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Mid-term review bears fruit

It took a while but Premier Bob McLeod finally took some real action and shuffled his cabinet following the historic mid-term review of the 18th Legislative Assembly last fall.

If we are to look at departmental budget size as a measure of ministerial importance then the switch of portfolios between Education Minister Alfred Moses ($327 million) and Caroline Cochrane, minister of Municipal and Community Affairs ($017 million) can only be seen as a demotion for Moses and a promotion for Cochrane.

Moses walked a bed of coals while education minister and stumbled more than once. He was criticized for poor communication over the implementation of junior kindergarten and a backroom deal with teachers to reduce classroom hours.

He also took blame for Aurora College's initial decision to yank its teacher and social work programs after slashing its budget. After an outcry from students and MLAs concerned about the territory losing its ability to produce homegrown teachers and social workers, Moses restored the funding but the two programs remain in limbo while his department conducts an interminable “foundational review” of the college.

Cochrane will have to be a defter fire walker than Moses was if she is going to find success at Education, Culture and Employment. She can point to some accomplishments while handling the generally more placid MACA file, including her commitment to finally bringing a 9-1-1 emergency phone service to the Northwest Territories next year – in all 11 official languages no less.

She can also take consolation in handing over responsibility for the always troublesome NWT Housing Corporation to Moses in a proverbial switch of hot potatoes. This will allow Cochrane to devote her energies to the difficult education file while offering Moses a second chance to prove he can handle a tough assignment.

Justice Minister Louis Sebert, also minister for public engagement and transparency who will now lose responsibility for for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation to Finance Minister Robert C. McLeod, is clearly the biggest loser of this cabinet shuffle.

He was the only minister to receive a failing grade from MLAs after last fall's performance review.

While crime stats remained high without any improvement in sight, his chippy personality often failed him when it came to the sensitive power corp. file and having to defend continued rate hikes amid already staggering electricity costs.

Stalled progress on expanding hydroelectric power continues to be an issue that must be addressed as the GNWT faces pressure from Ottawa to tax carbon emissions – many of which come from diesel generators to power remote communities.

Sebert’s ham-fisted handling of the A New Day Program based in Yellowknife also showed a lack of foresight when dealing with controversy.

Should Sebert have been booted from cabinet altogether? Well, the farm team for the justice role doesn’t run all that deep, with the only other lawyer among regular MLAs being Hay River North MLA R.J. Simpson, who may very well get a chance at cabinet should he seek re-election next year.

And the timing of his cabinet shuffle is interesting. Premier McLeod remains uncommitted toward seeking re-election in 18 months time. So if the premier is preparing for an exit, he appears to have made a necessary but really more of a caretaker cabinet shuffle.

Clearly he has confidence in his finance minister. And he also is satisfied with Cochrane’s work, although Yellowknifer notes she really mishandled the recent arts funding controversy, angering a constituency that is rarely heard from.

As the legislative assembly is currently on one of its regular extended breaks from sitting, the re-purposed ministers will have time to get up to speed on their new roles. We hope this shuffle proves worthy as this government rounds the bend on its last stretch holding the reins of power.