P.E.I. cabinet shuffle 'reflects disarray in government': Opposition
Too many shuffles and too many ministers, says Opposition Leader Jamie Fox
Premier Wade MacLauchlan's fourth Cabinet shuffle since becoming Premier is a reflection of the "ongoing disarray in government", Opposition Leader Jamie Fox said Thursday.
"We've seen four cabinet shuffles in the last eight months, nine months," said Fox.
"That's unprecedented, and that concerns me."
Fox said the Ghiz administration shuffled its cabinet only four times in eight years.
He believes the timing is poor because of what he called major changes in the works for both health and education in P.E.I.
"Some pretty big issues on the Department of Health side," Fox said.
"We've taken an individual that had a lot of experience with that file [Doug Currie] and pulled him out of there and put in [Robert] Henderson."
He also expressed dismay that the premier chose to grow the cabinet from nine ministers to 10 after campaigning on austerity in government administration.
"This latest shuffle grows the size of cabinet at a time when programs and services for the public are being cut," Fox added in a written release.
"What we are hearing from the public and the public service is a concern that more and more power is being centralized in the Premier's hands.
"There's also a growing sense that government is a one-man show so who sits around the cabinet table doesn't really matter."