George Smitherman - Provincial Politics

Provincial Politics

In the 1999 provincial election Smitherman was nominated as the Liberal Party candidate for Toronto Centre-Rosedale. The riding's previous MPP, Progressive Conservative Al Leach, had chosen not to run again. Former Toronto mayor John Sewell was running as an independent candidate, and activists accusing him of splitting the left-wing vote with the New Democratic Party. Although a Progressive Conservative government was re-elected, Smitherman won the seat for the Liberals.

In the legislature, Smitherman was nicknamed "Furious George" for his aggressive and often abrasive manner, and rose to become McGuinty's right-hand man and favourite "attack dog".

In the 2003 election Smitherman was re-elected and the Liberals won the election. Dalton McGuinty was sworn in as the 24th Premier of Ontario on October 23, 2003. Smitherman was named to cabinet as Minister of Health and Long-Term Care. He was also named Deputy Premier and the Toronto Regional Minister.

Under Smitherman's leadership, the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care launched the Wait Times Strategy in 2004. The new health care model was designed to reduce wait times for various procedures such as hip and knee replacement, MRIs and CT scans. The Wait Times Strategy also focused on shrinking wait times for cancer, cardiac and cataracts surgeries.

Smitherman also launched the Ministry's "Aging at Home" strategy in 2007. The initiative focused on delivering enhanced community health care services and enabling seniors to live independent, healthy lives at home through home care and other community based services.

In the 2007 election, Smitherman was re-elected as the MPP for Toronto Centre and continued in his roles as Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, Deputy Premier and Toronto Regional Minister.

However, Smitherman was criticized for ignoring calls for an independent investigation into C. difficile deaths in hospitals, and he was unable improve the lives of nursing home residents who were often forced to sit in soiled diapers for hours on end. Smitherman was also criticized for failures related to the implementation of an electronic health records system called eHealth that partly occurred during his tenure as Minister of Health and Long-Term Care. eHealth was under criticism for awarding no-bid contracts, as well as the $647 million spent on its predecessor, Smart Systems for Health Agency, which was shut down and restarted as eHealth. Smitherman's successor David Caplan resigned as Minister in 2009 to take responsibility for mistakes that were made.

On June 20, 2008, Smitherman was shuffled to the new Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, a merger of two formerly separate government departments. McGuinty dismissed suggestions that he combined the energy and infrastructure portfolios to satisfy Smitherman, saying, "I think it's a great fit, it's a natural fit, and it's an essential part of our plan to grow this economy." Smitherman was the first Liberal in the history of Toronto's NOW magazine to be voted best MPP.

As the Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, Smitherman was responsible for Ontario's Green Energy Act, which was passed in September 2009. The Act encourages investment in green energy production by providing businesses the ability to sell energy produced from renewable sources to the province's electricity grid through a Feed-in-Tariff program. The Green Energy Act has resulted in a series of record-breaking corporate investments in wind and solar energy worth billions of dollars.

The World Wind Energy Association chose Smitherman as the recipient of their annual World Wind Energy Award in 2009 for his outstanding achievements in making Ontario the leading wind energy jurisdiction in North America.