Ontario's S&T portfolio moves back to economic development

Ontario's experiment with a ministry devoted solely to science and technology has ended after only six years. The Ministry of Research and Innovation (MRI) has been merged with the Ministry of Economic Development as part of a smaller Cabinet, unveiled following the re-election of Dalton McGuinty's Liberal government.

The new Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation (MEDI) marks the return of the province's suite of research and innovation programs and services to the economic development ministry, which it was part of in its previous incarnation (R$, July 1/05). The new minister is Brad Duguid see page 7).

While MRI was established with little fanfare in a 2005 Cabinet shuffle, it gained considerable profile when the premier announced himself as its inaugural minister. McGuinty held the position until the fall of 2007 when he appointed his parliamentary assistant, John Wilkinson, as minister. Wilkinson was replaced in 2009 by John Milloy, who held joint ministerial responsibility for MRI and the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. He in turn was replaced by Glen Murray who held the post until the October 6th election which returned the Liberal Party to its third straight term in office.

Ontario's S&T and innovation programs have racked up considerable mileage in recent years, moving from ministry to ministry under a variety of new names that observers often described as S&T alphabet soup. Over the years it has been parked with either the economic development or advanced education ministries.

The ministers office has yet to be staffed and the government must decide which of two DMs will hold the post.

In the 1990s when the ministry was then known as the Ministry of Enterprise, Opportunity and Innovation (MEOI), two of its key research funding programs were spun out of government and into a not-for-profit corporation called the Ontario Innovation Trust. A 2003 report from the provincial auditor blasted the OIT and its subsidiary, the Innovation Institute of Ontario, for lack of transparency and being launched without a business case (R$, December 1/03).

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