Manitoba premier brings new faces to cabinet

Manitoba Premier GregSelingerhas shuffled his cabinet, sending three ministers packing and moving his finance minister to another role.

Were at a reset stage in our life as a government, Selinger said. We have a good team here of both experienced people and new faces with new ideas and new engines.

StanStruthers, who was appointed as finance minister in October 2011 and recently took heat over theNDP'sdecisionto raise the provincial sales tax, has been replaced by Jennifer Howard.

Howard was immediately bombarded by questions on Friday about how shell handle the fallout from the controversial PST hike.

Every new job Ive ever started, the best advice I ever got was to shut up and listen for the first little while and thats exactly what Im going to do, Howard told reporters.

• Manitoba to hike PST to 8%

Strutherswill shift his office over to become the minister of municipal government, while Kerri Irvin-Ross replaces Howard at the helm of child and familyservices.

ErinSelbyis the new minister of health while former health minister Theresa Oswald has been put in charge of a newly-created portfolio, the department of jobs and economy.

Oswald will be working closely with Howard going forward.

Theres really no question that what goes on in her portfolio now will have a direct effect on what happens in mine, and I believe vice versa, said Oswald. I think that were going to be spending a lot of quality time together.

Selinger said Oswalds portfolio will be the focus of government moving forward.

Were focusing very, very strongly on jobs and the economy, he said.

RonLemieuxhas been named the minister of tourism, culture, sport and consumer protection.

Threebackbenchershave also been promoted to cabinetJamesAllum, ErnaBraun, and SharonBlady.

Allumis the new minister of education,Braunis the minister of labour and immigration, andBladyis in charge of healthy living and seniors.

To make room,Selingerhas shuffled out three veteran ministers ChristineMelnick(immigration minister), Jim Rondeau, (consumer affairs minister), and Nancy Allan (education minister).

Allen was dropped after stick-handling a controversial anti-bullying bill through the legislature. Meanwhile,Aboriginal Affairs Minister Eric Robinson, who has come underfire for comments he made about the "ignorance of do-good whitepeople," remains in his post.

The changes comehalfway through theNDP'sfourth consecutive mandate, and at a time when the government's popularity has dropped due to a sales tax increase.

Selingercalledthe shufflea "reset" of the inner circle with afocus "on building a strong economy and on creating good jobs and opportunities for families."

"Despite uncertainty in the global economy, Manitoba has kept building and made so much progress.Unemployment is low, our economy is growing faster than the national average and we've built assets that are the envy of others," he said.

"I've brought together a team of experienced hands and new ministers who will keep Manitoba strong and moving forward by focusing on the basics."

Conservation Minister Gord Mackintosh, Transportation Minister Steve Ashton and Attorney General Andrew Swan are all staying put.

The cabinet remains the same size at 19 ministers.

Opposition leader sounds off

Manitobas Tory leader Brian Pallister called the shuffle a distraction.

It doesnt really matter which NDP MLA they shuffle into which portfolio when not one of them stood up and opposed their tax hikes, said Pallister. Its an attempt to distract from the real problems being faced by real Manitobans as a result of what the government has been doing tax wise, regulation wise, fee wise.

The provinces Conservatives are set to hold their annual general meeting in Brandon over the weekend. Pallister said new policy and strategy will be revealed at the meeting, but he expects there will be a lot of talk about reducing the PST.

Manitoba's new cabinet