The Doer NDP cabinet shuffle - a pre-election gimmick

Thursday this week, Gary Doer shuffled his cabinet. In my experience, both in Ottawa and in Manitoba, and both inside government and in opposition, it is very useful to have people with some background experience or connection in the field they are exerting ministerial responsibility. Sadly, too often Mr. Doer has stocked his cabinet with people with little or no experience in the field for which they are responsible.

In fact, in some cases, there were better choices for a portfolio. For example, we all know Child and Family Services has been plagued with serious problems for years now and is in need serious attention. So why didn't Mr. Doer put Greg Selinger in charge of the Family Services department? Unlike other NDP MLAs, Mr. Selinger actually has previous experience as a social worker and probably some understanding of what is needed to provide optimum and safe care for children.

Or, as another example, take the Transportation file. Ask anyone who is not a member of the NDP government what they think about the state of our province's roads and you always get the same answer: our roads are in the worst shape any one can remember. Our roads and highways are certainly worse than our neighbouring provinces. The minister who has been mishandling this file for years now is of course Ron Lemieux. So what did Mr. Doer do? He "rewarded" Mr. Lemieux for his bungling as highways minister by putting him in charge of almost all of Manitoba's infrastructure! The Doer tradition of rewarding neglect continues.

This make no sense at all since Mr. Doer has an MLA - Darryl Reid - who spent an entire year studying the problems of Manitoba's roads and bridges and bringing forward a report. Why did Mr. Doer not make use of Darryl Reid's knowledge? Why not reward work instead of neglect?

I'll end this post with one more glaring example: health care. Here, we have a file that definitely needs a lot of work, but Mr. Doer has a major problem in that he really doesn't have anyone in his caucus with the background or experience to make the changes needed in the delivery of health care in Manitoba. I say this goes right to Mr. Doer's inability to recruit capable candidates. He clearly should have found someone to run in the last provincial election in a safe NDP seat with the expertise he needs.

Today's NDP - lacking competence, rewarding incompetence.

It is time for Mr. Doer to say goodby as Premier.