Cabinet Shuffle - Who Was Moved & What it Means
In our province, the Calgary Stampede is one of the most important annual events for Albertans. While the ‘Greatest Show on Earth’ is a spectacle many residents look forward to as a way to celebrate our western culture and to enjoy our short northern summers. Politicians in our province look forward to it as one of the most important political events of the year for visibility and fundraising. With that knowledge, Stampede 2021 came as a perfect opportunity for Premier Jason Kenney to showcase his newly shuffled cabinet.
Yes, Premier Kenney has once again moved around elected members to rejig his executive team. Unlike the previous shuffle in August 2020, this move involved a much larger number of members, the creation of new associate minister positions, and a restructured ministry.
Rajan Sawhney - Minister of Transportation
Ron Orr - Minister of Culture
Jason Luan - Minister of Community and Social Services
Nate Horner - Associate Minister of Rural Economic Development
Muhammad Yaseen - Associate Minister of Immigration and Multiculturalism
Whitney Issik - Associate Minister of Status of Women + Chief Government Whip
Mike Ellis - Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions
Tanya Fir - Associate Minister of Red Tape Reduction
As a result of the moves, Leela Aheer (former Minister of Culture, Multiculturalism and Status of Women) and Grant Hunter (former Associate Minister of Red Tape Reduction) have been removed from cabinet and will sit as backbench MLAs. What we are left with is an expanded cabinet composed of 26 ministers and associate ministers and a restructured Ministry of Culture. There are six new members of cabinet, including the former Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Tourism (now known as Jobs, Economy and Labour), Tanya Fir. There have also been changes to the government house team that we will get to later in this article.
Unsurprisingly, Premier Kenney was asked about the notable demotion of Aheer who had been critical of him in the public sphere following the Sky Palace events. He responded by saying “there are people standing behind me who were critical of the government publicly in its COVID response who are now newly in the ministry and serving in executive council.” In addition to the elected official shuffle, there are ongoing staffer changes that we continue to monitor. Among the confirmed moves, the most notable occurred in the Premier’s office. Larry Kaumeyer will return to his usual role as principal secretary while Pam Livingston has become Premier Kenney’s Chief of Staff. Livingston has been involved in conservative politics in Alberta for decades, so it is unsurprising to learn someone with a great deal of institutional knowledge has been asked to take on the critical role.
Nevertheless, our province finds itself with a newly assembled cabinet, so we will dive into the moves as they happened. We will start with the newly restructured Ministry of Culture. As you will notice, ‘multiculturalism’ and ‘status of women’ have been dropped from the title. Minister Ron Orr will oversee the culture portfolio. Many politicos have described the move as curious; however, he has some familiarity with the file. While serving as an opposition MLA, he indeed acted as the critic for the portfolio as a member of the former Wildrose party. With that said, there has been some level of criticism for moving the multiculturalism and status of women portfolios to associate ministry designations while also appointing a male to the same position. Interestingly, the multiculturalism portfolio has been combined with immigration and will fall under the purview of the Ministry of Labour and Immigration. However, the optics of reducing multiculturalism and status of women to associate ministries could be an obstacle Minister Orr will need to navigate during his time in the position.
With Minister Sawhney moving into transportation, Ric McIver will focus solely on his Municipal Affairs position as he had been working double duty since Tracy Allard’s removal from cabinet in January. As a former alderman in Calgary for many years, it makes a good deal of sense to keep him in this role and shuffle Sawhney into transportation given her private sector experience. We have also seen a shuffle in the UCP house team with Mike Ellis becoming the Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions. He is the former chief whip for a party, a role that now belongs to Associate Minister of Status of Women, Whitney Issik. Brad Rutherford has become the deputy government whip while Joseph Schow has taken over the role of deputy government house leader.
Looking at this shuffle holistically, it is rather interesting to see a government that emphasizes the need for less government expanding the size of its cabinet. With that said, many of the moves were made to put members in a position where they will have some strength and an opportunity to succeed (Minister Luan is a social worker by trade and Associate Minister Horner has extensive agriculture experience, for example). This newly assembled cabinet team will be charged with implementing the remaining 17% of the UCP’s platform commitments as estimated by Government House Leader, Jason Nixon.
Pat Rehn Rejoins UCP Caucus
Beyond the scope of the recent shuffle, there was another noteworthy move for the United Conservatives. Lesser Slave Lake MLA Pat Rehn has been brought back into the UCP Caucus, signaling a significant departure from previous position statements when he had been initially removed from the party. His dismissal from the party was due to numerous factors, including his involvement in the holiday travel scandal along with allegations that he had been absent from his constituency, failing to provide them with adequate representation. When he was removed, it was said he would not be permitted to seek a UCP nomination in future elections.
In a news release, newly appointed UCP Caucus Chair Nathan Neudorf wrote, “Pat has been doing an incredible amount of work to rebuild trust and get things done in his constituency. He has learned to apply the skills that made him so successful in business to his job as MLA, and he has reminded all of us why he was elected in the first place.” He would also indicate that the party was presented with letters of support for his reinstatement from municipalities and the constituency association.
In an interview on Ryan Jespersen’s podcast, Lesser Slave Lake Mayor Tyler Warman provided his perspective on the decision, indicating “the reason this all started was because we the people of this region elected an MLA to do a job, and so that job is not to be a representative of the UCP Caucus in the Slave Lake region. It’s to be the advocate for the people in this region to the province.”
“It was clear that I was not living up to expectations in representing Lesser Slave Lake, and for that I am sorry. I am humbled that people are willing to give me a second chance, and I will not let them down.”
Addressing his return, MLA Rehn wrote, “the past six months have been eye-opening to me, as I work to regain the trust and confidence of my constituents. It was clear that I was not living up to expectations in representing Lesser Slave Lake, and for that I am sorry. I am humbled that people are willing to give me a second chance, and I will not let them down.” As a result of his reinstatement in Caucus, the party member count in the Legislature currently sits at 61 for the UCP, 24 for the NDP, leaving two independent members in the Chamber.
Referenda Questions - What Will Hit the Ballot
The proverbial cherry on top of the fort night that was came on the morning of July 15th. While the media notice issued by the province seemingly hinted that up to three new non-binding referenda questions could be added to the October 18th ballot, we were ultimately left with only one additional item for Albertans to have their say on this fall. Although the exact question has not yet been disclosed, it will essentially ask should Alberta stop changing our clocks twice a year.
Alberta voted to introduce daylight savings time in 1971 through a referendum, but this is far from the first time the idea has been raised by a provincial government. As recently as 2017, MLA Thomas Dang tabled The Alberta Standard Time Act which would have aligned Alberta’s time zone with Saskatchewan. Ultimately, the bill was voted down in the Legislature. In 2021, does this referendum have any better prospect of success? Perhaps.
When the former NDP government held online consultations, they found that more than 80 per cent of respondents desired to not change their clocks throughout the year. With that said, perhaps a large reason the bill ultimately failed was due to pressure from the business community; specifically, airlines and the province’s NHL teams. This time around, the decision will go directly to Albertans. With that said, it is important to note that the results of a non-constitutional referendum are not binding on the province; therefore, there is no obligation for the Legislature to adopt it as policy. It is likely the same players will pursue public campaigns either for or against the change, so we could very well see this shut down even if the result is a resounding yes.
