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Cabinet Shuffle Ed Stelmach

planning a cabinet (shuffle).

Here are some thoughts on Ed Stelmach’s recently announced cabinet, which looks more like a cabinet shuffle, as it includes most of the pre-election cabinet. I can imagine that choosing a cabinet is probably one of the more difficult decisions that a Premier has to make during his (and maybe someday: her) time in office, but that won’t stop me from offering some thoughts…

– Ed Stelmach gets points for bringing some diversity and colour to cabinet for a change.

– Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo Tory Guy Boutilier got the boot from cabinet.

– It must suck to be Edmonton-Castle Downs Tory MLA Thomas Lukaszuk, who was passed over for a real cabinet spot by rookie Edmonton-Glenora MLA Heather Klimchuk.

– With Sherwood Park Tory Iris Evans as the new Minister of Finance and Enterprise, I wonder if Strathcona County will be getting that veto she was talking about

Speaking of regional cooperation… Edmonton kept quiet and played nice over the last year, while Calgarians through a fit, and now Edmonton ends up with half the number of full cabinet spots as Calgary. Perhaps Mayor Mandel might want to try out a new strategy for provincial relations.

Paul Simons put it well today

When Calgary votes Tory and Edmonton votes Liberal, Edmonton gets fewer cabinet seats.

When Calgary elects more Liberals than Edmonton — Edmonton still gets fewer cabinet seats.

– Parliamentary Assistants abound. Other than that it would probably make more sense to call them Legislative Assistants (or Secretaries), this looks like a cabinet structure borrowed from Gordon Campbell’s BC Liberals from when they won their 77 out of 79 seats in 2001 (except, I think they called them “Ministers of State“). The Parliamentary Assistants position is not only a good way for the Tories to train future cabinet ministers, but also a way to keep MLAs busy in the newly supersized caucus. Bringing Janice Sarich and Raj Sherman into these positions was a good move.

– Dave Hancock’s move to Education from Health could be seen as a demotion, but it could also be an opportunity to actually get things accomplished in Education (though I think Hancock would have been a much better choice for Finance). I’ll be keeping an eye on how Hancock moves on the proliferation of P3s in Alberta’s education system.

– Moving Ron Stevens to Intergovernmental Affairs signals is an interesting move by the Tories in their brewing battle against the Federal Tories on the environment file. Interestingly, Stevens’ Calgary-Glenmore constituency is also part of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Calgary-Southwest riding.

Check out CalgaryGrit and the Official AGRDT ‘Alberta’s new cabinet’ post for some more commentary on the cabinet shuffle.

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Cabinet Shuffle

hancock demotion in works?

Some cabinet speculation.

Premier Ed Stelmach will reveal today a largely status-quo cabinet that gives Edmonton only two full-fledged ministers and shuffles veteran Dave Hancock out of health and into a lesser portfolio, The Journal has learned.

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Cabinet Shuffle Stephane Dion Stephen Harper

canadian shuffle.

Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s first major cabinet shuffle since winning a minority government last January.

Though Prime Minister Harper denied that this move was in preparation for a Spring election, it’s a little hard to believe that an election isn’t on the minds of everyone in political Ottawa at the moment. It should be interesting to see how this new cabinet configuration shapes up against Liberal leader Stephane Dion‘s new front bench critics.

Cabinet changes included…

Rona Ambrose from Environment Minister to Intergovernmental Affairs.
John Baird: from president of the Treasury Board to Environment Minister.
Rob Nicholson: from House leader to Justice Minister and Attorney General.
Vic Toews: from Justice Minister to president of the Treasury Board.
Monte Solberg: from Immigration to Human Resources and Social Development.
Peter Van Loan: from Intergovernmental Affairs and Sport to Government House Leader and Democratic Reform minister.
Diane Finley: from Human Resources to Citizenship and Immigration.

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Alberta Tories Cabinet Shuffle Ed Stelmach

ministerial musings of the third kind.

Over the weekend, I had some thoughts on Alberta PC Premier Ed Stelmach’s new Cabinet… I was originally going to write them down in Haiku, but I decided this was easier…

ALBERTA PC CABINET 2006 – Composition…

SEX: It’s a great time to be a white male Alberta Tory MLA between the ages of 40 and 60. You scored big! There are only 2 women and no visible minorities in Stelmach’s first Cabinet.

GEOGRAPHY: Rural Alberta scored big over Alberta’s two biggest cities in this cabinet (see map).

Northern Alberta specifically scored big with eight MLA’s making it to the Cabinet table: Hector Goudreau (Dunvegan-Central Peace), Mel Knight (Grande Prairie-Smoky), Guy Boutilier (Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo), Ray Danyluk (Lac La Biche-St. Paul), Lloyd Snelgrove (Vermilion-Lloydminster), Doug Horner (Spruce Grove-Sturgeon-St. Albert), Fred Lindsay (Stony Plain), and Iris Evans (Sherwood Park). And of course, Tory Premier Ed Stelmach (Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville).

Central/Southern Alberta has six Cabinet Ministers rolling the die at the Cabinet table. Ted Morton (Foothills-Rockyview), Janis Tarchuk (Banff-Cochrane), George Groenveld (Highwood), Lyle Oberg (Strathmore-Brooks), and Rob Renner (Medicine Hat). Lethbridge is left out of the cabinet room this time around as three long-time Lethbridge and area Tory MLA’s Clint Dunford (Lethrbridge West), Barry McFarland (Little Bow), and David Coutts (Livingstone-Macleod) have been sent to the backbenches. The City of Red Deer’s representatives Victor Doerksen (Red Deer South) and Mary Anne Jablonski(Red Deer North) are also not missing from the Cabinet table. This is the first time Red Deer has not been home to a Cabinet Minister in over 15 years.

Edmonton now has only one Cabinet Minister – Dave Hancock (Edmonton Whitemud) – and Calgary has only thee – Ron Stevens (Calgary Glenmore), Ron Liepert (Calgary West), and Greg Melchin (Calgary North West). The only other “urban” MLA’s being Iris Evans (Sherwood Park) and Rob Renner (Medicine Hat). This leaves “urban Alberta” with 6 representatives at the Cabinet table.

PORTFOLIO: New powerful Cabinet portfolios include a newly created President of the Treasury Board – manned by the untested new Cabinet Minister Lloyd Snelgrove, Advanced Education and Technology – manned by former Ag Minister Doug Horner, Minister of Employment, Immigration and Industry – manned by Iris Evans, and Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing – manned by Ray Danyluk. Gone are the Ministries of Gaming (phew~!), Innovation & Science, and RAGE to name a few. Downsized is the Ministries of Finance held by former PC leadership candidate Lyle Oberg.

THE BOOT: Ministers from Ralph Klein’s last dynastic Ministry who have been put out to pasture include Shirley McClellan (Drumheller-Stettler), Ty Lund (Rocky Mountain House), Gary Mar (Calgary Mackay), Harvey Cenaiko (Calgary Buffalo), Heather Forsyth (Calgary Fish Creek), Denis Herard (Calgary Egmont), Barry McFarland (Little Bow), Clint Dunford (Lethbridge West), Pearl Calahasen (Lesser Slave Lake), Gordon Graydon (Grande Prairie-Wapiti), Mike Cardinal (Athabasca-Redwater), and Denis Ducharme (Bonnyville-Cold Lake).

POST-LEADERSHIP: It should be interesting to see if Premier Ed Stelmach is able to build this caucus in to a functional team. With nearly 40 of the 62 PC MLA’s supporting Calgarian Jim Dinning in the Alberta PC Leadership race, it should be interesting to see how they react to leader Ed Stelmach in the coming months. Considering that all but one Calgary PC MLA supported Jim Dinning (Hung Pham (Calgary Montrose) supported Ted Morton)I expect to see a large number of PC MLA’s retire before the next election.

TO BE SEEN: With Assembly Speaker Ken Kowalski (Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock) openly endorsing Jim Dinning before the second ballot of the Alberta PC leadership race, will Kowalski be able to muster support to be re-elected Speaker when Premier Stelmach reconvenes the Legislature in Spring 2007? Or will Premier Ed Stelmach attempt to purge the Speaker’s Office and make way for a new Speaker?

How will the lack of Calgary Minsterial representation effect the political psyche of Calgarians? Edmontonians are used to it, but until Ralph Klein‘s selection as PC leader and then Premier in 1992, Calgarians were waining in their political support for the Alberta Progressive Conservatives (as shown in 1989 when Calgarians elected 3 Liberal and 2 NDP MLA’s in their midst). Will the northern Alberta based Stelmach Conservatives see a backlash for their downsizing of the Calgary Cabinet contingent? A strong indicator will be a potential by-election in Ralph Klein’s riding of Calgary Elbow following his resignation on January 15, 2007. The Alberta Liberals had a strong showing in Calgary Elbow in 2004 despite Klein’s Premiership. The results will no doubt be interesting…

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Alberta Tories Cabinet Shuffle Ed Stelmach

alberta’s new cabinet.

Alberta’s new cabinet has been announced

Ed Stelmach (Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville) – Premier, President of Executive Council, Chair of Agenda and Priorities, Vice-Chair of Treasury Board

Lloyd Snelgrove (Vermilion-Lloydminster) – President of the Treasury Board, Minister of Service Alberta, (Minister Responsible for Personnel Administration Office)

Doug Horner (Spruce Grove-Sturgeon-St. Albert) – Minister of Advanced Education and Technology

Iris Evans (Sherwood Park) – Minister of Employment, Immigration and Industry

Mel Knight (Grande Prairie-Smoky) – Minister of Energy

Dave Hancock (Edmonton-Whitemud) – Minister of Health and Wellness, Government House Leader

Ray Danyluk (Lac La Biche-St. Paul) – Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing

Ron Liepert (Calgary-West) – Minister of Education

Janis Tarchuk (Banff-Cochrane) – Minister of Children’s Services

Rob Renner (Medicine Hat) – Minister of Environment, Deputy Government House Leader

George Groeneveld (Highwood) – Minister of Agriculture and Food

Lyle Oberg (Strathmore-Brooks) – Minister of Finance

Luke Ouellette (Innisfail-Sylvan Lake) – Minister of Infrastructure and Transportation

Ron Stevens (Calgary-Glenmore ) – Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Deputy Government House Leader

Greg Melchin (Calgary-North West) – Minister of Seniors and Community Supports

Guy Boutilier (Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo) – Minister of International, Intergovernmental and Aboriginal Relations

Ted Morton (Foothills-Rocky View) – Minister of Sustainable Resource Development

Fred Lindsay (Stony Plain) – Solicitor General and Minister of Public Security

Hector Goudreau (Dunvegan-Central Peace) – Minister of Tourism, Parks, Recreation and Culture

Definitely some interesting picks that caught me off guard… thoughts?

Props to the anonymous commentor with the press release link…

Categories
Alberta Tories Cabinet Shuffle Ed Stelmach

alberta’s new ministries announced…

Here are the new Ministries announced in Premier-designate Ed Stelmach’s first cabinet. Looks interesting – Housing in at the table with Municipal Affairs. Science & Innovation is back with Advanced Education. Aboriginal Affaris merges with Intergovernmental Affairs. Community Development becomes Tourism, Parks, Recreation, & Culture. It should be interesting to see how the Treasury Board concept works.

Also, four new “Cabinet Policy Committees” were created in place of the Tory caucus-only Standing Policy Committees… will there be a difference?

More analysis later (as usual…)

Premier
President of the Treasury Board
Advanced Education and Technology
Municipal Affairs and Housing
Energy
Health and Wellness
Employment, Immigration and Industry
Education
Children’s Services
Environment
Agriculture and Food
Finance
Infrastructure and Transportation
Justice and Attorney General
Seniors and Community Supports
International, Intergovernmental and Aboriginal Relations
Sustainable Resource Development
Solicitor General and Public Security
Tourism, Parks, Recreation and Culture

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Alberta Tories Cabinet Shuffle Ed Stelmach predictions

daveberta lays it down…

So, here are my cabinet predictions. Keep in mind that we are not sure which Ministries will survive a predicted crunch. We now know that we will know the cabinet by this Thursday.

daveberta’s Predictions on Stelmach PC Cabinet 2007

Aboriginal Affairs & Northern Development: Pearl Calahasen (Lesser Slave Lake)
Advanced Education (Incl. Innovation & Science): Lloyd Snelgrove (Vermilion-Lloydminster)
Agriculture & Rural Development: Luke Oullette (Innisfail-Sylvan Lake)
Children’s Services: Mary Anne Jablonski (Red Deer North)
Community Development: Gary Mar (Calgary Nose Hill)
Economic Development: Mel Knight (Grande Prairie-Smoky)
Energy: Greg Melchin (Calgary North West)
Environment (Incl. Sustainable Resource Dev.): Ted Morton (Foothills-Rockyview)
Finance: Dave Hancock (Edmonton Whitemud)
Government Services (Incl. RAGE): Harvey Cenaiko (Calgary Buffalo)*
Health and Wellness: Iris Evans (Sherwood Park)
Housing: Yvonne Fritz (Calgary Cross)
Human Resources & Employment: Rob Renner (Medicine Hat)
Infrastructure & Transportation: Ray Danyluk (Lac La Biche-St. Paul)
Intergovernmental & International Affairs: Doug Horner (Spruce Grove-Sturgeon-St. Albert)
Justice & Attorney General (Incl. Solicitor General): Ron Stevens (Calgary Glenmore)
Municipal Affairs: Lyle Oberg (Strathmore-Brooks)
Seniors: Clint Dunford (Lethbridge West)

As you can see from above, I don’t think there will be a massive purge of senior Ministers as I would predict that Iris Evans, Ron Stevens, Pearl Calahasen, and Greg Melchin will all keep their jobs as “Steddy Eddie” wants to keep some semblance of stability and experience in his first cabinet while bringing in new faces like Ray Danyluk, Mel Knight, and Lloyd Snelgrove to prominant cabinet posts.

For the apparently valuable “Deputy Premier” position that the media seems to be fixated on as uber important, I would gander a prediction that Premier Stelmach will take the route of Prime Minister Harper and simply disolving the position of “Deputy” (which is only a symbolic title in reality).

(*I changed my prediction about Harvey Cenaiko…)

Categories
Alberta Tories Cabinet Shuffle Ed Stelmach

ed stelmach’s musical chairs.

By Friday December 15, 2006 Albertans should know for sure what the face of the first Ministry of Premier Ed Stelmach‘s Tory government will look like.

As Ed Stelmach is such an unknown political quantity for many Albertans (even many political folks) the MLA’s in his cabinet will define what many Albertans will see as a first impression, it will be very important to see who gets which cabinet portfolio. Here is my predictions on who is in and who is out in the first cabinet of PC Premier Ed Stelmach:

New to Cabinet:
Ray Danyluk (Lac La Biche-St. Paul)
Mary Anne Jablonski (Red Deer North)
Mel Knight (Grande Prairie-Smoky)
Ted Morton (Foothills-Rockyview)
Lloyd Snelgrove (Vermilion-Lloydminster)

Staying In Cabinet:
Pearl Calahasen (Lesser Slave Lake)
Clint Dunford (Lethbridge West)
Iris Evans (Sherwood Park)
Yvonne Fritz (Calgary Cross)
Doug Horner (Spruce Grove-Sturgeon-St. Albert)
Gary Mar (Calgary Nose Hill)
Greg Melchin (Calgary North West)
Luke Oullette (Innisfail-Sylvan Lake)
Rob Renner (Medicine Hat)
Ron Stevens (Calgary Glenmore)

Back in Cabinet:
Ed Stelmach – duh (Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville)
Dave Hancock (Edmonton Whitemud)
Lyle Oberg (Strathmore-Brooks)

Out of Cabinet:
Guy Boutilier (Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo)
Mike Cardinal (Athabasca-Redwater)
Harvey Cenaiko (Calgary Buffalo)
David Coutts (Livingstone-Macleod)
Denis Ducharme (Bonnyville-Cold Lake)
Heather Forsyth (Calgary Fish Creek)
Gordon Graydon (Grande Prairie-Wapiti)
Denis Herard (Calgary Egmont)
Ty Lund (Rocky Mountain House)
Shirley McClellan (Drumheller-Stettler)
Barry McFarland (Little Bow)
George VanderBurg (Whitecourt-Ste. Anne)
Gene Zwozdesky (Edmonton Mill Creek)

Tune in Tomorrow to see my very own predictions on who will get which chair at the cabinet table…

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Alberta Tories Cabinet Shuffle Ed Stelmach

poka.

I’m gone to Lethbridge tomorrow, so no blogging until the weekend (most likey).

Until then, let’s play a little game called – NAME THAT CABINET!

In this game, you’re Ed Stelmach… who will you put in your cabinet?

Finance Minister Lyle Oberg?
Justice Minister Gay Mar?
Children’s Services Minister Ted Morton?
Infratructure Minister Ray Danyluk?
Health Minister Doug Horner?

Post your predictions…