REALITY CHECK: Same Faces around the Table for First Clark Cabinet Meeting

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As Christy Clark heads into her first full cabinet meeting since being sworn in, a look at the faces around the table shows she has done little more than shuffle the deck chairs. It’s the same old group of B.C. Liberals who have broken their promises to British Columbians time and time again.

  • George Abbott, Minister of Education:Don’t hold your breath in hopes of Abbott being able to make up for the B.C. Liberals’ devastating record for students and their families, as he’ll be working under a premier who as cabinet minister picked fights with teachers and forced through changes to the school funding formula that have led to the closure of over 100 schools.
  • Pat Bell, Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Innovation: Given that he oversaw one of the most precipitous drops in employment in the B.C. forest industry’s history, families shouldn’t rely on Bell to make up for the B.C. Liberals’ paltry record on jobs. B.C. now has the worst unemployment rate west of the Atlantic provinces.
  • Harry Bloy, Minister of Social Development and Multiculturalism:As he demonstrated in his first scrum after being sworn in, there are serious questions about whether Bloy is up to the serious task of addressing the crisis that B.C.’s most vulnerable face after a decade of B.C. Liberal cuts and broken promises.
  • Shirley Bond, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General:As the sixth Solicitor General for the B.C. Liberalsafter countless scandals in that office, Bond will have her work cut out gaining back the public’s trust. But given her record of overseeing record-breaking pay raises for B.C. Ferries executives, it’s not clear whether Bond will be able to deliver a good deal on the next RCMP contract.
  • Stephanie Cadieux, Minister of Labour, Citizens’ Services and Open Government:It’s hard to believe Clark is sincere when she put the same minister in charge of both ‘open government’ and the Public Affairs Bureau, particularly given her refusal to allow an investigation into the $6 million B.C. Rail hush deal. And after a decade of cuts to employment standards, B.C.’s workers deserve better.
  • Ida Chong, Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development:Chong’s performance in her previous stint in Community Services doesn’t give British Columbians faith in her ability to do a better job the second time around, given that her most notable acts included releasing thousands of hectares of private forest lands on southern Vancouver Island and creating divisions in the Okanagan with an ill-fated governance review.
  • Rich Coleman, Minister of Energy, Mines… and Housing: It will be more of the same for the homeless in B.C., whose ranks have swollen to 10,000 under Coleman’s watch. And workers who have lost their jobs in the resource industry have every reason to wonder whether to expect real action from the same Minister who claimed he couldn’t do anything for forest-dependent communities losing their jobs because his “hands were tied”.
  • Mike de Jong, Minister of Health:British Columbians might have expected the minister who was ultimately responsible for giving away $6 million to cover the legal fees for convicted B.C. Liberal insiders to find himself on the back benches. But when you’re a long-time B.C. Liberal, tied as closely to Gordon Campbell as Christy Clark is, you get promoted to the largest ministry in the government.
  • Kevin Falcon, Minister of Finance and Deputy Premier:Demonstrating just how much this cabinet is more of the same, Gordon Campbell’s protégé and privatization ideologue Kevin Falcon takes over as Deputy Premier and Finance Minister, where he’ll be charged with selling British Columbians on the HST, a tax he claims to have helped push the B.C. Liberals to adopt after promising not to during the last election.
  • Terry Lake, Minister of Environment:Lake’s failure to stand up for people in Kamloops who were concerned about plans to burn creosote-soaked railway ties doesn’t bode well for the environment, which didn’t merit a single mention in Clark’s first speech as premier.
  • Blair Lekstrom, Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure:After criticising his colleagues from outside the caucus room for months, will Lekstrom attempt to mend bridges with a slew of sod-turnings and ribbon cuttings? Time will tell.
  • Mary McNeil, Minister of Children and Family Development:Better known as the Minister for Refusing to Account for Liberal MLAs’ Free Olympic Tickets, McNeil has an Olympic-sized job addressing the hardships faced by B.C.’s most vulnerable children after a decade of harmful policies, many of which were brought in on Clark’s watch.
  • Don McRae, Minister of Agriculture: Given that this rookie MLA is best known in the Okanagan for disparaging “little old ladies in Kelowna” for opposing the HST, can he really deliver change for B.C.’s agricultural industry?
  • Barry Penner, Attorney General:Unless Christy Clark agrees to an independent review of the $6 million B.C. Rail hush deal for Liberal insiders convicted of corruption, the Attorney General will continue to operate under a cloud.
  • Mary Polak, Minister of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation:As someone whose track record is one of confrontation rather than reconciliation, it’s hard to see how the government will build a meaningful New Relationship with First Nations.
  • Steve Thomson, Minister of Forest Lands, Natural Resource Operations:Despite supporting Campbell’s botched re-organisation of the natural resource ministries, Thomson will now be handed back the same portfolio. B.C. doesn’t need a status quo approach, which in forestry means no innovation and continued job losses in an industry crucial to northern and rural communities.
  • Naomi Yamamoto, Minister of Advanced Education: After declaring that she was qualified to be the minister of state for building code renewal because she had “lived in buildings” one has to wonder if Ms. Yamamoto was promoted because she visited a university.