[6] He was not initially an ally of Bob Rae, and was also a frequent rival of fellow Northern Ontario Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) Bud Wildman for key shadow cabinet postings.
[2] According to journalist Thomas Walkom, Laughren was planning to retire from politics before the 1990 campaign, and only ran again because the election was called before he could coordinate his departure.
The NDP won a majority government and Laughren was sworn in as Finance Minister and Deputy Premier on October 1, 1990.
Despite his previous reputation for being on the left-wing of the party, Laughren emerged as a proponent of austerity measures and generally centrist policies during his time in government.
As the province's first socialist Finance Minister, Laughren was nicknamed "Pink Slip Floyd" by the right-wing Sun Media tabloid newspapers and public sector unions OPSEU and CUPE alike.
The NDP government was defeated in the 1995 provincial election, although Laughren was able to retain Nickel Belt with a somewhat reduced majority.
In 1996, he was the only New Democratic MPP from northern Ontario to support Frances Lankin's unsuccessful bid to replace Rae as party leader.
In 2012, Laughren was appointed to a three-member panel along with Murray Elston and David McFadden to study Ontario's electricity distribution system.