Adrian Dix is out as health minister but picks up the energy portfolio. Ravi Kahlon has held onto the housing ministry, and Niki Sharma remains attorney general.
Premier David Eby has unveiled his new cabinet, which includes a number of shifts to existing ministries such as the elimination of the Ministry of Mental Health and Addiction and shuffles in the key portfolios of Health, Public Safety and Finance.
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In a significant shakeup, Adrian Dix has been moved out of the health portfolio he’ for seven years and given the energy portfolio as the new minister of energy and climate solutions. His predecessor in the portfolio, Josie Osborne, has been given his old role in health.
Mike Farnworth has been moved from public safety to transportation and transit. The former transportation minister, Rob Fleming, did not seek reelection. Farnworth will regain the position of house leader that had been given to Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon in the last legislature.
As for the purse strings of government, Brenda Bailey has been tapped as finance minister to replace the Katrine Conroy, who did not seek reelection. Bailey had been minister of jobs, economic development and innovation.
In Bailey’s place, the new MLA for Oak Bay-Gordon Head, Diana Gibson, has been charged with oversight of the ministry referred to as JEDI.
Changes to individual ministries include the folding of mental health and addictions back into the Ministry of Health and the amalgamation of the Ministry of Housing and the Ministry of Municipal Affairs.
There will be 23 ministers and four ministers of state, meaning the new cabinet of 27 is exactly the same size as Eby’s first cabinet, named in December 2022. Additionally, there will be 14 parliamentary secretaries, meaning that 41 out of 47 NDP MLAs have been given some type of portfolio that comes with a pay raise.
That doesn’t take into account the need to appoint a caucus whip, caucus chair, Speaker and deputy whip.
Some stalwarts have remained in their current roles, including Ravi Kahlon a minister of housing, Niki Sharma as attorney general, Grace Lore as minister of children and family development, George Chow as minister of citizen’s services and Sheila Malcolmson as minister of social development and poverty reduction.
Sharma has also been named deputy premier.
A number of returning cabinet ministers have also been shifted around. Lisa Beare becomes minister of education and child care, Bowinn Ma becomes minister of infrastructure, Jennifer Whiteside becomes minister of labour, Anne Kang becomes minister of post-secondary education and future skills and Lana Popham becomes minister of agriculture and food, a portfolio she has held in the past.
Garry Begg, the Surrey-Guildford MLA whose 22-vote victory gave the NDP their majority, will serve as minister of public safety minister and solicitor general.
Rookie MLAs given portfolios include a close family friend of Eby’s, former Vancouver councillor Christine Boyle ,as minister of Indigenous relations and reconciliation; Tamara Davidson, who is Haida, as minister of environment and parks, and; former Global B.C. reporter Randene Neill as minister of water, land and resource stewardship.
Former deputy speaker Spencer Chandra Herbert of Vancouver-West End will serve minister of tourism, arts, culture and sport and Ravi Parmar has been named forests minister.
MLAs who represent ridings in key communities where the NDP don’t have a significant presence were also rewarded, including Kelly Greene in Richmond-Steveston and Jagrup Brar in Surrey-Fleetwood. Greene was appointed the minister of emergency management and climate readiness while Brar will serve as minister of mining and critical minerals.
Kootenay Central MLA Brittny Anderson has been named minister of state for local governments and rural communities in an effort to help improve the province’s rocky relationship with certain municipalities and address issues such as emergency room closures in rural and remote communities.
Terry Yung, a former Vancouver Police Department inspector, will serve as minister of state for community safety and integrated services as an attempt to get a handle on public safety concerns raised by voters.
Rounding out the list are Rick Glumac, who will serve as minister of state for trade, and Jodie Wickens, who will serve as minister of state for child care and children and youth with support needs.
Ministers will have to wait until January to get their mandate letters, as the NDP says it is still discussing key priorities with the two Green MLAs.