One word for Clark’s cabinet announcement: bizarre
KAMLOOPS — ‘Bizarre’ is an over-used word when it comes to politics, but it fits the latest act in the Victoria gong show — namely, Monday’s unveiling of Christy Clark’s ‘new’ cabinet.
If her list of appointments to the executive council looks familiar rather than new, that’s because it is. For the most part, those who were already in cabinet — and that’s most of them — got to keep the jobs they already had. One of them is Todd Stone, who remains the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure.
Mary Polak, who was environment minister since 2013, takes over Terry Lake’s vacated health portfolio. (As a side note, Clark confirmed the next speaker will come from the Liberal ranks. It won’t be Linda Reid, who was speaker during the last term, as she’s now Minister of Advanced Education.)
There are five new cabinet ministers for a total of 22, plus 13 parliamentary secretaries. The latter are, basically, cabinet ministers in training, but they receive extra pay as do full ministers.