Oddly timed shuffle a reward for Simard

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/11/2024 (417 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Yesterday morning, Premier Wab Kinew added three new members to his cabinet and changed the responsibilities of four others. River Heights MLA Mike Moroz has been put in charge of the ministry of innovation and new technology — an entirely new portfolio.

Mintu Sandhu (the Maples) and Nellie Kennedy (Assiniboia) are the other new additions to cabinet. Sandhu will head up the ministry of public service delivery, while Kennedy now serves as the new minister of sport, culture, heritage and tourism.

Moroz, Sandhu and Kennedy are each rookie MLAs, having been elected just 13 months ago in last year’s provincial election.

St. Vital MLA Jamie Moses was the minister of economic development, investment and trade, and natural resources. He is now minister of business, mining, trade and job creation. Despite the new title, it’s unclear if his duties have actually changed to a significant degree.

Wolseley MLA Lisa Naylor will continue to serve as minister of transportation and infrastructure, but is no longer minister of consumer protection and government services. The government services responsibilities appear to have been shifted to Sandhu.

Keewatinook MLA Ian Bushie was the minister of municipal and northern relations, as well as minister of Indigenous economic development. He remains in that latter role and is now minister of natural resources.

Brandon East MLA Glen Simard, who was serving as minister of sport, culture, heritage and tourism until yesterday, takes over Bushie’s duties as minister of municipal and northern relations. He will continue to also serve as the minister responsible for francophone affairs and the Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries Corporation.

The changes are surprising, for several reasons. First, there is the odd timing of the move, given that the government also announced yesterday that it “will unveil its plans for the year ahead in a speech from the throne to be delivered Nov. 19” – which is just five days from now.

Such a short time frame means that the seven ministers will have played no role in setting the priorities and plans for their respective new ministries. Whether the priorities outlined in the throne speech align with those new ministers’ plans remains to be seen.

Second, preparations within the various ministries for provincial budget 2025 have already begun. That puts each of the seven ministers at a considerable disadvantage, given that they are not yet familiar with the priorities and budgetary demands of their respective new ministries. It is unrealistic to expect them to fight for funding for those priorities at the cabinet table if they don’t have an in-depth understanding of what those priorities actually are.

Third, this shuffle could be construed as the hitting of the “reset button” by Kinew. Expanding the size of cabinet with three new ministers, combined with re-framing the roles of four others — just 13 months after the last election — could be reasonably regarded as an admission by Kinew that his original cabinet structure and allocation of ministerial responsibilities was flawed.

Fourth, it is puzzling that such a large shuffle would not also include other under-performing ministers. For example, Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara appears to be struggling to deliver positive results in that portfolio. Similarly, the minister responsible for Manitoba Hydro, Adrien Sala, has failed so far to take meaningful steps to protect Manitobans from a rapidly approaching electricity shortage.

Here in Brandon, the move of Simard from the sport, culture, heritage and tourism ministry to the municipal and northern relations portfolio can only be regarded as a reward for the steady service he provided over the past year in his previous role.

He is a rising star in the Kinew cabinet, but his new duties as municipal and northern relations minister will present a range of challenges that he was not forced to navigate in his previous portfolio. Officials from communities across the province, including Winnipeg and Brandon, will be expecting him to be the voice of their concerns at the cabinet table and to deliver the results they each demand.

That may well be an impossible task, but the job of government is never easy.

We congratulate Simard and his colleagues on their new appointments and wish them success in carrying out their respective new responsibilities.