Smith named her Cabinet recently. These are the Ministers who will form the executive branch of government, with authority to oversee the operation of government and make regulations and other Ministerial Orders. These are important jobs – arguably more important than the legislature itself.

To be perfectly fair to Smith, she didn’t have much to work with. The UCP lost a lot of senior Cabinet Ministers in and before the election. Several Ministers or former Ministers decided not to run again (Travis Toews; Sonya Savage; Doug Schweitzer; Leela Aheer; Ron Orr; Tracy Allard), and several more lost their seats in the election (Kaycee Madu; Tyler Shandro; Jason Copping; Nicholas Milliken; Jeremy Nixon; Jason Luan; Prasad Panda; Josephine Pon).

Notley’s 2015 Cabinet had fewer people in it than the number of Ministers the UCP just lost.

A couple of interesting facts about a Cabinet Minister: Firstly, they get a 50% pay raise – from the surprisingly low MLA base salary of just under $121k, to $181k. (By contrast, Federal MPs get a base salary of just under $200,000, and Federal Ministers get just under $300,000.) Secondly, they are bound by convention to a concept known as “Cabinet Solidarity” – that they’re not allowed to publicly disagree with the positions adopted by the Cabinet on the whole.

In practice, this means that, while Cabinet Ministers can argue behind closed doors, once the Premier makes a decision, Ministers are expected and required to publicly support it, regardless of their personal feelings on the subject. (Or else they can resign. And give up their $60k pay raise.)

So let’s look at a few names from the new Cabinet. There are 24 Ministers plus Smith herself – literally more than half the UCP caucus – so this won’t be comprehensive. Of the 25, 22 are white, and 20 are men.

Minister of Health

Adriana LaGrange, former Education Minister, is one of the few Ministers here to move from one traditionally ‘major’ Cabinet post to another.

When she was Education Minister, the Alberta Teachers’ Association took the extraordinary step of having a non-confidence vote in her leadership, which passed with 99% of the vote.

She oversaw an asset transfer, forcing the Alberta Teachers’ Retirement Fund to transfer its assets to be managed by AIMCo, much to the chagrin of teachers and the ATA, who sued the government in response.

She also ended the self-regulation of the teaching profession in Alberta, removing the ATA’s regulatory and disciplinary role, and replacing it with direct government regulation through the Education Act, appointing an “Alberta Teaching Profession Commissioner” to oversee teacher discipline.

Even more disturbingly, LaGrange is a long-time anti-abortion activist, having served as President of Red Deer Pro-Life, and on the Board of Directors of Alberta Pro-Life, an organization that has called for the de-listing of abortion services. After she ceased her role as President of Red Deer Pro-Life, but while she was still Trustee of the Red Deer Catholic School Board, a scandal broke involving Red Deer Pro-Life showing a pro-life presentation, comparing abortion to the holocaust, in a Red Deer Catholic high school.

Minister of Mental Health and Addictions

This job goes to Dan Williams, the Peace River MLA best known for chugging a can of beer in the Legislature.

Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors

Here we get Devin Dreeshen. Dreeshen used to be Minister of Agriculture and Forestry under Kenney. However, he resigned that post – while maintaining his Legislature seat – after a former staffer sued, making serious allegations including that Dreeshen’s drinking created a toxic work environment. The staffer’s allegations have not been established in Court, but when Dreeshen resigned his Ministerial position shortly thereafter, he acknowledged that his “personal conduct with regards to alcohol has become an issue for the government as a whole.”

Dreeshen remained out of Cabinet for the remainder of Kenney’s Premiership, but was restored to Cabinet – in this role – when Smith first became Premier late last year. He subsequently oversaw a change to the GDL program making it easier (removing a road test) for GDL drivers to transition to their Class 5, relieving those drivers of the GDL restrictions – like zero tolerance of alcohol.

Minister of Justice

There was some speculation this might go to a non-lawyer – in part because so few lawyers are now in the UCP Caucus. Fortunately, a lawyer was selected, Mickey Amery, who hopefully understands the need for independence in this office. (The Minister of Justice also serves automatically as the Attorney General and the Solicitor General.)

Amery has been a lawyer since 2012, and operated his own solo practice. (Oddly, the Law Society directory still lists his contact information as being his sole practice, even though he’s been the MLA for Calgary-Cross for four years.) He first became a Minister in October 2022, when Smith made him Minister of Children’s Services.

He was appointed a Queen’s Counsel (now a King’s Counsel) last year, in an appointment process that controversially passed over a decorated prestigious 20-year prosecutor, Moira Vane, who ran unsuccessfully for the NDP in Strathcona-Sherwood Park in 2019.

Minister of Education

Demetrios Nicolaides comes to this Ministry from the Ministry of Advanced Education, where he pioneered a framework that would punish post-secondary institutions for refusing to platform Residential School denialists; tried to force 2/3 of Athabasca University’s staff to actually live in Athabasca, despite the objections of staff and the employer; and oversaw labour turmoil on Alberta’s campuses, including the first ever post-secondary strike in Alberta’s history.

So now he’s responsible for elementary and high schools.

Minister of Labour

None.

Smith’s first Cabinet omitted a Minister of Labour in her Cabinet last fall, in what appears to have been an accidental omission (from a record-sized Cabinet) as the accompanying Order in Council – which assigns Ministers responsible for various statutes – did not make any Minister responsible for the Labour Relations Code or Occupational Health and Safety Act.

The omission from the Order in Council was later corrected by assigning those statutes to what was then the Minister of Jobs, Economy, and Northern Development (Brian Jean).

Notably, the Ministry of ‘Jobs, Economy, and [Something Else]’ had been around for a while. Kenney had the Ministry of Jobs, Economy, and Innovation, which was an evolution from Notley’s Ministry of Economic Development and Trade. As critics noted in 2022, the Ministry of “Jobs” is focused on economic development and job creation, whereas the Ministry of “Labour” is traditionally focused on regulating the relationships between employees and employers (and unions), and establishing frameworks of worker rights.

Now, presumably, it will fall within the Ministry of Jobs, Economy, and Trade, which goes to Matt Jones. However, it’s likely a deliberate decision this time to omit a Ministry of Labour – whether as a face-saving measure to pretend it wasn’t an accident, or as a deliberate measure to signal the prioritization of job creation over worker rights protection.