Danielle Smith Announces New Cabinet

The day after the Alberta Legislature adjourned for the summer, Premier Danielle Smith announced a major overhaul of her cabinet.

The shuffle comes roughly halfway through her mandate and fills the gap left by former Minister of Municipal Affairs, Ric McIver, who was elected Speaker of the Legislative Assembly after Nathan Cooper left the position to become Alberta’s official representative to the United States.

No previous cabinet ministers were shown the door, but one did see his title change from Minister to Associate Minister. All told, the announcement sees three new faces at the cabinet table and ten ministers taking on either new, expanded, or reorganized roles.

Below, we’ll recap some of the key themes and changes in the UCP cabinet and what they mean at the midway mark of the mandate.

Focus on healthcare reform

The Premier and Health Minister started dismantling Alberta Health Services in 2023 and restructuring the system under the four health care agencies of Primary Care Alberta, Acute Care Alberta, Assisted Living Alberta, and Recovery Alberta.

Today’s shuffle recognizes the end of Canada’s first and largest provincewide, integrated health system by appointing ministers that correspond with each of the agencies.

Former Minister of Health, Adriana LaGrange, is taking on the role of Minister of Primary and Preventative Health Services and will continue to oversee the healthcare re-focusing efforts. Matt Jones is now responsible for Hospital and Surgical Health Services.

While the two will share some operating functions, the high-level breakdown puts primary care, public health, Indigenous health, health workforce (including colleges), pharmaceutical and supplementary benefits, as well as lab, diagnostics and screening under Minister LaGrange.

In turn, Minister Jones will oversee acute care – including EMS, cancer care, organ and tissue donation, capital, and procurement.

Rick Wilson takes on Mental Health and Addiction as Dan Williams moves to fill McIver’s role in Municipal Affairs. Jason Nixon has the new title of Minister of Assisted Living and Social Services to reflect his oversight of Assisted Living Alberta.

The moves make sense as Albertans look for the government to make good on its reforms to healthcare, but it’s hard to ignore that Minister Jones is taking over surgical health services and procurement after allegations of government interference in medical contracts.

Adding Associate Ministers

The former Minister of Immigration and Multiculturalism, Muhammad Yaseen, is now the Associate Minister for Multiculturalism as the Ministry of Jobs, Economy and Trade adds Immigration to its portfolio. MLA for Taber-Warner, Grant Hunter, is reentering cabinet as the Associate Minister of Water. Hunter served in cabinet under former Premier Jason Kenney, but didn’t make the cut in the first iteration of Premier Smith’s cabinet.

Childcare

Alberta was one of only two provinces to not reach an agreement with the federal government on an extension for its childcare agreements. Back in March, the then Minister responsible for childcare, Matt Jones, called the proposed extension unfair and said it didn’t address the concerns of Alberta parents and providers. With Minister Jones moving into health, childcare is being hived off from his former ministry and moved to the new ministry of Education and Childcare.

Demetrios Nicolaides has made big moves as Minister of Education, including the introduction of the School Construction Accelerator Program which aims to build more than 100 new and updated schools over the next seven years. With a new federal cabinet and Secretary of State, specifically responsible for children and youth, we’ll see if Minister Nicolaides can reset the relationship and reach a childcare deal with Ottawa.

New Mandates?

After the appointment of her original cabinet in 2023, Premier Smith issued mandate letters to each of her ministers. In them, she outlined a list of platform commitments she expected them to deliver on – but without any timelines. 

During an end of session news conference yesterday, Government House Leader Joseph Schow noted he and many of his colleagues had nearly completed their mandate objectives. With new ministries, ministers, and expanded portfolios, we expect the Premier to outline new objectives that will take the UCP government through to the next general election.