Veteran cabinet minister Laurel Broten — who battled with teachers as education minister last fall — is calling it quits with politics, leaving Premier Kathleen Wynne with a fourth byelection to call.

Broten, the MPP for Etobicoke-Lakeshore since the 2003 Liberal sweep, said she will resign as Wynne’s intergovernmental affairs and women’s issues minister July 2.

The 45-year-old is moving to Halifax with her twin sons and husband Paul Laberge, whom she said has “interesting opportunities” in the energy sector there.

Broten said her sudden resignation has “really nothing” to do with the expectation public school teacher unions would target her for defeat in the next provincial election for her role in foisting contracts on their members through the controversial Bill 115 at the behest of former premier Dalton McGuinty.

“As a politician you can’t be afraid to take decisions just because someone won’t be happy about it,” Broten told the Star.

The riding is also one of four helped by the McGuinty government’s decision to scrap a gas-fired power plant near Sherway Gardens during the 2011 election campaign, which will be raised by opposition parties in a byelection campaign.

Broten’s announcement came as elementary teachers ratified a new agreement with Wynne’s government, which has been trying for months to smooth troubled waters with teachers.

Wynne said she will take on Broten’s responsibilities on intergovernmental affairs with Ontario set to host the annual premiers’ conference in late July.

Broten’s departure comes two weeks after McGuinty resigned as MPP for Ottawa South.

Wynne has six months to call a byelection in that riding, and must call similar votes in Windsor-Tecumseh, left vacant by the resignation of former finance minister Dwight Duncan last winter, and London West, vacated by former energy minister Chris Bentley, by Aug. 15.

Wynne must call a byelection in Broten’s riding within six months, although it’s likely she will call all the pending votes at once later this summer.

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