How to build an Alberta cabinet without Edmonton

It's easy. Edmontonians didn't want a seat at Smith’s cabinet table.

It has been one week since Alberta’s election and Premier Danielle Smith is expected to appoint a new roster of cabinet ministers soon.

At least six current United Conservative Party cabinet ministers and three former cabinet ministers were defeated in the election. Along with four former cabinet ministers who declined to run for re-election, it means there could be some new and inexperienced MLAs with jobs as cabinet ministers.

Six of the nine MLAs who endorsed Smith in the UCP leadership race were re-elected, including five who were serving in cabinet when the election was called. They could be rewarded with even more prominent roles in cabinet.

Geography usually, but not always, plays a role in deciding who gets appointed to cabinet.

Most premiers make an effort to ensure there is representation from all regions of the province sitting around the cabinet table.

The UCP’s loss of seats to the NDP in Calgary likely means good things for remaining Calgary UCP MLAs like Rebecca Schulz, Mike Ellis, Rajan Sawhney, Mickey Amery, and Demetrios Nicolaides. But the lopsided UCP Caucus’ large contingent of rural MLAs means the big cities will be competing for attention at the cabinet table.

Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre UCP MLA Jason Nixon (source: Jason Nixon / Facebook)

Among the wide field of rural MLAs available to Smith, all eyes will be watching to see if Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre MLA Jason Nixon will make a triumphant return to the cabinet table.

After serving for five years as Jason Kenney’s most loyal lieutenant, Nixon was removed from cabinet by Smith and faced what looked like a strong challenge from Take Back Alberta-backed Independent candidate Tim Hoven. When the votes were counted on election night, Nixon was re-elected with 69%, miles ahead of Hoven’s 15%.

One decision Smith won’t have to make is who to appoint to cabinet from Edmonton. That’s because there are no UCP MLAs from Edmonton.

For the first time in three decades, the party that formed government in Alberta didn’t win any seats in the provincial capital.

The Alberta NDP swept Edmonton in last week’s election, winning all 20 seats and earning more than 60% of the vote in the capital city. The UCP’s only Edmonton MLA and cabinet minister, Kaycee Madu, was handily defeated in Edmonton-South West by NDP candidate and three-term public school trustee Nathan Ip.

The lack of any successful UCP candidates in Edmonton means the city will not have any representation in the cabinet. This left Smith to muse in a radio interview that she might appoint a council of defeated UCP candidates to advise her on Edmonton’s issues.

The ‘council of defeated’ idea earned a pretty cold reception from Edmontonians.

NDP leader Rachel Notley, who has been out of the public eye since election night, issued a one-sentence statement in response to Smith’s idea.

“For the record, the Alberta NDP has a 20-member "Council of the Elected" ready and happy to advise on the priorities of Albertans living here in Edmonton,” Notley said.

Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi also responded to Smith’s comments.

“Premier Smith is free to seek advice from her party members, but I want to be clear, they don’t have the mandate to speak on behalf of Edmontonians,” Sohi said.“That responsibility and accountability is vested in duly elected Edmonton city council.”

Edmonton-Riverbend Conservative MP Matt Jeneroux dismissed the idea outright in a sharply worded public letter to Smith, and urged her to reach out to people who have actually been elected by Edmontonians.

“As a federal Member of Parliament who is immensely proud and deeply committed to our city, I urge you to reach out to us or other Edmontonians and not just to select past candidates,” Jeneroux wrote.

Jeneroux was the Progressive Conservative candidate in 2012 who defeated “Lake of Fire” Wildrose Party candidate Allan Hunsberger. And, like other Conservative MPs from Edmonton, I expect he is very aware that many people in his own riding vote Conservative federally and NDP provincially.

While the UCP was shut out of Edmonton proper, the party’s candidates won in most of the ridings in the Edmonton donut (what we affectionately call the ridings surrounding Edmonton).

Strathcona-Sherwood Park MLA Nate Glubish was re-elected and also endorsed Smith in the UCP leadership race, so we can probably expect to see him remain in cabinet. A cabinet job is probably in the works for Dale Nally in Morinville-St. Albert and possibly for Searle Turton in Spruce Grove-Stony Plain.

The ‘council of defeated’ idea may have fallen flat but it suggests that Smith is putting some thought into how to connect with Edmonton over the next four years. Special effort will need to be made by the city’s actual elected officials, like Notley, Sohi and Jeneroux, to ensure that Edmonton’s concerns are not forgotten at the provincial level.

The cabinet should represent the concerns of all Albertans but that doesn’t mean regions that voted against the government automatically get a seat at the table. Edmontonians decided with their votes last week that they didn’t want a seat at Smith’s cabinet table - they wanted a seat at Notley’s cabinet table.

There’s not much to grumble about. That’s how elections work.

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What happened last time Edmontonians shut out the government

The last period of time that Edmonton was shut out of the provincial cabinet started in December 1992, when the city’s only two PC MLAs were not appointed to new PC Premier Ralph Klein‘s first cabinet. Edmonton-Glenora MLA Nancy Betkowski and Edmonton-Parkallen MLA Doug Main had both challenged Klein for the party leadership and found themselves in the backbenches in the aftermath.