By Harinder Mahil
John Horganwas officially sworn in as British Columbia’s 36th premier on Tuesday, July 18. He unveiled a gender balanced 22-membercabinet that includes a mix of veteran MLAs and people first elected to the legislature in May. All cabinet ministers were sworn in at a ceremony at Government House packed with NDP supporters and invited guests.
The cabinet included two Indo-Canadian ministers – Harry Bains and Jinny Sims. Bains were appointed as ministerof labour and Sims was appointed as Minister of Citizen Services. In addition, Ravi Kahlon was appointed as a Parliamentary Secretary for Sport and Multiculturalism.
Left out of cabinet were two veteran Indo-Canadian MLA’s Raj Chouhan, and Jagrup Brar. However, both are expected to be given some important duties such as speaker, caucus chair,whip or committee chairs etc. It is widely expected that Raj Chouhan will be appointed as the speaker.
I am extremely pleased at the appointment of Carole James as finance minister and deputy premier. She was the leader that brought the NDP back from the 77-2 loss in 2001 to a fighting force in BC politics. Her contribution to the party was recognized by all those who attended the swearing in ceremony last Tuesday. There was a spontaneous standing ovation for her when she was introduced as a member of the John Horgan’s cabinet.
Both Harry Bains and Jinny Sims have their work cut out for them. Bains has to deal with major overhaul of labour legislation which has been tilted in favour of the employers during the liberals’16-year rule in British Columbia. He has to deal with the increase in the BC’s minimum wage which is considerably less that that of other provinces. It is expected that the minimum wage in BC will be increase to $15 per hour in the next 2-3 years.
Sims has todeal with Citizen Services which includes BC Services Card, BC Stats and the Office of Chief Information Officer. She has to make sure that government services are accessible to people of British Columbia. Over the years access to government information has become extremely difficult because of the policies of the former liberal government. She has review all of these policies and make sure that routine government information is accessible to BC residents. She has to make sure that the government is, as it should be, very accessible.
Of the 28 cabinet ministers and parliamentary secretaries appointed by Premier Horgan, 10 are visible minorities. Thisis the first time in the history of British Columbia that such a high percentage of visible minority MLA’s are appointed as ministersand parliamentary secretaries.
It has not been an easy start for the Horgan government. The wildfire crisis that has displaced over 45,000 people will be priority No. 1 for his new government.
Horgan and his ministers must begin work on several important issues, including the softwood lumber disputeand the opioid crisis. Premier Horgan plans to fly to Ottawa and Washington next week to meet with Prime Minster Trudeau and represent the province’s interests on the softwood file.
It has been 16 years since BC had an NDP government. Bringing in the change will not be easy as the Liberals will fight the new government every step of the way.
I wish the new premier and his ministers well. I hope that they will indeed make lives of BritishColumbiansbetter than those have been under the liberals.
Harinder Mahil is a community activist and is a member of the Board of the Dr. Hari Sharma Foundation.
