Bell and Bond in Cabinet in New Roles

Monday, March 14, 2011 01:09 PM

Prince George, B.C. – Christy Clark has been sworn in as B.C.’s 35^th Premier.

Her cabinet has also been sworn in, and there are major changes.

Local MLAs, Shirley Bond and Pat Bell are part of the cabinet although they are in very different posts. Bond is now the Minister in charge of Public Safety and the Solicitor General. Bell is now the Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Innovation.

Clark has welcomed back Blair Lekstrom not only to the Liberal caucus but to Cabinet as well. She has also rewarded Harry Bloy, the lone member of the Liberal Caucus, who supported her leadership bid.

Cabinet is smaller, "Our new cabinet will reflect the priorities of British Columbians and put families at the centre of all our decision-making," said Premier Clark. "Together, we will focus on creating jobs and building a strong economy because that is the single most important thing we can do to
support families and ensure we can invest in critical services like health and education. This is a team that will work hard to ensure that prosperity and opportunity extend to every region of our province."

The new cabinet is made up of 17 ministers plus the premier, reduced from the previous total of 24. This includes the new Ministry of Jobs,Tourism and Innovation, which will bring together many of the functions in government focused on job creation under a single ministry. As well, three new cabinet committees reflect the priorities of government - the Committee on Families First; the Committee on Jobs and Economic Growth; and the Committee on Open Government and Engagement.

Responsibility for colleges and universities has been recombined under the Ministry of Advanced Education; responsibility for mining has been returned to the Ministry of Energy and Mines; Labour and Citizen Services have been combined; and Forests and Lands has been combined
with Natural Resource Operations.

The new cabinet appointed and sworn into office today is:
* Premier - Hon. Christy Clark
* Deputy Premier and Minister of Finance - Hon. Kevin Falcon
* Minister of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation - Hon. Mary Polak
* Minister of Advanced Education - Hon. Naomi Yamamoto
* Minister of Agriculture - Hon. Don McRae
* Attorney General - Hon. Barry Penner
* Minister of Children and Family Development - Hon. Mary McNeil
* Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development - Hon. Ida Chong
* Minister of Education - Hon. George Abbott
* Minister of Energy and Mines (minister responsible for Housing) -Hon. Rich Coleman
* Minister of Environment - Hon. Terry Lake
* Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations - Hon. Steve Thomson
* Minister of Health - Hon. Michael de Jong
* Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Innovation - Hon. Pat Bell
* Minister of Labour, Citizens' Services and Open Government - Hon.Stephanie Cadieux
* Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General - Hon. Shirley Bond
* Minister of Social Development (minister responsible for multiculturalism) - Hon. Harry Bloy
* Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure - Hon. Blair Lekstrom

Additionally, 10 MLAs have been named as parliamentary secretaries, and will work with ministers to focus on key initiatives of government.

Rich Coleman will serve as the Government House Leader and Terry Lake will be the deputy Government House Leader. Ben Stewart will be the Government whip.

"We want British Columbians to have the opportunity to be more engaged with government decision-making," said Premier Clark. "We will work with citizens to find solutions to problems, set priorities openly and explain why we make the decisions we do. British Columbia is starting
from a position of strength. It is up to us to build on this strength for the betterment of families across our province."

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Posted on Monday, March 14, 2011 01:09 PM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: Harbinger on March 14 2011 2:17 PM

Looking at the time now, maybe Mr. Zimmers notice of accomplishment will have to wait til later in the week.

Posted by: Harbinger on March 14 2011 2:26 PM

Please disregard previous post. See new post per Zimmey.

Posted by: univ on March 14 2011 4:01 PM

And the boring show goes on with the same script and the same players and the audience leaving. The only change, I see here is a change of her dress.

Posted by: Brownshoe on March 14 2011 4:46 PM

and let complaining begin

Posted by: gus on March 14 2011 5:23 PM

Hey, univ .... The president of your University now has a person of Japanese extraction in charge of Advanced Education. That could score him some brownie points ....

BTW, if people would not believe that a change in dress makes a difference, the clothing stores and semastresses would go out of business.

As Mark Twain once said: "Clothes make the man". :-)

Posted by: Palopu on March 14 2011 6:18 PM

Nice to see Colin Hansen get what he deserved. Ie; A swift kick in the butt.

Hopefully his next move will be out the door. Hansen and Campbell were the drive behind he HST, and as a result they both have ended their careers. Anyone who remains in the Liberal Government and continues to support the HST should keep this in mind. People are still pissed over this tax, and will not rest until it is history. Anyone who thinks othewise is just kidding themselves.

The silence on the demotions of Bell and Bond is deafening. Their time in Cabinet is limited. If the Liberals should win the next election (Heaven forbid) and if Bond and Bell should run again and be elected, they will not get into Cabinet. They have backed the wrong horse, and I doubt if Cripty Crunch is going to foreget.,

I suspect they wont run, but who knows????

Posted by: camoose on March 14 2011 7:29 PM

Nice demotion for Pat. No more freebees to China every month. I guess he rode the wrong horse.

Posted by: But on March 14 2011 9:12 PM

Demotion? Same pay and less work. What a demotion.

Posted by: dow7500 on March 14 2011 9:26 PM

record sales to china on bells watch and people still bitch. I guess actual results in a portfolio don't count.

Posted by: gus on March 14 2011 9:32 PM

I think those of you who think our local MLAs got a demotion need to do a bit of homework of what the roles actually are. Go to the full media release that is available on the government site and educate yourself a bit.

Take a look at the Cabinet Committees.

Shirley continues as vice chair, with the Minister of Finance as chair, of the Treasury Board. You also have to remember that Shirley had signaled some time ago that she wanted a less "contentious" Ministry, so she went from Education to Transportation and Infrastructure. I would not be surprised if some of her personal lifestyle choices is the reason why she got a "lateral" posting.

John Rustad? Well he did not get a Parliamentary Secretary position. He is on one committee as a backbencher.

Pat? His is probably the most interesting situation. A new Ministry, which I see as a ministry which integrates the work of a number of Ministries in government. I also happen to see it as a very important function of government. I think they chose the right person for what I think will become an important function of government, pulling everyone together to head in the same direction which will hopefully result in a different way of thinking about how to create the jobs of the next several decades and beyond.

First, he is one of only two Ministers who have two Parliamentary Secretaries working with him. Five Ministers, other than the Premier, have one and the others (10 of them) have none.

Second, he is one of 6 Ministers who is on the Priorities and Planning Committee which is the only committee chaired by the Premier. The Minister of Forests is not even on that Committee. Might give you an insight of where the new Premier is heading with Forestry. The other insight to that might be who she actually appointed as Minister of Forests. I see that Committee as the one which is like an Executive Committee which steers Cabinet and the Government. Had he stayed as Minister of Forests, he would not have been an “insider”. The Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure is also not on that committee.

Finally, Pat chairs one of the Cabinet Committees - named after his own Ministry.
In addition to three parliamentary secretaries, that Committee has 2 back benchers and 6 Ministers on it.

Boy, I would love to have that demotion. Much more exciting and I suspect it is much more exciting to Pat as well.

Posted by: gus on March 14 2011 9:40 PM

Here is the list of the two Cabinet Committees I wrote about
-----------------------------------
Priorities and Planning Committee
• Premier Christy Clark (Chair)
• Hon. Rich Coleman (Vice Chair) - Minister of Energy and Mines (Minister Responsible for Housing)
• John Les – Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier
• Hon. Kevin Falcon – Minister of Finance
• Hon. Michael de Jong – Minister of Health
• Hon. George Abbott – Minister of Education
• Hon. Pat Bell - Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Innovation
• Hon. Stephanie Cadieux – Minister Labour, Citizens’ Services and Open Government
• Ben Stewart
------------------------------------

Cabinet Committee on Jobs and Economic Growth
• Hon. Pat Bell (Chair) – Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Innovation
• Moira Stilwell (Vice Chair) Parliamentary Secretary for Industry, Research and Innovation to the Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Innovation
• Donna Barnett Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Economic Development to the Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Innovation
• Hon. Blair Lekstrom - Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure
• Iain Black Parliamentary Secretary for Public Transportation to the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure
• Hon. Steve Thomson – Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations
• Hon. Rich Coleman – Minister of Energy and Mines (Minister Responsible for Housing)
• Hon. Shirley Bond – Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General
• Hon. Mary Polak – Minister of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation
• Ralph Sultan
• John van Dongen
------------------------------------

As far as far as travelling to China .... it has a population of over a billion ... it has a significant part of tis population that is growing richer by the minute ... and I am told they love the wilderness and outdoors ....

And you don't think he understands that; and you don't think that he is going to pursue that in the same fashion as he pursued the markets for forest products?

Boy, glad you guys aren't in government on my dime. What a bunch of brainless twits ....

Posted by: univ on March 15 2011 12:33 AM

"It's not going to be changing the guard. It's going to be reinstituting the old guard in a dress," one man told CTV News today.The above comment is more relevant than Mark Twain's who cannot vote in BC election from his grave.

But it would be interesting to see what Naomi Yamamoto, the new minister for advanced education will do with the ongoing cases of discrimination in UNBC. I noticed that in her election campaign, Naomi referred to her father's story of facing racial discrimination in Canada and this resonated with the immigrant communities in North Vancouver-Lonsdale.

If, under her watch, she allows UNBC to continue any discrimination, it will hurt her story and her own chances for re-election in Lonsdale (north Van.) and Something short of political Harakiri 腹切り. Considering that the immigrant communities, like the strong Iranian community in Lonsdale, voted for her to became the 1st Japanese Canadian MLA in BC assembly.

I am sure UNBC president will have more power to stop the discrimination now and not damage the re-election chances of her.

Posted by: metalman on March 15 2011 1:28 AM

I challenge you, univ. to show proof of discrimination at UNBC. That school has got to be the most politically correct place on earth, or in serious contention anyway. How could any level of authority within the university get away with discrimination against anyone?
metalman.

Posted by: gus on March 15 2011 6:58 AM

Hey metalman ..... univ keeps harping about the same old discrimination situation that goes back to 2 or 3 administrations ago. Google for UNBC discrimination and you will find postings about it.

He/she has a bone to pick with someone, can't talk about it in detail for some obvious reasons, so keeps on making all sorts of inuendos to drag UNBC through the mud.

Nowicki used to do the same. It'll probably still be the topic in 2019 :-)

Posted by: univ on March 15 2011 5:16 PM

There are enough available resources public. Even emails with the names of people involved (Chen, Leischner, ...). For a start you can read the UNBC FA newsletter Nov 2010 which is public.

http://www.unbcfa.ca/pdf/Newsletter-November-2010.pdf

Posted by: Mooseman on March 17 2011 9:21 AM

gus: Thank you!