Michelle DiEmanuele

Michelle DiEmanuele, OOnt is a Canadian executive and civil servant who currently serves as Secretary of the Cabinet and Clerk of the Executive Council for the government of Ontario.

Career
She graduated with a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Waterloo in 1987. In 1994, she graduated from the University of Toronto with a master's degree in political science.

From 2004 to 2008, she served as a deputy minister for the government of Ontario under Premier Dalton McGuinty. In April 2007, she was named the interim head of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation. That year, she was named among the Top 100 most powerful women in Canada by The Globe And Mail.

After leaving her role in the government, she became president of the Credit Valley Hospital in August 2008. She later became president of Trillium Health Partners after Credit Valley merged with the Trillium Health Centre.

In 2012, she was awarded a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.

In 2016, she was included in a Toronto Police Service task force on modernising the service.

In 2020, she was appointed to the Order of Ontario.

In late May 2021, she was named Secretary of the Cabinet, replacing the retiring Steven Davidson.

Controversies
In December 2021, a group of doctors working at Trillium Health Partners, a Toronto-based hospital, submitted a letter to the Ontario Ministry of Health alleging that they were "targets of the abusive and unprofessional behaviour of the hospital administration."

Among other allegations, the physicians stated that “the hospital is abusing its administrative power, obstructing the course of justice, violating the common law and... breaching the principles of fundamental justice which are protected under section 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.” The physicians also stated that there were “several instances wherein Hospital Administration has obstructed the course of justice by interfering with, what is supposed to be, neutral, unbiased and transparent investigations within the hospital.” Although DiEmanuele was not named in the letter, she served as the hospital's President and CEO at the time when the incidents were alleged to occur. While an inspector appointed by the Ministry of Health was unable to substantiate the allegations, he noted he did not receive sufficient information to properly investigate many of the claims, which he indicated was due to fear of reprisals and non-disclosure agreements among the physicians involved.

In February 2022, DiEmanuele was named in a lawsuit brought forward by the former finance director of Trillium Health Partners. In the lawsuit, the plaintiff alleged that she was fired after questioning a $5 million sole source contract that the hospital awarded to Mohawk Medbury Corporation (MMC). DiEmanuele's husband, Tony DiEmanuele, served as President and CEO of MMC at that time. The court case is still pending.