Jim Prentice was sworn-in as Alberta’s 16th Premier at a ceremony at Government House in Edmonton on Monday afternoon.
Prentice takes the reins from interim premier Dave Hancock who took over after Alison Redford resigned in March.
Prentice won the PC leadership vote on September 6 and says Albertans will see with his cabinet that the province is under new management.
“As of this moment, Alberta is under new management. This is a new government with new leadership, new voices and a new way of doing things. Today and in the days and weeks to come we will take strong and decisive action to bring real and tangible change to the way in which Alberta is governed,” stated Premier Jim Prentice.
Prentice named his cabinet at the ceremony as follows:
- Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board: Robin Campbell
- Minister of Health: Stephen Mandel
- Minister of Municipal Affairs: Diana McQueen
- Minister of Energy: Frank Oberle
- Minister of Education: Gordon Dirks
- Minister of Infrastructure: Manmeet Bhullar
- Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development: Verlyn Olson
- Minister of Human Services: Heather Klimchuk
- Minister of Environment and Sustainable Resource Development: Kyle Fawcett
- Minister of Justice and Solicitor General: Jonathan Denis
- Minister of Seniors: Jeff Johnson
- Minister of Innovation and Advanced Education: Donald Scott
- Minister of Culture and Tourism: Maureen Kubinec
- Minister of Transportation: Wayne Drysdale
- Minister of Service Alberta: Stephen Khan
- Minister of Job, Skills, Training and Labour: Ric McIver
- Associate Minister of Asia Pacific Relations: Theresa Woo-Paw
- Associate Minister of Persons with Disabilities: Naresh Bhardwaj
- Associate Minister of Aboriginal Relations: David Dorward
The new cabinet has 16 ministers and three associate ministers, which is down from 19 ministers and 10 associate ministers.
"It is a smaller cabinet and it is more efficient and it will be more focused," said Prentice. "These ministers will bring new energy and dedication to the challenges ahead and to the opportunites before us."
The leader of the opposition, Danielle Smith, says Prentice’s new cabinet is basically the same as before.
“Fifteen of the ministers are Redford returnees. They were the same ministers at the table during the Redford era, there’s only been two promotions. The most troubling thing is there doesn’t appear to be any accountability for wrong doing. You’ve got the two ministers who oversaw the Sky Palace debacle, Wayne Drysdale and Ric McIver, still at the table. You’ve got the frequent flyer minister, the minister who flew the government planes the most, Robin Campbell, now in charge of the government fleet, that doesn’t seem to be any sign that there’s going to be accountability for those who misbehaved in the previous administration” said Smith.
Premier Prentice and the two new ministers who are not sitting MLAs will seek seats in byelections before the legislature returns in the fall.
