The Ministry of Finance is a ministry of the Government of Ontario responsible for managing the province's fiscal policy, developing the provincial budget, and financial sector regulation. The minister of finance – called the treasurer before 1993 – leads the ministry and is responsible to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.

History

For most of the period from 1867 until 1993, the minister was called the treasurer or provincial treasurer.^[1]

The ministry were renamed the Ministry of Economics in 1956 and the minister became known as Minister in charge of Economics instead of treasurer. From January to December 1961, the ministry became the Ministry of Economics and Federal and Provincial Relations. The title of treasurer was revived in December 1961 with the minister also often holding the secondary title of minister of economics or some variation after 1968. Frank Miller had the sole title of minister of economics from 1978 until 1981 when he was given the additional title of treasurer. At various times in the 1960s and 1970s the minister also held the titles of chairman of the management board of cabinet, chairman of the treasury board and/or minister of revenue. This practice was revived in recent years with Greg Sorbara acting as finance minister and chair of both the management board and the treasury board. It has ended as there is now a different person holding the position of chair of the management and treasury board.

In 1993, the positions of treasurer and minister of economics were formally combined and renamed the minister of finance.

In early 2007, Premier Dalton McGuinty split the province's revenue collection function from the Ministry of Finance and resurrected the Ministry of Revenue,^[2] a portfolio that had not been used since the Ontario New Democratic Party government of Bob Rae in 1993. Following the 2011 Ontario general election, the Ministry of Revenue was merged back into the Ministry of Finance.

List of ministers

	Portrait	Name	Term of office		Tenure	Political party (Ministry)	Note
	Treasurer
		Edmund Burke Wood	July 20, 1867	December 20, 1871	4 years, 153 days	Liberal Conservative (MacDonald)
		Alexander Mackenzie	December 20, 1871	October 25, 1872	310 days	Liberal (Blake)
		Adam Crooks	October 25, 1872	March 19, 1877	4 years, 145 days	Liberal (Mowat)
		Samuel Wood	March 19, 1877	June 2, 1883	6 years, 75 days	Concurrently Commissioner of Agriculture
		James Young	June 2, 1883	November 1, 1883	152 days	Concurrently Commissioner of Agriculture
		Alexander Ross	November 2, 1883	September 16, 1890	6 years, 318 days	Concurrently Commissioner of Agriculture (November 2, 1883 - May 1, 1888)
		Richard Harcourt	September 16, 1890	July 21, 1896	9 years, 35 days
July 21, 1896			October 21, 1899	Liberal (Hardy)
		George William Ross	October 21, 1899	February 8, 1905	5 years, 110 days	Liberal (Ross)	While Premier
		Arthur Matheson	February 8, 1905	January 25, 1913	7 years, 352 days	Conservative (Whitney)
		Isaac Lucas	May 13, 1913	October 2, 1914	1 year, 223 days
October 2, 1914			December 22, 1914	Conservative (Hearst)
		Thomas McGarry	December 22, 1914	November 14, 1919	4 years, 327 days
		Peter Smith	November 14, 1919	April 16, 1923	3 years, 153 days	United Farmers (Drury)
		William Herbert Price	July 16, 1923	October 18, 1926	3 years, 94 days	Conservative (Ferguson)
		Joseph Monteith	October 18, 1926	September 16, 1930	3 years, 333 days
		Edward Arunah Dunlop	September 16, 1930	December 15, 1930	3 years, 106 days
December 15, 1930			December 31, 1933	Conservative (Henry)
		George Stewart Henry	January 12, 1934	July 10, 1934	179 days	While Premier
		Mitchell Hepburn	July 10, 1934	October 21, 1942	8 years, 236 days	Liberal (Hepburn)	While Premier
October 21, 1942			March 3, 1943	Liberal (Conant)
		Arthur Gordon	March 3, 1943	May 18, 1943	167 days
May 18, 1943			August 17, 1943	Liberal (Nixon)
		Leslie Frost	August 17, 1943	October 19, 1948	12 years, 0 days (first instance)	PC (Drew)	Concurrently Minister of Mines
October 19, 1948			May 4, 1949	PC (Kennedy)		Concurrently Minister of Mines
May 4, 1949			August 17, 1955	PC (Frost)		While Premier
		Dana Porter	August 17, 1955	March 28, 1956	2 years, 166 days
	Minister in Charge of the Department of Economics
		Dana Porter	March 28, 1956	January 30, 1958
		Leslie Frost	February 3, 1958	April 28, 1958	84 days (second instance) (12 years, 84 days in total)	While Premier
		James Allan	April 28, 1958	January 27, 1961	8 years, 210 days	Concurrently Minister of Public Works (May 14, 1958 – December 22, 1958)
	Minister of Economics and Federal and Provincial Relations
		James Allan	January 27, 1961	December 15, 1961
	Treasurer					PC (Robarts)
		James Allan	December 15, 1961	November 24, 1966		Also Chair of the Treasury Board
		Charles MacNaughton	November 24, 1966	July 23, 1968	4 years, 97 days (first instance)	Also Chair of the Treasury Board
	Treasurer and Minister of Economics
		Charles MacNaughton	July 23, 1968	March 1, 1971		Also Chair of the Treasury Board
		Darcy McKeough	March 1, 1971	April 7, 1972	1 year, 190 days (first instance)	PC (Davis)	Also Chair of the Treasury Board
	Treasurer and Minister of Economics and Intergovernmental Affairs
		Darcy McKeough	April 10, 1972	September 7, 1972
		Charles MacNaughton	September 7, 1972	March 15, 1973	189 days (second instance) (4 years, 286 days in total)
		John White	January 15, 1973	June 18, 1975	2 years, 154 days
		Darcy McKeough	June 18, 1975	August 16, 1978	3 years, 59 days (second instance) (4 years, 249 days in total)
		Frank Miller	August 16, 1978	August 30, 1979	4 years, 319 days
	Treasurer and Minister of Economics
		Frank Miller	August 30, 1979	July 1, 1983
		Larry Grossman	July 6, 1983	February 8, 1985	1 year, 299 days
	Treasurer					PC (Miller)
		Larry Grossman	February 8, 1985	May 1, 1985
		Bette Stephenson	May 17, 1985	June 26, 1985	40 days	While Deputy Premier
	Treasurer and Minister of Economics					Liberal (Peterson)
		Robert Nixon	June 26, 1985	October 1, 1990	5 years, 97 days	Concurrently Minister of Revenue (June 26, 1985 – September 29, 1987), Interim Chair of Management Board of Cabinet (June 17, 1986 – September 29, 1987), and Minister of Financial Institutions (September 29, 1987 – August 16, 1988)
		Floyd Laughren	October 1, 1990	February 1, 1993	4 years, 268 days	NDP (Rae)
	Minister of Finance
		Floyd Laughren	February 1, 1993	June 26, 1995
		Ernie Eves	June 26, 1995	February 8, 2001	5 years, 227 days	PC (Harris)	While Deputy Premier
		Jim Flaherty	February 8, 2001	April 14, 2002	1 year, 65 days	While Deputy Premier
		Janet Ecker	April 15, 2002	October 22, 2003	1 year, 190 days	PC (Eves)
	Minister of Finance and Chair of the Management Board of Cabinet					Liberal (McGuinty)
		Greg Sorbara	October 23, 2003	October 11, 2005	1 year, 353 days (first instance)
		Dwight Duncan	October 11, 2005	May 23, 2006	224 days (first instance)	Interim minister
		Greg Sorbara	May 23, 2006	October 30, 2007	1 year, 160 days (second instance) (3 years, 148 days in total)
		Dwight Duncan	October 30, 2007	February 11, 2013	5 years, 104 days (second instance) (5 years, 328 days in total)	Concurrently Minister of Revenue (September 18, 2008 – June 24, 2009), Deputy Premier (October 20, 2011 – February 11, 2013), Interim Minister of Government Services (November 27, 2012 – February 11, 2013)
		Charles Sousa	February 11, 2013	June 24, 2014	5 years, 138 days	Liberal (Wynne)
	Minister of Finance
		Charles Sousa	June 24, 2014	June 29, 2018		The following served as Associate Minister of Finance (Ontario Retirement Pension Plan) Mitzie Hunter (June 24, 2014 – June 13, 2016) Indira Naidoo-Harris (June 13, 2016 – August 24, 2016)
		Vic Fedeli	June 29, 2018	June 20, 2019	356 days	PC (Ford)	While Chair of Cabinet
		Rod Phillips	June 20, 2019	December 31, 2020	1 year, 194 days
		Peter Bethlenfalvy	December 31, 2020	present	3 years, 100 days