Horgan rewarded Vancouver with the largest representation in the cabinet, including some of the most important portfolios in government. Every single NDP MLA from Vancouver got an appointment. The Vancouver list of Ministers include David Eby (attorney general, and also minister responsible for liquor, gambling and the Insurance Corp. of B.C.), Adrian Dix (health), Shane Simpson (social development and poverty reduction), George Heyman (environment and climate change strategy), Melanie Mark (advanced education) and George Chow (minister of state for trade). Out of the remaining two NDP MLAs from Vancouver, Mable Elmore, the only member of the Filipino community in the Legislature, was made a parliamentary secretary and Spencer Chandra Herbert will be nominated to the important post of Speaker (according to sources ) with Burnaby’s Raj Chauhan asked to play second fiddle as his deputy (and believe me, Chauhan will not get a chance to sit in the Speaker’s chair as no MLA can afford to miss a Legislative sitting with the Speaker’s vote needed each time to break a tie). Vancouver has another important person in the NDP government – former Vancouver city councillor Geoff Meggs as Premier Horgan’s chief of staff. Count him as as more influential than most cabinet ministers.
Vancouver gave NDP eight seats but only one was taken from the Liberals in the last election whereas Surrey- Delta gave NDP seven seats, out of which four were seats that belonged to Liberals and were counted as traditional Liberal constituencies. Yet Vancouver gets six important cabinet positions, one important Speaker’s position and one parliamentary secretary. Surrey gets three cabinet positions, out of which only one can really be considered a big Ministry, and one parliamentary secretary. How is that fair, Mr Horgan?
And despite all the campaign talk of how important South Asians are to NDP, only two South Asians in cabinet? How is that a reward for the huge South Asian vote during the election. Is the NDP taking a page out of the BC Liberal playbook by ignoring Surrey and the South Asian community? Leaving out Jagrup Brar was a mistake – and hopefully Premier Horgan will rectify this mistake as soon as possible.
Wouldn’t Jinny Sims, a former teacher and former teachers union president, have done better in the important education portfolio? Wouldn’t Harry Bains, who for years was the transportation critic and knows transportation issues like the back of his hand, have done better in the important post of transportation minister? Some of Horgan’s choices may seem surprising but remember, this is politics and internal NDP politics was at play when each MLA was picked for a Ministry. The true picture of the reasoning behind cabinet selection will only be known when Horgan’s cabinet selection advisors are unmasked.
In the meantime, Surrey residents in general, and, South Asians in particular, have reason to feel as if they are being ignored by the Premier – again.
