TORONTO – Ontario cabinet minister Caroline Mulroney announced Monday that she is resigning, looking to step away from elected politics after eight years in senior portfolios in the provincial government.
Mulroney was elected in 2018 as part of Premier Doug Ford’s first government and has served as minister of transportation, francophone affairs, attorney general, and currently, president of the Treasury Board.
Mulroney’s decision comes two years after losing her father, former prime minister Brian Mulroney, and now as she and her husband are empty nesters she is looking for a change, she said.
“I’m definitely ready to step away from elected politics for now,” she said Monday at the legislature.
“It’s an important step for me and my family, and I don’t know what the future holds, but I do know that I’m looking forward to some time with my family.”
Mulroney said she made her decision early this year but wanted to stay through the budget process and until the end of the spring sitting of the legislature. It is set to rise June 4 for the summer and her resignation takes effect the following day.
Ford said in a statement that Mulroney is a close, personal friend and Ontario is lucky to have benefited from her calm and steady leadership.
“Politics is in Caroline’s blood,” he wrote. “The Ontario PC Party and our conservative movement will no doubt continue to benefit from her ideas and ideals.”
Ford has tapped Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy to serve as interim president of the Treasury Board once Mulroney’s resignation takes effect on June 5. He has asked Long-Term Care Minister Natalia Kusendova-Bashta to serve as minister of francophone affairs.
Mulroney’s resignation will also trigger a byelection in her riding of York-Simcoe, in addition to one in Scarborough Southwest that Ford must call by the end of summer.
Ford said Mulroney leaves a record she can be proud of, including a funding agreement for the largest expansion of public transit in North America.
Mulroney reflected fondly on her time as francophone affairs minister, a portfolio she held through the full eight years, though it began with a bumpy start, presiding over some funding cuts in 2018.
“There is an old line in politics that the worst day in elected life is better than the best day outside of it,” she wrote in closing a letter to constituents.
“I’m not sure that’s true, but I do know that I will miss the people I have worked with over the past eight years more than you know.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first May 25, 2026.
Allison Jones, The Canadian Press
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