Life preservers, not deck chairs for new BC Liberal cabinet

Rich Coleman's new responsibilities for BC Hydro, which he assumed in today's cabinet shuffle, are a signal that the BC Liberals want to deepen the fissure between the NDP and the Greens over the Site C dam project. The objective is another election, as soon as possible.

Most people may think the revised cabinet announced by Premier Christy Clark on Monday is simply rearranging the deck chairs on the rapidly-sinking Titanic.

On the surface, that is absolutely correct. However, a closer look at the new cabinet could lead to the conclusion that Clark is outfitting them with life preservers, in the strong hope that this new cabinet will all board life boats, and make their way aboard a new ship.

The new responsibilities given to Langley East MLA Rich Coleman illustrate this point perfectly. He has been named minister of energy and mines, with responsibility for BC Hydro. He is still deputy premier, even though that fact was left out of the news release announcing the new cabinet. For the first time since the BC Liberals assumed office in 2001, he is no longer minister of housing.

Coleman is a Clark loyalist and was a key figure in running the 2013 campaign that gave the party an unexpected majority, and the 2017 campaign that led to the current stalemate. After the 2013 election, he was named minister of natural gas development and he has spent much of the past four years trying to get a final commitment to construction of a major LNG plant. He’s been dealing with investors and senior executives of numerous energy companies, as well as representatives of First Nations and local communities in areas where gas pipelines and plants are proposed.

Now he will be responsible for BC Hydro. The controversial Site C dam is already causing divisions between the NDP, who hope to take over from the BC Liberals after a confidence vote is held in the legislature after the throne speech, and the Greens, who oppose Site C but have backed the NDP via a written agreement.

The BC Liberals will do all they can to deepen this fissure, as it represents perhaps their best chance to get back into power. If the NDP are defeated in the legislature, or more likely their agreement with the Greens falls apart, another election is almost certain. That could easily happen within the next year or two.

Newly-elected Skeena MLA Ellis Ross takes over Coleman’s former portfolios – natural gas development and housing. He is a former chief of the Haisla First Nation and a proponent of LNG. It is very interesting that he is also housing minister, and that newly-elected Vancouver-Langara MLA Michael Lee is his parliamentary secretary for housing affordability. Obviously, the premier wants some new faces dealing with the housing issue, which was a significant factor in the BC Liberals losing so many urban seats.

Langley MLA Mary Polak is the new minister of health, giving up her environment portfolio to Jordan Sturdy, former mayor of Pemberton and MLA for West Vancouver-Sea to Sky since 2013. She won’t have much time to initiate any changes there, given that she likely won’t hold the job for more than two or three weeks. However, she has proven to be a competent administrator in many different cabinet positions and the signal here is that experience and competence can be found in the BC Liberal ranks.

Former Langley City mayor Peter Fassbender lost his Surrey-Fleetwood seat, and his responsibility for local government and particularly for TransLink has been passed on to former Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan, who narrowly won his Vancouver-False Creek seat. Sullivan is well-known as a pragmatic individual, willing to listen to mayors, and this sends a signal that transit and urban development issues won’t be neglected by the BC Liberals, should they get another chance to govern within the next few years.

Sullivan has already promised that the requirement for a referendum to approve new sources of funding for TransLink will be scrapped.

Former speaker Linda Reid has been named to cabinet as minister of advanced education, and the clear signal there is that she can’t be the next speaker. Some have suggested that she could have continued as speaker when the legislature resumes sitting, and remain even after an NDP minority government takes office.

Reid is the longtime MLA for Richmond South Centre. She is the longest continually-serving MLA in the legislature, and the only remnant of the 17 Liberal MLAs who were elected in 1991 when Gordon Wilson hastened the collapse of the Social Credit party. She is also the longest-serving female MLA in B.C. history.

All four Richmond MLAs are either in cabinet or are parliamentary secretaries.

Surrey didn't benefit much from the cabinet shuffle, largely because it only has three BC Liberal MLAs. Surrey South MLA Stephanie Cadieux remains minister of children and family development, and Surrey-Cloverdale MLA Marvin Hunt is now parliamentary secretary to the minister of communities, sport and cultural development (Sullivan). Hunt was a longtime Surrey councillor and former chair of Metro Vancouver's board.

New Surrey-White Rock MLA Tracy Redies, former CEO of Coast Capital Savings, is one of just eight BC Liberal MLAs with no additional responsibilities. Of the 43 BC Liberal MLAs, 35 are either in cabinet or are parliamentary secretaries.

Clark is ensuring that they are kept busy, and not susceptible to crossing the floor. Individual MLAs will face great pressure to be in the legislature at all times, and inducements to cross the floor are sure to be made to MLAs from all parties in this unique parliamentary situation.