Caldwell denied cabinet role

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This article was published 14/01/2012 (5255 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Premier Greg Selinger shuffled his cabinet on Friday but Brandon East NDP MLA Drew Caldwell — and Brandon itself — was once again denied a spot in the premier’s inner circle.

Caldwell will retain his post as legislative assistant to the premier for Westman, a post he has held since 2008.

“Drew and I are still working together,” Selinger said. “Drew’s been a leader in Westman and has done a heck of a job.”

That endorsement was not enough for Caldwell, a former education minister and as family services and housing minister who left cabinet in 2003, to regain full membership to the executive branch of the government.

“Drew and I had a good chat about this and we both agreed this was a good mix to move Brandon forward,” Selinger said of Caldwell, a 12-year veteran of the Manitoba legislature. “Just look at the things he’s done out there and the investments into the community.”

New cabinet ministers include rookie Point Douglas MLA Kevin Chief, who has been appointed minister of a new department, Children and Youth Opportunities, and first-term Swan River MLA Ron Kostyshyn, who has been named agriculture minister.

“It’s always a concern when people are not able to be in cabinet, but we picked a minister of agriculture and we picked a minister for youth and opportunities, and we felt those were important priorities at this time.”

Four existing cabinet Ministers traded portfolios, with Labour Minister Jennifer Howard getting the biggest promotion by adding the Family Services portfolio.

That allowed Gord Mackintosh to move from Family Services to the newly combined Conservation and Water Stewardship ministry.

Christine Melnick moved on from Water Stewardship to become immigration and multiculturalism minister, a change some view as a demotion.

Healthy Living and Seniors Minister Jim Rondeau added consumer affairs to his title.

“I think it’s a good shuffle and it fills a few gaps we needed to fill,” Caldwell said. “Ron is a guy I’ve known for 20 years as a municipal official and a farmer who has the right skill set to be an excellent agriculture minister. In the city of Winnipeg, we are expanding the aboriginal representation in cabinet with a young, dynamic and urban individual who carries a great deal of weight with inner-city kids. That’s important for all Manitobans because that’s an under-represented group.”

Brandon West Progressive Conservative MLA Reg Helwer said Selinger’s failure to appoint Caldwell to cabinet is a slap in the face to a Brandon MLA, Manitoba’s second-largest city and Westman, a key economic region.

“Again, Brandon is ignored by the NDP,” Helwer said. “You wonder how may opportunities Brandon has missed out on because of that.

“It’s nice to see the premier visited us (on Thursday), but he didn’t bring any good news or anything for Brandon that I saw. You have to keep pushing so that Winnipeg and everyone in Manitoba knows that Brandon is here.”

Caldwell said his role will continue to give him daily access to the premier to address Brandon’s needs.

“The proof is in the pudding,” Caldwell said. “I’ve been at both tables, and it’s been a unique situation where you have an MLA directly tied to the premier’s office.

“At the beginning, it was a bit of an experimental situation, but it has worked very well. Both of us felt it was appropriate to continue along the track we have been going down for a number of years.”

» kborkowsky@brandonsun.com