A local MLA is now the province’s second-in-command.
Doug Horner, MLA for Spruce Grove-Sturgeon-St. Albert, was sworn in as deputy premier of Alberta on Friday, two days after Premier Ed Stelmach shuffled his cabinet.
Horner, a third-term MLA, has been a minister and a member of the Treasury Board for several years. He had been rumoured to be heading into the health portfolio but instead remains as minister of Advanced Education and Technology.
He said he’s happy to keep working on the initiatives he’s started in that job, but he’s “ecstatic and blessed,” to be named deputy.
“Very honoured and blessed that the premier was honouring me with that kind of trust and confidence. I look forward to that role,” Horner said.
As deputy premier, Horner will act in Stelmach’s stead when the premier is unavailable and chair a number of committees, most notably the agenda and priorities committee.
“It’s really a bit of a fireman’s role. It’s a bit of working across departments to ensure that the message is getting out to the Alberta public,” Horner said. “It’s about making sure that people understand what it is that we’re doing and that they hear it straight form the horse’s mouth.”
There are three new people in cabinet and three leaving. New members are Edmonton MLA (and St. Albert resident) Thomas Lukaszuk, Calgary’s Jonathan Denis and Peace River’s Frank Oberle. Those now on the back-benches are Janice Tarchuk (formerly of Children and Youth Services); George Groeneveld (Agriculture Minister) and Fred Lindsay (Solicitor General).
The biggest changes are in Health and Wellness where Edmonton MLA Gene Zwozdesky takes over for Ron Liepert, who moves into Energy. Former Stelmach rival Ted Morton, a noted fiscal conservative, takes over Finance, a move that’s been interpreted as a defence against the rise of the Wildrose Alliance.
Horner suggested these top-level changes would be better described as an “alignment of talents.”
“We had no desire to out-reform the reformers in the Wildrose. That’s not what this is about,” he said. “We’ve aligned the talents of our cabinet with the issues that we face today.”
Opposition parties compared the changes to rearranging the deck chairs on a sinking ship.
“These are mostly the same faces. This is a tired, cynical government that is out of ideas,” he said.
“Albertans are crying out for bold leadership and here we have Stelmach unable to make the hard decisions,” agreed Alberta Liberal leader David Swann.
“He continues to surround himself with the same people and hear the same voices.”
Another new role for Horner will be as minister liaison to the Canadian Armed Forces, a new position that came from conversations with members of the military last fall. Horner is a former reservist himself, which was likely a factor in him getting this new role, he said. In the future, he thinks it will likely be attached to the deputy premier.
“It will get defined as we go. We’ll check with other provinces, find out how it goes,” Horner said.
