How new portfolio keeps cabinet the same size

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This article was published 17/08/2017 (2985 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Did he increase the size of his cabinet or not?

Premier Brian Pallister insists that he did not add to his cabinet Thursday, even though he added a portfolio and a new face to his inner circle.

When asked about the apparent expansion shortly after the swearing-in ceremony for new and shuffled ministers, Pallister said there was no net gain in ministers since Rossmere MLA Andrew Micklefield was dropped as house leader.

Micklefield did not manage a portfolio. When he was appointed house leader — responsible for shepherding government business in the legislature — last August, Pallister was adamant he wasn’t really expanding his cabinet from the original 12 appointed May 3, 2016.

A year ago, Pallister said Micklefield was only brought into cabinet for administrative reasons, but he would not attend or participate in meetings. The position came with a $10,000 boost in salary.

“We named him to cabinet as that is necessary to satisfy the legislative requirements to be house leader,” Pallister said at the time.

However, on Thursday, the premier treated Micklefield as a full-fledged minister who had been punted, saying that cabinet numbers remained the same, despite the addition of Jeff Wharton (Gimli) as minister responsible for municipal relations. No ministers with portfolios were booted from cabinet.

“The previous house leader was a cabinet member as well — Andrew Micklefield — so the ratio (between men and women in cabinet) is exactly the same,” Pallister said Thursday.

The premier can’t have it both ways, NDP MLA Andrew Swan said.

Swan, a former government house leader and justice minister, said it “made no sense” that Micklefield would not attend cabinet meetings as house leader.

Pallister may be correct that he didn’t boost the size of his inner circle on Thursday, but he can’t say he didn’t add to it last August when he appointed Micklefield, Swan said, adding the premier has been following a familiar pattern.

“He will say one thing and later on go and do something entirely different, and then deny that he ever said it in the first place,” he said.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca