A mini shuffle of Premier Kathleen Wynne's cabinet sees Chris Ballard moving from the housing portfolio to become environment minister, while Peter Milczyn gets promoted to cabinet to take over at housing.
The shuffle has been triggered by the departure of Glen Murray, who will resign his Toronto Centre seat on September 1st to become the executive director of the Pembina Institute, an environmental think-tank.
A former mayor of Winnipeg, Murray was first elected to the legislature in 2007 and served as minister of research and innovation and minister of training, colleges and universities under then-premier Dalton McGuinty.
Wynne praised Murray for his work in public office and also cheered his advocacy for the L-G-B-T-Q community, as the country's first openly gay mayor.
Murray says the decision to leave was a difficult one that he made with the support of his partner, Rick.