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David Eby’s 27 cabinet picks, which include 15 women and seven people of color, prioritize housing and climate change
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December 7, 2022 • 3 minutes ago • 7 minutes read 37 comments Agriculture Minister Lana Popham (left) and Premier David Eby arrive with fellow ministers before the start of the swearing-in ceremony at the Government House in Victoria, BC, Wednesday, December 7, 2022. Photo by CHAD HIPOLITO /THE CANADIAN PRESS
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Premier David Eby unveiled a new cabinet Wednesday that places women and people of color in high-profile roles and promotes rising stars to two new ministries of housing and emergency preparedness.
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Katrine Conroy will hold the province’s portfolio as Minister of Finance, removing Selina Robinson from the portfolio.
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Niki Sharma is the new Attorney General, making her the first woman from South Asia to serve as the province’s chief advocate. Sharma, elected MLA for Vancouver–Hastings in 2020, has experience representing Indigenous people and residential school survivors and said she will draw on that background as she seeks solutions to public safety issues in urban communities.
The BC Liberals and BC Greens say Eby is maintaining the status quo by keeping key ministries unchanged. This includes the decision to keep Adrian Dix as health minister despite the collapse of the health system and Mitzi Dean as children and family development minister despite her repeated advocacy of a deeply unpopular and now reversed plan to cut funding individualized for children with autism.
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Finance Minister Katrine Conroy signs her name with Lieutenant Governor Janet Austin during the swearing-in ceremony at Government House in Victoria on December 7, 2022. Photo by CHAD HIPOLITO / THE CANADIAN PRESS
Katrine Conroy is BC’s new finance minister. One political expert, however, said Eby has made his mark on government with a younger and more diverse cabinet.
“David Eby is giving this cabinet its very own identity,” said David Black, a political communications expert at Royal Roads University. “This is his cabinet, not John Horgan’s.”
Eby’s 27 cabinet picks, which include 15 women and seven people of color, prioritize housing and climate change with a new emergency management and climate preparedness ministry led by rising star Bowinn Ma. The autonomous ministry, Eby said, is a reflection that the province must be prepared to deal with climate emergencies after the historic floods, fires and heat that have hit the province in the past two years.
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Ravi Kahlon will lead the new Ministry of Housing, created by Eby to ensure that housing development is a key focus of his government. Housing was previously included in the attorney general’s ministry, and Eby juggled both until he resigned to run for the NDP leadership.
By choosing Kahlon as housing minister, Eby rewarded a trusted ally with the task of increasing BC’s housing stock, a key point of Eby’s campaign.
New housing minister and government leader Ravi Kahlon clashes with Lt.-Gov. Janet Austin during the swearing-in ceremony at Government House in Victoria on December 7, 2022. Photo by CHAD HIPOLITO / THE CANADIAN PRESS
Kahlon decided not to run for the BC NDP leadership and instead threw her support behind Eby by co-chairing his campaign.
Kahlon is also the new leader of the government house, replacing Mike Farnworth, who retains his position as public security minister and deputy prime minister.
BC Attorney General Niki Sharma wipes away tears as she signs her name with Lieutenant Governor Janet Austin during the swearing-in ceremony at Government House in Victoria on December 7, 2022. Photo by CHAD HIPOLITO / THE CANADIAN PRESS
The 23 ministers and four ministers of state took the oath of office on Wednesday before the lieutenant governor. Janet Austin during a ceremony at Government House, a ceremony that was sometimes punctuated by shouts from anti-fracking protesters outside.
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Eby sought to improve regional representation with more ministers from the Fraser Valley, Black said. However, the cabinet, including Eby, is still dominated by MLAs from the Lower Mainland, including four from the City of Vancouver, 12 from the rest of Metro Vancouver, two from the Fraser Valley, five from Vancouver Island and just two from the rest of BC
In explaining his choice as finance minister, Eby called Conroy, the West Kootenays MLA since 2005, “rural tough,” saying he brings considerable experience and a “rural lens” to the role.
Conroy, who lives on a ranch at Pass Creek, outside Castlegar, has four children and nine grandchildren.
Conroy’s promotion from forestry serves as a demotion for Robinson, who is now minister for post-secondary education and future skills.
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Robinson said she is excited about the new role, and said she needs to focus more on ensuring post-secondary institutions have the tools to train BC’s future workforce.
Eby denied Robinson’s new job is a demotion, saying he has a “critical role” and can use his experience working with small business leaders and the nonprofit sector to ensure training places fill the need desperate created by the labor shortage.
Robinson and Eby have been at odds over several issues. Eby was removed from Treasury Board after Robinson became finance minister, and Eby recently fired the entire BC Housing board installed by Robinson when she was housing minister in 2017.
Both BC Liberal House Leader Todd Stone and BC Greens Leader Sonia Furstenau said they are surprised to see Conroy leading the Ministry of Finance. Stone said Conroy lacks the financial experience to steer the province’s fiscal ship, and Furstenau said Conroy’s lack of transparency when asked about forestry issues frustrated members of the opposition.
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Conroy told reporters Wednesday that he had asked to remain in the forestry portfolio, despite the online vitriol and hate he received over the province’s old-growth policy, but Eby used it to keep the shoestrings the purse of the province.
Conroy takes over as the province’s books are in a healthy position with a $5.7 billion surplus, but economists warned the province should prepare for tougher times with only growth of 0.5% planned for 2023.
A number of veteran ministers have kept their jobs, including Labor Minister Harry Bains, Indigenous Relations Minister Murray Rankin, Transport Minister Rob Fleming, Environment Minister George Heyman and Citizens Services Minister Lisa Beare .
Stone said she is surprised Dean kept her position as she was the architect of the much-criticized policy to review autism funding that created great anxiety among parents.
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This will leave families asking “can the government really be trusted when trust was so badly broken with the current minister who has retained responsibility?” Stone said.
Eight MPs have been promoted to Cabinet, including Sharma, Rachna Singh as Minister of Education, Grace Lore as Minister of State for Child Care, Pam Alexis as Minister of Agriculture, Brenda Bailey as Minister of Labour, Jagrup Brar as Minister of State for Trade, Dan Coulter as Minister of State for Infrastructure, and Andrew Mercier to head the new Ministry of State for Workforce Development.
Jennifer Whiteside has been transferred from education to the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions. As education minister, she was praised for averting a teacher strike, so Eby is likely to draw on her experience in improving B.C.’s mental health and addictions system, which has been criticized for major gaps in of the toxic drug crisis.
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Health Minister Adrian Dix arrives before the start of the swearing-in ceremony at Government House in Victoria on December 7, 2022. Photo by CHAD HIPOLITO / THE CANADIAN PRESS
Anne Kang will be in charge of maintaining the province’s relationship with municipalities in her new role as minister of municipal affairs, previously held by Nathan Cullen. That could be a difficult feat, as one of Eby’s first pieces of legislation was a bill that would allow the province to override local governments if…