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Ontario municipal affairs minister stepping down for ‘gender parity’

Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne is seen at a farmer's market in Waterdown, Ont., on Saturday, June 7, 2014 with local Liberal member Ted McMeekin. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Colin Perkel

TORONTO – Ontario’s minister of municipal affairs and housing says he will resign his cabinet post to help the premier achieve gender parity.

Ted McMeekin wrote in a Facebook post today that he will continue to serve as minister until Premier Kathleen Wynne names a replacement.

Speculation about a pending cabinet shuffle is rampant at the Ontario legislature, and Wynne has said that in a “hypothetical” one, she would like to have an equal number of men and women in her cabinet.

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McMeekin says that he thought of his three daughters and his wife and has often dreamed of a day when the question of gender parity wouldn’t even arise.

The Hamilton-area MPP says he is a feminist and adds that sometimes the best way for a man to advance the equality of women may be to step back and make room at the table.

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McMeekin says that when a new cabinet is named he will return to serving his constituents, but does not say whether he’ll run again in 2018.

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