier and minister of health.
On Friday morning Ford called Elliott a “close personal friend” and an “incredible person.”
He said that he is “sad” to see her leave Queen’s Park but brushed aide a suggestion that her decision to leave politics points to troubles for a PC party that has already been shaken by a series of high-profile departures leading up to the election.
“You can never replace someone like Christine but I feel moving forward that we have a better slate (of candidates) now than we did previously (in 2018). We have an all star team and we are just making it better. Nobody is going to fill Christine’s shoes 100 per cent but she is always a phone call away,” he said.
The PC party has said that Elliot’s constituency manager Dawn Gallagher Murphy will be their candidate in Newmarket-Aurora in June.
