Premier puts rural growth at premium
Barnett elevated to cabinet post as council expands
Premier Christy Clark VICTORIA added another MLA to her cabinet Friday, signalling she’s in no hurry to shuffle her ministers before the May provincial election.
Clark promoted Donna Barnett, the Cariboo-Chilcotin MLA, to the new post of minister of state for rural economic development. The job comes with a $36,007 pay hike for Barnett (on top of the base MLA salary of $102,878) and means she’ll have a seat at the cabinet table to participate in key decisions, but won’t have a separate budget or stand-alone staff like a full cabinet minister.
“Donna Barnett is a proven champion for rural development who will strengthen our cabinet team as B.C. leads the country in economic growth and jobs,” Clark said.
Elevating rural issues to the cabinet table comes as the Clark government has been boosting funding to rural schools and rural bus routes in an attempt to shore up support among voters in non-urban ridings.
Clark’s decision to increase the size of her executive council comes at a time when most premiers would be replacing retiring ministers.
Instead, Clark has left in place Health Minister Terry Lake and Energy Minister Bill Bennett, who have both have announced they are not standing for re-election. It would be possible, though unusual, for the premier to allow them to keep their jobs up until election day rather than replacing them with MLAs who would then have to learn about complex issues at the same time as preparing for the election campaign.
With the addition of Barnett, Clark’s cabinet has 22 ministers and ministers of state, not including the premier. It is the largest cabinet Clark has had since winning the B.C. Liberal leadership in 2011.