Briefly: B.C. Premier David Eby trades health and energy ministers. Meanwhile, solicitor general now B.C.’s transportation and transit czar.
Bob Mackin
Two years after he assumed the British Columbia premiership from John Horgan, David Eby named his post-election cabinet on Nov. 18 at Government House in Victoria.
Premier David Eby takes the oath of office on Nov. 18 (BC Gov/YouTube)
The NDP cabinet totals 28 (24 ministers and four ministers of state), plus another 14 parliamentary secretaries in the 47-seat caucus.
Some highlights of who is in and who is out.
1: There’s a new JEDI in town
New Finance minister Brenda Bailey (Vancouver-Granville South) is the old Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation minister. Rookie Diana Gibson (Oak Bay-Gordon Head) takes over from Bailey.
2: Minister of State for Rest of B.C.
Brittny Anderson (Nelson-Creston) is Minister of State for Local Governments and Rural Communities, the only cabinet member for the interior.
3: Dirt Ministry Rookies
Environment and Parks: Tamara Davidson (North Coast-Haida Gwaii); Forests: Ravi Parmar (Langford-Juan de Fuca); and Water, Land and Resource Stewardship: Randene Neill (Powell River-Sunshine Coast).
4: Minister of Getting On-Time, On-Budget
Bowinn Ma (North Vancouver-Lonsdale) was transferred from Emergency Management and Climate Readiness to Infrastructure, a new ministry described as: “Responsible for major capital project planning, procurement and delivery for things such as schools, post-secondary institutions, court houses, correctional facilities and health facilities.”
Every major transportation, healthcare and utility development in the province is either late, over budget or both.
Ma’s riding happens to be the site of B.C.’s biggest public infrastructure problem, Metro Vancouver’s $3.86 billion North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant — which will cost another $3 billion and is scheduled to be delivered 10 years late in 2030.
5: Steveston standing
Kelly Greene is the last NDP MLA in Richmond, which relies on dikes to protect from floods. First elected in 2020, she succeeds Ma as the Emergency Management and Climate Readiness minister.
6: Comeback
Lana Popham (Saanich South) is out of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport, and back to Agriculture and Food after the defeat of Pam Alexis (Abbotsford-Mission).
Popham’s portfolio includes the Buy BC program that promotes B.C. food and beverage products. While she signed the oath book at the Nov. 18 ceremony, Popham was flanked by bottles of Perrier.
“All Perrier products are bottled at source in Vergèze in south or France before being shipped to Canada,” says the Perrier website.
7: Minister of FIFA
Spencer Chandra Herbert (Vancouver-West End) becomes the Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport, responsible for the FIFA World Cup 26 in Vancouver.
During his time in opposition, Chandra Herbert was the NDP critic of the B.C. Pavilion Corporation, which runs B.C. Place and the Vancouver Convention Centre. Now he is in charge of the province’s two biggest tourism magnets.
8: Bye-bye, Brenda?
Mike Farnworth is no longer Solicitor-General.
His biggest headache in recent years was the Surrey policing saga. Despite the protests from Mayor Brenda Locke, he mandated Surrey switch from the RCMP to the Surrey Police Service. It’s one of the reasons why the NDP has only four seats in Surrey after the election.
Now he’ll get letters from Locke about the late Pattullo Bridge and Surrey-Langley SkyTrain projects.
9: Crime-fighting duo
Ex-Mountie Garry Begg and his 22-vote victory in Surrey-Guildford earned him a promotion from caucus whip to solicitor general. He’ll be aided by former Vancouver Police officer Terry Yung (Vancouver-Yaletown), now minister of state for public safety.
10: Minister of Site C
After seven-and-a-half years in the Ministry of Health (including the pandemic), Adrian Dix (Vancouver-Kingsway) becomes the Minister of Energy and Climate Solutions.
It’s a straight-up portfolio trade with Josie Osborne (Mid-Island-Pacific Rim), now Minister of Health. The standalone Mental Health and Addictions portfolio is folded into health.
Dix famously lost the 2013 election for the NDP after he announced his opposition to the Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion.
Mining gets its own ministry, under Jagrup Brar (Surrey-Fleetwood).
11: Task master
Ravi Kahlon (Delta-North) adds Municipal Affairs to his Housing portfolio. Before the election, Kahlon imposed new laws on local governments, demanding they deregulate and accelerate housing construction. He also removed the requirement for most development public hearings.
12: What’s it all worth?
MLAs are paid a $119,532.72 base per-year. Eby gets a 90% top-up ($107,579.45), while Ministers get another $59,766.37. Ministers of State ($41,836.46) and Parliamentary Secretaries ($17,929.91) also receive higher pay.
13: In case you’re wondering
theBreaker.news thePodcast guest Alan Mullen and host Bob Mackin correctly predicted six cabinet appointments each during the special Nov. 17 edition of the podcast.
Mullen is expected to officially claim the title when Raj Chouhan is returned as speaker.
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