Premier Kathleen Wynne is scrambling to put a fresh face on her cabinet, promoting more women and revamping ministries as she tries to right the ship.

Wynne, struggling in public opinion polls midway to the 2018 election, will formally unveil the shuffle Monday morning at Queen’s Park.

To clear the decks, veterans have “voluntarily” stepped aside so she can bring in new blood like MPPs Eleanor McMahon, 54, (Burlington), Marie-France Lalonde, 44, (Ottawa Orleans), and Glenn Thibeault, 46, (Sudbury).

On Sunday, Jim Bradley, 71, minister without portfolio, said in a curiously worded statement that he wanted to “assist the effort” toward a younger and more gender-balanced cabinet by “relinquishing” his ministerial post.

Bradley, first elected in St. Catharines in 1977, was the last survivor of former premier Dalton McGuinty’s inaugural 2003 cabinet as well as former premier David Peterson’s 1985-90 cabinets.

The savvy chair of cabinet, who has never shied from speaking truth to power, will assume Lalonde’s current job as chief government whip and hopes to contest his key Niagara region seat in 2018.

He is the only the latest Liberal elder to depart Wynne’s executive council as the premier strives for a youth movement.

On Friday, Seniors Affairs Minister Mario Sergio, 75, said he would quit cabinet while remaining York West MPP for another few months.

On Thursday, hours after the legislature rose for the summer recess, Attorney General Madeleine Meilleur, 67, announced she was resigning as a minister but has yet to reveal when she will give up her Ottawa-Vanier seat.

Last Monday, Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Ted McMeekin, 67, said he would step down from cabinet in enable Wynne to promote more women in this shuffle.

But McMeekin will remain Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale MPP until the June 2018 provincial election.

Wynne, whose executive council consists of eight women and 19 men, has conceded she will be unable to match Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s gender-parity at the cabinet table.

But Monday’s shuffle is about redefining a Liberal government that dates back more than a dozen years — to a time when the party was led by McGuinty.

Wynne’s administration believes the tough decisions have been made, including the climate change strategy that will cost the average household $13 a month, a new Ontario Retirement Pension Plan that will reduce take-home pay for many workers while forcing their employers to match contributions, a massive infrastructure push that entailed the sell-off of much of Hydro One, and a controversial revamp of services for autistic children.

Now, the Liberals are hoping to move into the implementation phase, convincing Ontarians over the next 24 months that they deserve a fifth term in office. As part of that, several ministries will be reconstituted and renamed in a rebranding effort.

With Wynne, 63, trailing both rookie Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown, 38, and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, 53, in most public-opinion polls, it could be a challenging two years.

There is a looming political test for the governing party — a byelection expected next month in Scarborough-Rouge River to fill the seat vacated by the sudden resignation of Liberal veteran Bas Balkissoon.

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Liberal hopeful Piragal Thiru, a former Canadian Tamil Congress co-ordinator, faces a tough fight against Progressive Conservative Raymond Cho, a long-time Toronto city councillor, and New Democrat Neethan Shan, a school board trustee elected less than five months ago in a $250,000 byelection.

On Friday, Deputy Premier Deb Matthews, who is also Treasury Board president, insisted “a certain rejuvenation is always healthy.”

The Liberals currently have 58 seats, including Speaker Dave Levac, in the 107-member legislature to 28 for the Conservatives and 20 for the NDP.

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