View From the Legislature

On Tuesday, Premier Heather Stefanson changed her provincial cabinet with a number of ministers taking on new roles and some new MLAs being added to the cabinet. This was the first opportunity for the new Premier to put her own stamp on the governing branch of government. I was honoured to be asked to continue to serve in the provincial cabinet and to be assigned new roles and retain some existing responsibilities.

On Tuesday I took the oath of office as the Minister of Justice and the Attorney General of Manitoba. This is a key role in any provincial government and one that is of importance to the residents of the province. Public safety is always a top-of-mind issue and I look forward to working with the many entities and organizations who have front line responsibility for keeping our communities safe.

In addition, I have been asked to serve as the minister responsible for the Manitoba Public Insurance Corporation (MPI). MPI is one of our publicly owned crown corporations and while it operates on a day-to-day level independently, there is within cabinet a minister that is responsible for the Act under which the crown corporation functions and reports to Manitobans. This is also a new responsibility for me.

In addition, I will continue to work as Government House Leader. I have served in the role of Opposition and Government House Leader for over a decade. In that role I work together with the opposition parties in the Manitoba Legislature to try to ensure that matters can be debated and voted upon in a way that best supports our parliamentary system. I look forward to continuing in that capacity.

I also want to welcome and congratulate the MLAs who are new to Cabinet and who are returning. MLA for Turtle Mountain Doyle Piwniuk joins cabinet as the minister of Transportation and Infrastructure, MLA for Lagimodiere Andrew Smith is the new minister of Sport, Culture and Heritage and MLA Scott Johnston from Assiniboia joins cabinet as the minister of Seniors and Long-term Care. I remember as a new minister, nearly six years ago, how daunting it is to enter in these new roles and I can’t wait to both support these new ministers and learn from them as well.

And I would like to welcome my colleague Eileen Clarke back into Cabinet as the minister of Municipal Relations.

Some of these roles are positions that were previously held by MLAs Cathy Cox, Ron Schuler and Ralph Eichler. They each have dedicated countless hours to the betterment of their province in cabinet and I know will continue to be valuable contributors to the government and to their constituencies. I have enjoyed serving with each in cabinet.