Alberta's new cabinet disappoints opposition parties

Alberta's opposition parties are not impressed with Premier Jim Prentice's smaller cabinet announced Monday.

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It includes two people who aren't members of the legislature former Edmonton mayor Stephen Mandel and former Calgary Board of Education member Gordon Dirks.

Prentice also needs to find a seat.

Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith says Prentice promised a new and fresh cabinet but 75 per cent of it is the same as it was under former premier Alison Redford.

"Three quarters of Prentices new cabinet is made up of Redford-era cabinet ministers who stood by in silence as the government was embroiled in scandal and controversy," said Smith in a release.

"The PC minister who used the government planes the mostwell over 100 times last yearRobin Campbell, is now in charge of the government fleet at his new position as finance minister."

The use of agovernment planes when commercial flights were availablebecame a hot topic for former premier Alison Redford.

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She also questions giving two unelected individuals the key posts of health and education, which accounts for about half of the provincial budget.

"Instead of focused and strong leadership, Mr. Prentice has decided to play politics with Albertans' health and education," Smith's statement said.

'They have no mandate from the public'

Smith says the two men won't be able to focus on their jobs while they're campaigning for seats in the legislature.

NDP leader Brian Mason agreed.

"Theyre unelected. They have no mandate from the public," he said.

"They wont be present in the legislature to answer questions about their handling of their job and their department. Thats a real problem. I think Albertans expect that members of the government will be elected by the public before they start serving in those positions. Thats a problem as well."

Masonsays the cabinet is so lame that if it was a horse he would shoot it.

"I think the cabinet is much weaker than I expected," said Mason."Quite frankly, I think hes appointed a number of people who are not well suited to their role."

He says some people choices were passed up because of their connection to Redford, like Doug Horner.

"I know that Stephen Khan was fired by Alison Redford when he was minister of Advance Education because he couldnt work with the post secondary sector," said Mason.

Cabinet scarce on women, rural MLAs

Even some PC Party insiders weresurprisedby some of Prentice'scabinet decisions.

"Jeff Johnson of coursegot the biggest emotion, but somemight argue that he dodged a bullet just by staying in cabinet," saidSusan Elliott, the president ofCatalystManagementandCommunications.

"Heather Klimchuk got a huge promotion moving into the Human Services portfolio, so those were two that struck me."

But she thought Doug Griffiths would be included because he young and full of ideas. Elliott alsothought morejuniorministers from the previous government would be given positions, such as Rick Fraser and RichardStarke.

She says this cabinet shows thatPrentice is planning to take on a more hands-on approach to the party's inner circle than Redford which was shown by the premier taking on the roles of aboriginal affairs andinternational and intergovernmental relations.

Elliot was disappointed to only see four women in the cabinet.

Michael Lohner with the Canadian Strategic Group believes geography could be the biggest challenge for Prentice in the future. He says the cabinetis lacking onrural voices.

"We lost a couple ministers from central Alberta, and we lost one minister from southern Alberta," he said. "So we got a cabinet that is not represented outside the cities south of Wetaskiwin."

'He'll have to be scandal-free' before election

Both insiders believe there won't be an immediate election, especially since there needs to be three byelections for Prentice and unelectedcabinet members.

Elliot believes the party will wait until closer to Alberta's fixed election date in 2016 so the party can raise money and show how it's changed from under Redford's rule.

Political scientist Duane Bratt says thefall sitting of the legislature will set the tone of the next election.

"What he'll need to do is balance the budget," he said. "Hehasto make progress on the pipelines, and he'll have to be scandal-free for a year and a half. If he does those three things, he's got a shot in the next election."

Bratt said Prentice had a small margin for error in announcing his cabinet, anda lot to consider.

"Edmonton versus Calgary. Urban versusrural. Gender balancesall these things, which he had to do, plusin this case he had to shrink the size of the cabinet and he had to reflect some sort of difference between him and Redford."