A local political scientist is calling the recent cabinet shuffle a good move by Premier Alison Redford.
MacEwan University professor Chaldeans Mensah said it was a course correction for the government.
“I think this cabinet shuffle is an effort by the premier to take control of the government,” he explained.
“I think this shuffle will enable her to change some of the faces into a better fit and at the same time reward some of the MLAs that came through for her in the leadership review.”
However, the opposition has pointed out that a new, larger cabinet puts taxpayers on the hook for higher salaries.
“They are breaking their own rule of result-based budgeting and the taxpayers are on the hook for the added salaries for cabinet ministers,” Liberal leader Raj Sherman said.
The announcement came just a day after a pair of controversial pieces of legislation passed third reading at the legislature.
“It's problematic when you expand the cabinet, and at the same time you're preaching public sector restraints,” Mensah said.
One of the most notable changes was the creation of the Jobs, Skill, Training and Labour portfolio, which will be headed up by former deputy premier and minister of Advanced Education, Thomas Lukaszuk.
“He failed to really mobilize that sector behind him in terms of working together to get some of the issues that post-secondary institutions were trying to put forward,” Mensah said.
“That kind of miscommunication was causing problems for the government.”
MLA Dave Hancock, who will be taking over from Lukaszuk, said the new ministry will be an important sector.
“As our economy has strengthened and grown, as we move forward, everybody is talking about the one big issue, the shortage of workers and where do we get the people we need to fill those jobs,” Hancock explained.
“I think the premier did a great job of reinvigorating the agenda.”
Yet Wildrose leader Danielle Smith would have liked to see even more changes.
“We've got now a finance minister who is staying in finance who can't balance the budget and a health minister who is staying in health who doesn't know how to fix health care,” Smith said.
Mensah disagreed.
“Overall it looks like she has done a pretty good job in terms of shifting people around to better meet the direction of the government.”
The full list of cabinet changes can be found online.
With files from Sarah Richter, Julia Parrish
