Alward to unveil N.B. cabinet

David Alward will be sworn in as New Brunswick's 32nd premier on Tuesday afternoon and his new 15-member Progressive Conservative cabinet will start to navigate a series of contentious issues.

Alward's cabinet will be unveiled at 2 p.m. when the new premier and his cabinet ministers take their oaths of office.

The Progressive Conservatives will be forced to address a rising unemployment rate that is nearing 10 per cent, the decision last week by Standard & Poor's to downgrade the province's fiscal outlook to "negative" and more problems with the $1.4-billion refurbishment of the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station.

Alward's Progressive Conservatives will have a large majority to work with as they stickhandle the controversies. Alward won 42 seats on Sept. 27 compared with 13 for the Liberals.

Alward's large caucus will likely be a blessing and a curse when it comes to picking his cabinet.

Alward has the luxury of being able to choose ministers from all corners of the province and to balance gender and language considerations.

"I can assure the people of New Brunswick that we will be going forward with a very strong cabinet that is representative of New Brunswick," Alward said recently.

Alward has promised he will have only 15 ministers in his cabinet, plus himself, which is down from 20 cabinet ministers and the premier in the outgoing Liberal government.

There are 11 Tory members of the legislature, plus Alward, elected on Sept. 27 who were cabinet ministers when Bernard Lord's Tory government was ousted in 2006.

Multiple cabinet assignments

In order to live up to his promise of a trimmed-down cabinet, Alward will have to assign some ministers with multiple departments or fuse some ministries that had been separated.

When Alward was a cabinet minister he was responsible for the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Aquaculture. The Liberals split that department into two — the Department of Fisheries and the Department of Agriculture and Aquaculture — and it was led by two ministers.

The smaller cabinet is also expected to leave a few Lord-era cabinet ministers sitting on the outside.

For instance, it will take a delicate juggling act to find ways to slot Albert MLA Wayne Steeves or Hampton-Kings MLA Bev Harrison, who was first elected in 1978, into the new cabinet.

Alward is expected to give a high-profile cabinet position to Bruce Fitch, a former Lord cabinet minister, whose riding neighbours Steeves's riding.

Among his Moncton caucus, Moncton North MLA Marie-Claude Blais is considered a shoo-in for cabinet because she is the only Tory lawyer elected, and is expected to serve as the minister of justice and attorney general.

There is also speculation surrounding the future of Moncton Crescent MLA John Betts, the only remaining member of the class of 1999 Tories who has never served in cabinet.

Alward swept all of the urban ridings of Fredericton and Saint John but it is expected he will only have room for one minister from each city.

In Saint John, he could select Saint John Portland MLA Trevor Holder, who has previous cabinet experience.

Alward will also have to choose how many ministers will come from the suburban ridings that surround Saint John by choosing a veteran, such as one-time cabinet minister Margaret-Ann Blaney in Rothesay, or a newcomer, such as Blaine Higgs in Quispamsis.

In Fredericton, each of his potential cabinet recruits is a political rookie. Alward's political experience in central New Brunswick will likely come from Oromocto MLA Jody Carr, who served briefly in the Lord cabinet.

Alward has a blend of experience and new blood to pick from when he turns his attention to the north.

He is expected to appoint Edmundston-Saint-Basile MLA Madeleine Dubé and Lameque-Shippagan-Miscou MLA Paul Robichaud into senior cabinet posts. Both MLAs held multiple portfolios in the previous Tory regime.

There are also newly elected MLAs, such as Campbellton-Restigouche Centre MLA Greg Davis, Restigouche-la-Vallée MLA Martine Coulombe or Grand Falls-Drummond-Saint-Andre Danny Soucy, who may also be vying for one of the few remaining cabinet seats.

Alward will also choose the Speaker and the party whip, which come with annual salaries that can be handed out to those not in cabinet.