Pre-Election cabinet shuffle

Posted June 23, 2008 by Sacha Peter - Link
Category: News

The BC Government announced their new cabinet today, which is summed up in this press release.

Most notable is that Colin Hansen is once again the Minister of Finance - he served for a year after Gary Collins resigned in 2004. Colin Hansen has always been a steady and competent performer in cabinet and a relatively safe choice for Gordon Campbell.

Other significant shifts include Stan Hagen moving from Tourism to Agriculture and Lands, which might be politically motivated - Hagen’s riding of Comox Valley (nearly untouched after the 2009 boundary changes) is vulnerable.

Finally, East Kootenay MLA Bill Bennett, who has sat as a backbencher after his delightfully blunt email to a constituent, has been promoted again to the Tourism ministry. East Kootenay is going to become Kootenay East after the 2009 redistribution and the change to the electoral boundary is minor - click the graphic below for an enhanced view - the red outline and the coloured areas are the 2005 boundaries, while the 2009 boundaries are defined in thick black lines. The two areas in question are sparsely populated, but both have slightly trended BC Liberal.

Bill Bennett is going to face a challenge in the 2009 election.