Todd Smith (politician)


Todd Smith is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He is a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario and currently serves as the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services. His first post in the Doug Ford administration was Minister of Government and Consumer Services and Government House Leader. He then served as the Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade from November 2, 2018 to June 20, 2019. He represents the riding of Bay of Quinte, and previously represented Prince Edward—Hastings. He has been an MPP since 2011.

Background

Smith was born and raised in Riverview, New Brunswick. He worked for more than sixteen years on the radio with Quinte Broadcasting's CJBQ, Mix 97 and Rock 107, eventually becoming the news director for Quinte Broadcasting.

Politics

Smith ran in the 2011 provincial election as the Progressive Conservative candidate in the riding of Prince Edward—Hastings. He defeated Liberal incumbent Leona Dombrowsky by 3,130 votes. He was re-elected in the 2014 provincial election defeating Liberal candidate Georgina Thompson by 4,107 votes.
During his first term of office, Smith introduced several private member's bills. In November 2011, he proposed the Local Municipality Democracy Act which would have restored municipal zoning authority over green energy projects in Ontario. The bill was defeated after first reading. In May 2012 he introduced the Electronic Commerce Amendment Act with Liberal MPP Yasir Naqvi. It would have allowed for the use of electronic signatures on real estate transactions. When the legislature was prorogued on October 15, the bill was removed from the order paper along with all other business. It was reintroduced on March 6, 2013 and it passed second reading on March 21 before being adopted by the government as a part of the 2013 budget.
After Tim Hudak announced that he would be stepping down as leader of the party, Smith said that he would be supporting Christine Elliott to be the next leader.
As the PCs formed the government during the 42nd Parliament of Ontario in 2018, Smith was appointed to cabinet as Minister of Government and Consumer Services while serving concurrently as Government House Leader.

Cabinet positions