Calgary MLAs to maintain representation in Danielle Smith's cabinet

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Calgary will continue to be well represented — albeit with a mix of familiar and new faces — at the provincial cabinet table after Premier Danielle Smith announced her slate of ministers Friday.

Tyler Shandro, Jason Copping and Demetrios Nicolaides will keep their respective portfolios in Justice, Health and Advanced Education respectively, three of a dozen ministers from Calgary ridings. Joining them will be Mike Ellis in the newly created Department of Public Safety, while Sonya Savage will shift from Energy to Environment and Protected Areas. Nicholas Milliken, who received a cabinet position for the first time earlier this year, will become minister of Mental Health and Addictions, which appears to be upgraded from an associate minister position.

Jason Luan is to become minister of Culture while Jeremy Nixon will be appointed minister of Seniors, Community and Social Services. Rajan Sawhney (Trade, Immigration and Multiculturalism) and Rebecca Schulz (Municipal Affairs) will return to cabinet after vacating their positions to run against Smith in the UCP leadership race, and Matt Jones will head the newly created Department of Affordability and Utilities. Mickey Amery will be the minister of Children’s Services. 

Amery will be a deputy house leader, while Devinder Toor, Muhammed Yassen and Tanya Fir will take on parliamentary secretary roles.

“I am thrilled to be working with this strong, determined, united group of MLAs. Alberta’s future is bright — but there’s a lot of work to be done,” said Smith. “Our team will work every day to gain your trust, make bold changes and continue to build the most innovative, entrepreneurial and welcoming province in the world.”

Some familiar faces from the Calgary area will be shuffled out of cabinet when it is formally sworn in Monday, including Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver and Status of Women associate minister Whitney Issik. Josephine Pon, minister of Seniors and Housing, and Infrastructure Minister Prasad Panda are also to exit cabinet.

Former premier Jason Kenney will not serve in cabinet.

Smith’s cabinet features nearly every contestant she faced in the UCP leadership race, with Travis Toews (Finance) and Brian Jean (Jobs) also receiving roles. Leela Aheer, who dropped off the first ballot, was not given a seat at the table.

The newest group of ministers is a mix of urban and rural, with MLAs from each geographical region of the province. Smith had previously signalled that she would have a team comprising more of a rural element than in the past.

Kaycee Madu, who represents a riding in Edmonton, will be one of two deputy premiers.

Lori Williams, a political scientist at Mount Royal University, said it was surprising to see so many ministers from Calgary ridings considering past comments Smith has made about on not needing widespread support from the province’s largest municipalities and that she would focus more on rural areas. Williams said many of the Calgary appointments could be seen as Smith looking to shore up support in several ridings.

She pointed to Milliken, Toor and Copping all winning their seats by slim margins in the previous provincial election.

“The fact that those folks are in cabinet sort of indicates that (Smith’s) trying to win those seats,” said Williams. “It just looks to me like she’s trying to put people in cabinet in places where she thinks she might be vulnerable, might give her a better chance of winning in the next election.”

Speaking during a livestream Friday, Smith said several members will be shuffled out of cabinet as they have contested nominations in their local ridings they need to focus on. She said others are losing their seats next week as they were too closely tied to Kenney on unpopular decisions.

“There are a number of cabinet ministers who are seen to really be the hand of the former premier on a lot of files that cause our party a lot of problems,” said Smith. “If people are out, it’s not out forever, I’ve told them that, but it is take a back seat for a bit. They’ll rebuild some relationships, work on some files.”

Williams also noted that Smith has kept five members of Kenney’s cabinet in higher roles — Shandro, Copping, Nicolaides, Toews and Adriana LaGrange in education. She also noted that the cabinet is larger with 39 members, when including parliamentary secretaries that will assist with various portfolios.

She also noted there are four women holding ministerial positions.

dshort@postmedia.com