With just over 3 months left as Premier, Jason Kenney has made significant changes to his cabinet in order to fill a number of vacancies left by aspiring leadership candidates:
- Jason Nixon, currently the Minister of Environment and Parks and Acting President of Treasury Board and Minister of Finance becomes President of Treasury Board and Minister of Finance.
- Whitney Issik, currently the Associate Minister of Status of Women, becomes Minister of Environment and Parks.
- Matt Jones, MLA for Calgary-South East, becomes Minister of Children’s Services.
- Prasad Panda, currently the Minister of Infrastructure, becomes Minister of Transportation.
- Nicholas Milliken, MLA for Calgary-Currie, becomes Minister of Infrastructure.
- Jackie Armstrong Homeniuk, MLA for Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville, becomes the Associate Minister of Status of Women.
- Brad Rutherford, MLA for Leduc-Beaumont and Deputy Government Whip, becomes Chief Government Whip and Minister without Portfolio.
Other non-Ministry changes:
- MLAs Tracy Allard, Grande Prairie, and Jackie Lovely, Camrose, have been appointed to Treasury Board.
- Minister of Justice Tyler Shandro has been appointed the Chair of the Community and Families Cabinet Policy Committee.
- Minister of Education Adriana LaGrange has been appointed to the Priorities Implementation Cabinet Committee.
Link to News Release: https://www.alberta.ca/release.cfm?xID=83123523AE3F3-D262-70A7-476F33F2E18CC06B
Leadership Contenders
All leadership candidates must submit the required signatures of 1000 members and make the first installment of the entry fee of $175,000 before July 20th. The deadline for new members to sign up and vote is August 12th. The Premier-designate and new leader will be announced on October 6th.
Current MLAs — Leela Aheer, Brian Jean, Todd Loewen, Rajan Sawhney, Rebecca Schulz, and Travis Toews — as well as former Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith and Village of Amisk Mayor Bill Rock have declared their intention to run.
Federal Conservative Calgary MP Michelle Rempel Garner is exploring the possibility of running for the UCP leadership. It has been reported that she received an exemption from caucus to run despite not adhering to the party’s rule to be an active member for last six months. Edmonton MLA/Minister Kaycee Madu is also rumoured to run.
NDP Starting to Show Some Dirty Laundry
In the last two weeks, NDP leader Rachel Notley has had to apologize on two separate occasions because of complaints about treatment of staff and volunteers. It was revealed this week that an external firm will be investigating the complaints.
Notley promised that an independent body will review the NDP’s human resources policies to ensure they have “robust policies and proper codes of conduct in place.”