Premier Kathleen Wynne will spend the weekend conferring with advisers about a major cabinet shuffle and gearing up for as many as three looming byelections.

Seniors Affairs Minister Mario Sergio, 75, announced Friday that he would be stepping down from cabinet, though he will remain as York West MPP for at least the next few months.

Sergio’s announcement came one day after Attorney General Madeleine Meilleur, 67, said she would be quitting cabinet and soon resigning her Ottawa-Vanier seat.

Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Ted McMeekin, 67, is also leaving cabinet, but staying on as Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale MPP until the 2018 provincial election.

Well-regarded in Toronto’s thriving Italian community and by seniors’ stakeholder groups, Sergio — like McMeekin — said he is stepping aside to make way for an infusion of fresh blood.

“I truly believe that we have a very talented and inspiring caucus and I believe it is time to make way for a new generation of great ideas,” he said.

Wynne praised Sergio, an early backer of her Liberal leadership bid after former premier Dalton McGuinty’s resignation in October 2012, saying he “has played an enormous role in making Ontario one of the best places to age in Canada.”

“His work will leave a lasting legacy of many new initiatives that will benefit seniors across the province for years to come,” she said.

While neither Sergio nor Meilleur have yet said when they will leave their constituencies, Wynne will soon call a summer byelection in Scarborough-Rouge River to fill the vacancy left by former Liberal MPP Bas Balkissoon, 63, who abruptly resigned in March.

As Wynne launches a youth movement for her cabinet, a big question is Jim Bradley’s fate.

The 71-year-old minister without portfolio is the last remaining person to have served in all of Wynne’s and McGuinty’s cabinets dating back to 2003.

As well, Bradley sat at former premier David Peterson’s cabinet table from 1985 to 1990.

He has held the key swing seat of St. Catharines for 39 years — an anniversary Wynne pointedly marked in the legislature on Thursday — and is the only Liberal from the Niagara region representing its interests in cabinet.

But whether the premier still requires his institutional knowledge and shrewd political antenna on her executive council remains to be seen.

Sources say Wynne wants to recalibrate her government for the two-year sprint to the next campaign by promoting a bevy of backbenchers.

Possible new ministers include 53-year-old Eleanor McMahon, (Burlington); Indira Naidoo-Harris, who is believed to be in her early 50s, (Halton); Kathryn McGarry, 59, (Cambridge); Daiene Vernile, 55, (Kitchener Centre); Marie-France Lalonde, 44, (Ottawa—Orleans); Yvan Baker, 38, (Etobicoke Centre); and Glenn Thibeault, 46, who represents Sudbury.

The Liberals, faring poorly in public-opinion polls, face challenges selling the climate change plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the controversial revamp of publicly funded autism therapy, the new Ontario Retirement Pension Plan, as well as the reforms to political fundraising laws sparked by the Star.

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In a bid for a reset, Wynne will likely reorganize ministries, entailing an expansion of the cabinet from its current 27 members.

A separate infrastructure department is expected, as is the breaking apart of Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities and the Ministry of Research and Innovation.

At the same time as the premier is restructuring her government, she is facing an imminent political test.

A byelection in Scarborough-Rouge River, where the Liberals recently nominated former Canadian Tamil Congress co-ordinator Piragal Thiru, is expected to be called later this month for July.

He will try to retain the seat for the Grits in what should be a tight contest against Progressive Conservative Raymond Cho, a Toronto city councillor, and New Democrat Neethan Shan, a school board trustee,

Asked Friday about the cabinet shuffle, Deputy Premier Deb Matthews was mum.

“I can’t speculate on any cabinet changes,” she said.

But Matthews, who is also Treasury Board president, said it’s not surprising that, at the midpoint of a four-year term, ministers are moving on.

“I’ve always thought that a certain rejuvenation is always healthy,” she said.

“Politics is a pretty demanding field to be in, and when people reach the point where they think it’s time to move on to the next chapter in their life, then I fully support that.”

In the 107-member legislature, the Liberals have 58 seats, including Speaker Dave Levac, the Progressive Conservatives have 28, and the New Democrats have 20, with one vacancy.

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