The Executive Council of Ontario (French: Conseil des ministres de l'Ontario), often informally referred to as the Cabinet of Ontario (French: Cabinet de l'Ontario), is the cabinet and the executive committee of the provincial government of the Canadian province of Ontario. It comprises ministers of the Crown in right of Ontario, who are selected by the premier of Ontario (the first minister) and formally appointed by the lieutenant governor. The activities of the Government of Ontario are directed by the Executive Council.
The council serves a similar function as the Privy Council for Canada. The "Crown in right of Ontario" is the legal entity that owns government property, employs public servants, and acts in legal proceedings like criminal prosecutions. Accordingly, the cabinet exercises executive and sovereign powers within Ontario's jurisdiction in the name of the monarch "in right of Ontario". Similar to decisions of the federal cabinet, executive decisions by the Ontario cabinet are known as Order-in-Council, formally issued by in the name of the lieutenant governor, the monarch's representative in the province, on the advice of the ministers. Though the lieutenant governor does not generally attend cabinet meetings, cabinet directives are said to be ordered by the Lieutenant Governor-in-Council.
