Kathleen Wynne has moves from Education to Transportation in the cabinet shuffle announced Monday. (Canadian Press)

Kathleen Wynne has moved from Education to the Transportation Ministry while Brad Duguid has been promoted to the high-profile energy and infrastructure post in a major Ontario cabinet shuffle.

The two moves are the most notable of several changes that Premier Dalton McGuinty made to his cabinet Monday.

The new cabinet ministers were sworn in at a 4 p.m. ceremony at Queen's Park.

Among the few ministers not affected by the shuffle is Finance Minister Dwight Duncan.

The Ontario cabinet now counts 11 women as members, up from 10 before the shuffle.

The premier told reporters Monday afternoon he didn't set a goal of having a certain proportion of women in cabinet, but he added it had been on his mind when he was deciding who was in and who was out.

"I think most folks would agree that in an ideal world, my cabinet would be reflective in every way of the people that we represent, not only in terms of gender but in terms of our diversity," McGuinty said.

Wynne move a surprise

CBC provincial affairs reporter Mike Crawley, speaking from Queen's Park, said Wynne's move in cabinet appeared to be the most surprising.

"It's hard to know why Kathleen Wynne had to be moved," he said, noting she had brought relative peace to contract negotiations with the union representing the province's elementary teachers.

It wasn't a demotion for Wynne, insisted McGuinty, who called transportation a key economic ministry because of the large-scale projects she will be responsible for implementing.

The Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario accepted the province's "final" contract offer in a deal last February, averting a strike that could have affected up to 750,000 students.

Wynne also oversaw the introduction of the government's plan to implement full-day kindergarten across Ontario.

Duguid, meanwhile, earned the biggest promotion and will be in charge of building on the Green Energy Act to transform Ontario's economy into one that takes advantage of growing demand for renewable forms of energy.

He will also have to decide how to refurbish Ontario's aging nuclear reactors.

Brad Duguid, the new energy and infrastructure minister, was a Toronto city councillor from 1994-2003. (Canadian Press)

Two of the four newcomers to cabinet — Aggelonitis and Hoskins — are also relative newcomers to the legislature.

"I just called them up from the minors," McGuinty joked as he introduced the four new ministers to the media.

Aggelonitis was elected as to represent Hamilton Mountain in the 2007 provincial election, while Hoskins was elected in a central Toronto byelection last fall.

Those dropped from cabinet include former consumer minister Ted McMeekin, former natural resources minister Donna Cansfield and former culture minister Aileen Carroll. John Wilkinson stays in revenue and Deb Matthews remains in health.

Resignations prompted shuffle

McGuinty had to replace two ministers who resigned to run in Ontario-wide municipal elections next Oct. 25.

George Smitherman resigned as Ontario's minister of energy and infrastructure, as well as deputy premier, in November. He officially announced on Jan. 8 that he was running for mayor of Toronto.

Liberal MP Gerry Phillips agreed to take over that cabinet post on an interim basis after Smitherman's resignation.

Jim Watson stepped down as minister of municipal affairs and housing on Jan. 12 to seek the mayor's seat in Ottawa.

The shuffle takes place in the wake of a tough year for McGuinty's Liberal government.

In October, Health Minister David Caplan resigned just one day before the auditor general released a scathing report detailing how little value Ontario got for the $1 billion spent trying to create electronic health records.

The Liberals also faced months of criticism over the new harmonized sales tax, which comes into effect on July 1. The province is struggling with a $24.7-billion deficit and widespread job losses and the ongoing effects of last year's recession.

There's still no word on whether McGuinty will prorogue the legislature to give his new ministers more time to get up to speed on their files and return in March with a throne speech and a budget.

With files from CBC's Mike Crawley and The Canadian Press