Alberta Premier Rachel Notley added one more minister to her cabinet and made a few other tweaks prior to the start of the fall session and NDP government's first budget.
Deron Bilous moves from the municipal affairs portfolio to become the Minister of Economic Development and Trade, which is a new cabinet position for the NDP government.
Bilous is tasked with job creation and diversifying the economy so that the low price of oil has less of an impact on the Alberta economy.
“Alberta’s innovative, entrepreneurial culture and highly skilled workforce can build a more diversified and resilient economy,” said Bilous following the swearing-in ceremony.
Political Scientist Bob Murray, with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, said the job will be difficult.
“Economic diversification is one of those buzz words, where it sounds like a really good idea in theory and everybody wants to do it,” said Murray. “But actually coming up with coherent policy that facilitates that is really difficult.”
Danielle Larivee takes over for Bilous to serve as the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Service Alberta.
Lori Sigurdson drops the word ‘Innovation’ from her portfolio. Her previous title as Minister of Advanced Education and Innovation changes to Minister of Advanced Education. She will continue in her role as Minister of Jobs, Skills, Training and Labour.
On May 24, Premier Notley highlighted the small size of the cabinet, calling her first cabinet a group of "11 dedicated women and men to focus firmly on solving the challenges ahead." It was the smallest cabinet in the province in more than fifty years.
Alberta's cabinet now has 12 members, six men and six women, plus the premier.
The fall session begins on Monday October 26 with the budget being dropped the next day.
With files from Bill Fortier
