He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1995 to 2003, and was a cabinet minister in the governments of Mike Harris and Ernie Eves.
He was re-elected in the provincial election of 1999, defeating Liberal candidate Adrian Heaps and New Democrat Michael Yorke in the re-distributed riding of Scarborough Southwest.
[3] This appointment occurred just before a serious outbreak of E. coli poisoning in Walkerton, Ontario, in which several people died following the contamination of the town's water supply.
Newman, as Environment Minister, bore the brunt of this criticism and was forced to defend his government's policies before an increasingly skeptical public.
[4] When Ernie Eves replaced Harris as Premier on April 15, 2002, he named Newman as Associate Minister of Health and Long-Term Care.