VICTORIA — Premier David Abbey says “kitchen table” issues in British Columbia will be the focus of his revamped, post-election cabinet sworn in Monday.
VICTORIA — Premier David Abbey says “kitchen table” issues in British Columbia will be the focus of his revamped, post-election cabinet sworn in Monday.
Abe’s new cabinet, made up of 23 ministers and four ministers of state, includes a mix of new and familiar faces who were elected in a narrow one-seat victory in last month’s election.
“The things that concern your family around the kitchen table will be the issues that concern our group around the cabinet table,” he said after the Cabinet presentation ceremony at Government House.
“Ours will be a government that listens and ours will be a government that delivers,” Eby said, adding “that was the message the people here sent us to do this job in this recent election.” .
“This is something that each of these members and all those elected will carry with them in the work they do over the next four years,” he said.
He said priorities for the new NDP cabinet and government will include good-paying jobs, family doctors for all, safe communities and affordable homes.
Eby reshuffled veteran ministers Adrian Dix and Mike Farnworth and introduced several newly elected members of the legislature to the cabinet.
Dix, the longtime health minister who guided the province through the COVID-19 pandemic, has been moved to energy and climate solutions, while Josie Osborne, a two-term MP and former Tofino mayor, will take over health.
Eby said Dix was drawn to energy and climate solutions because of its track record of success.
“I need someone who can deliver and Adrian is that minister,” Eby told a news conference. “It’s extremely important to our government.”
Dix will be tasked with making sure BC develops clean energy systems and markets, he said.
Osborne said that as a resident and former mayor of a rural community, she understood the health care needs of people outside of BC’s urban areas.
“Everyone deserves access to health care,” Osborne said, acknowledging that many rural B.C. are concerned about the repeated closure of hospital emergency departments. “I hear you. I see you.”
Farnworth, BC’s veteran solicitor general and public safety minister, was removed from those portfolios and in transportation and transit, and will also serve as NDP leader.
Garry Begg, a former RCMP officer, received one of the biggest cheers when he was introduced by Eby as the new solicitor general and public safety minister, bringing him up from the back to cabinet.
Abbey introduced Mr Begg with the nickname ‘Landslide’ in a nod to his 21-vote victory in Surrey which gave the government a one-seat majority.
Brenda Bailey, a former labor minister and Vancouver entrepreneur, is moving to the critical finance portfolio.
Newly elected MPs also appeared in cabinet, with former broadcaster Randene Neill becoming minister of lands, water and resource management and Vancouver Police Department veteran Terry Yung named minister of community safety.
Among the senior cabinet ministers who kept their posts were Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon and Attorney General Niki Sharma, whose first task after being reappointed was to accept the Great Seal of British Columbia from Lt.-Gov. Janet Austen.
Austin opened Monday’s swearing-in ceremony by paying tribute to former prime minister John Horgan, who died of thyroid cancer last week.
He called Horgan “a good man” who loved B.H.
Eby said after the ceremony that his team would make affordability a priority.
“(For) those families hit hard by inflation and rising costs, our focus will be on getting your spending under control, supporting you with the cost of everything from housing to car insurance and providing tax relief middle income to support you and your family during these difficult times,” he said.
During the campaign, Eby promised a $1,000 tax cut for the average family starting next year and benefiting 90 percent of British Columbians.
Eby faced the challenge of filling the cabinet from a caucus that was reduced to 47 members in the Oct. 19 election, which gave the NDP its narrowest majority in the 93-seat legislature.
Former BC Liberal minister Mike Bernier, who ran unsuccessfully as an Independent last month in his Dawson Creek riding, said Eby needed to find ways to bring rural representation to cabinet even though most of his members were from Metro Vancouver or Vancouver Island. .
Brittny Anderson, who won in Kootenay-Central, helped fulfill that goal by appointing minister of state for local government and rural communities.
Energy and mining were split into two separate portfolios, with Jagrup Brar taking over the latter, now renamed mining and critical minerals.
“We have two separate ministries dedicated to important areas of economic development for us,” Eby said.
The legislature’s youngest MLA, Ravi Parmar, entered the cabinet as forest minister.
BC Conservative Leader John Rastad said Eby has been invisible when it comes to rural B.C.
Greens leader Sonia Furstenau said in a statement that the party was pleased that Abe had appointed a cabinet with a strong representation of women in leadership roles and a female majority.
“We are particularly pleased to see Niki Sharma appointed as Deputy Prime Minister and Attorney General, Tamara Davidson as Minister for Environment and Parks and Bailey as Minister for Finance,” he said. These critical roles will have a significant impact in shaping the future of British Columbia.”
Eby said the NDP government continued to negotiate the will of the Greens on how the party’s two elected members could work with the government.
“I hope British Columbians see in this cabinet an experienced team that will focus on the priorities we were sent to Victoria to address,” he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on November 18, 2024.
Dirk Meissner, The Canadian Press
