Premier Dalton McGuinty will announce a cabinet shuffle that will see some sweeping changes to provincial government portfolios, CTV Toronto has learned.

Health Minister George Smitherman will take control of the newly formed "super-ministry" of Energy and Infrastructure, according to government sources.

Infrastructure minister David Caplan, a smoker, will take charge of the Ministry of Health, and Energy Minister Gerry Phillips will step down from his post due to person and family reasons.

However, Caplan's staff said Thursday the minister has kicked the habit and hasn't had a cigarette in months.

The rest of the cabinet is expected to remain as it is.

According to CTV's sources, the government views Smitherman as the right person to guide the Infrastructure Ministry through the current economic slowdown.

Both energy and infrastructure are multi-billion dollar portfolios, and will include the governance of the $26-billion plan to expand and refurbish its nuclear-power fleet -- including the construction of a new power plant in Darlington.

Smitherman will also take control of the $60-billion plan to upgrade transit, roads and other provincial infrastructure.

Caplan, who is seen as a competent minister in his current portfolio, will take over a $40-million budget -- one of the largest in the country. The health ministry accounts for half of every dollar the province spends on programs.

As NDP leader Howard Hampton sees it, a smoker is a strange choice to lead the health ministry, particularly in a province that has spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to encourage smokers to quit.

"We're probably headed for more trouble with a minister of health who wants to smoke and who has trouble handling their own personal health issues," said Hampton, adding the health ministry needs strong leadership.

The shuffle, the first since the October election, was sparked by Phillips' request to step down. It is rumoured that he will remain in the cabinet but without a portfolio.

McGuinty spent Thursday in California but will return in the evening. He is expected to announce his new cabinet sometime on Friday.

With a report from CTV Toronto's Paul Bliss and files from The Canadian Press