Kathleen Wynne - Provincial Politics

Provincial Politics

Wynne was elected to the Ontario legislature in the 2003 provincial election, defeating Progressive Conservative cabinet minister David Turnbull by over 5,000 votes. The Liberals won the election, and Wynne was appointed parliamentary assistant to Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities Mary Anne Chambers in October 2003. In October 2004, she was appointed parliamentary assistant to Minister of Education Gerard Kennedy.

On September 18, 2006, she was promoted to Ontario Minister of Education in a cabinet shuffle occasioned by the resignation of Joe Cordiano from the Legislature. She is the province's first openly lesbian cabinet minister, and only the second openly LGBT cabinet minister after cabinet colleague George Smitherman. On January 18, 2010 she was moved to Ontario Minister of Transportation and in 2011 she was appointed Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing and Aboriginal Affairs.

In the 2007 provincial election, Wynne was challenged by the PC leader John Tory. Tory, who was elected to Dufferin—Peel—Wellington—Grey (former PC leader Ernie Eves' riding) in a by-election, was seeking a seat in a Toronto-area riding. Though projected to be a close race, Wynne was re-elected with 50.4 percent of the popular vote, defeating Tory's 39.7% vote.