EDMONTON — Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach will make major changes to his cabinet this week in an effort to bolster his Tory party’s sliding support, The Canadian Press has learned.
Government insiders have confirmed that the premier will push back his departure later this month for an energy summit in the Middle East and will announce a new cabinet as early as Tuesday.
“Everybody knows the premier’s in trouble,” said a government source who asked not to be identified. “Just shuffling a few chairs is not good enough.”
The opposition parties say they’re not surprised Stelmach is making wholesale changes to cabinet, given his perceived waning popularity.
“This premier is in trouble and he knows it,” said Liberal Opposition Leader David Swann. “The incompetence in his cabinet, the top-heavy administration and huge bonuses and severances that have been handed out — these are not washing well, especially during the difficult economic times we’re in.”
Wildrose Alliance Leader Danielle Smith says that ultimately the buck stops with the premier, so any major policy changes will depend on whether he’s willing to compromise.
“I don’t think changing the faces in any ... portfolios is going to satisfy what I’m hearing from Albertans,” said Smith, whose upstart party has been ahead of the Tories in polls and who benefited last week when two of Stelmach’s backbenchers jumped ranks to join it.
“People are saying it’s a rudderless government and they’re dissatisfied with (Stelmach’s) leadership.”
Two senior advisers to the government say Health Minister Ron Liepert will be moved into the energy portfolio. Liepert has been roundly criticized for planned hospital bed closures and other moves to reduce health-care costs. A senior official with Alberta Health Services said he has heard that Advanced Education Minister Doug Horner will be the new health minister.
A staff member confirmed that Energy Minister Mel Knight won’t seek re-election but couldn’t say whether he would remain in cabinet.
“I heard that just about everyone in cabinet is moving,” said one source, who added that Rob Renner was being moved out of environment, Sustainable Resource Development Minister Ted Morton would replace Lloyd Snelgrove as Treasury Board President and Snelgrove would become minister of agriculture.
Another government adviser said Agriculture Minister George Groeneveld has been “a disaster” in the portfolio. “Nobody’s happy,” said the source. “He’s (angered) just about everyone in agriculture.”
It’s expected that several ministers will be shuffled out of cabinet because of their lacklustre performance, said a source, including Children and Youth Services Minister Janice Tarchuk.
“The premier has to show he’s willing to move those ministers who are not performing,” said the source, who added that the new cabinet will be “more youthful, more urban and more Calgary.”
“It’s time to move forward, because if he doesn’t the future will not be rosy.”
Some of the new faces expected are three-term veteran Doug Griffiths and rookie Diana McQueen.
Griffiths is a fiscal hawk who has gained attention in recent weeks because of rumours that he might also defect to the Wildrose Alliance. Griffiths moved swiftly to shoot that down and it appears his loyalty may be rewarded with a cabinet post.
Finance Minister Iris Evans is also said to be on her way out of the high-profile portfolio, although her future remains uncertain. One of her close friends moved to squelch speculation that Evans is in the running to replace Norman Qwong as Alberta’s lieutenant-governor.
Stelmach acknowledged the need for a cabinet shuffle in early November after Tory party members gave him a 77 per cent show of support in a mandatory leadership review vote that follows every election.
Stelmach made sweeping changes to cabinet after he succeeded Ralph Klein as premier. His first cabinet boasted mostly loyalists who had supported him during a fractious leadership race that saw Stelmach emerge as the surprise winner.
Critics said the cabinet had too many members from rural areas and not enough representatives from Calgary, Alberta’s largest city and the headquarters for several major oil companies that do business in Alberta. Calgary was also home to the popular Klein, while Stelmach hails from a farming community east of Edmonton.
The source said Stelmach was urged to set aside his inclination to reward loyalty so he could have a revitalizing cabinet in the two years leading up to the next election.
Political analyst Keith Brownsey said the premier needs a major shuffle of senior ministers if he wants to turn around dismal poll numbers.
“It has to be a new face on this government,” said Brownsey, a professor of political studies at Mount Royal College in Calgary.
“The government has managed to alienate the largest economic sector in this province, the oil and gas industry,” he said. “You can’t do that in Alberta.”
Last week, Stelmach’s staff said he would delay the shuffle until the last week of January because of the overseas trip. But a source close to the premier now says his departure will be delayed and the trip shortened.
The legislature is to resume sitting early next month, with a budget to follow soon afterward.