Discontented opposition ‘firing madly’: Fentie

Premier Dennis Fentie’s cabinet shuffle appears to have rewarded one MLA for loyalty and one for returning to the party fold, but delivered a “slap in the face” to another, says one opposition leader.

Premier Dennis Fentie’s cabinet shuffle appears to have rewarded one MLA for loyalty and one for returning to the party fold, but delivered a “slap in the face” to another, says one opposition leader.

Of the new cabinet, the big winner is wandering McIntyre-Takhini MLA John Edzerza.

Last fall, his return to the Yukon Party after a three-year-plus hiatus restored Fentie’s majority government, briefly lost after Brad Cathers resigned from the cabinet to protest the premier’s attempts to privatize the Yukon Energy Corp.

With the shuffle, announced in a news release Thursday afternoon, Edzerza is now Environment minister and receives a $36,000 raise in pay.

Education Minister Patrick Rouble, already burdened by an underperforming department Auditor General Sheila Fraser slammed in her January 2009 report, now assumes the Yukon’s highest-profile portfolio: Energy, Mines and Resources.

When confronted with Cathers’ allegations the premier lied to his caucus, then the public about his designs for the energy corporation, the Education minister stood by Fentie, calling him a strong leader.

“I’m not going to call Mr. Cathers a liar. That’s unprofessional and inappropriate. I think on this whole issue, there have been many misunderstandings,” Rouble told reporters last September.

Steve Nordick, the Klondike MLA and a back bencher since being elected in 2006, is now Cabinet Commissioner for Community Services, Highways and Public Works.

The new job comes with no raise in pay, but there are added responsibilities of answering questions in the legislative assembly and from media on behalf of Archie Lang, the minister charged with those portfolios, when Lang is unavailable.

Nordick’s promotion does not make him an official cabinet member – he is not allowed to vote on cabinet deliberations – but Nordick is now privy to such discussions and must abide by an oath of confidentiality.

Other big changes saw Elaine Taylor dumped from the Environment file, but picking up Public Service Commission responsibilities, formerly under Rouble’s purview.

Speaking to the Star this morning, the premier denied the changes reflected his MLAs’ effectiveness or were prizes for loyalty and floor crossing.

“I don’t call it awarding anybody; there’s a lot of heavy lifting we must do as a team,” Fentie said. “And none of these moves have anything to do with performance in any shape or form.”

Not surprisingly, Liberal Leader Arthur Mitchell’s take on Fentie’s shuffle offered a marked contrast.

“Ms. Taylor didn’t get the job done as Environment minister. First it was the premier, then Taylor, now it’s Mr. Edzerza .... It’s part of protecting her from having any controversy,” Mitchell said.

On top of Taylor’s acquiesence to Fentie’s interference in the Environment department’s submission to the Peel Watershed Planning Commission last year, Taylor continually faced criticism for supporting Fentie’s pro-development stance, which often ran contrary to environmental concerns.

“As for Mr. Edzerza, we always knew there was a payoff. And after insulting the premier, he gets this, so no wonder the public gets cynical about politicians,” Mitchell added.

Edzerza was Justice and Education minister in Fentie’s government until he bowed out in the summer of 2006 to sit as an independent.

In that year’s territorial election, Edzerza ran as a New Democrat and was re-elected, but would walk away from the left-leaning party two years later to sit as an independent.

After Cathers’ bombshell resignation last August, Edzerza declared “things are exactly the way they were when I left them, and I sure as heck wouldn’t volunteer to go back in there again.”

Calling the ruling party’s caucus a “hornets’ nest” where he was bullied and verbally abused by Fentie, little more than a month later, Edzerza gobbled down a plate of crow with his return to the Fentie fold, declaring his loyalty “until my days in politics are over.”

New Democratic Party Leader Elizabeth Hanson took a similar view to Mitchell’s of Edzerza’s new cabinet role, and dished it with a hint of sarcasm.

“The assignment of Environment to John Edzerza, now that could be a hot-button area and we’ve seen it in the past ... maybe the two of them like confrontation, and enjoy going at each other,” Hanson speculated.

The NDP leader also viewed Rouble’s promotion to Energy, Mines and Resources as a reward for his devotion, but expressed concern that Education would suffer a supporting role in Rouble’s newly augmented portfolio responsibilities.

“I watch him in the House, and certainly, he’s the biggest defender of the premier, so it’s a reward for a loyalist,” Hanson told the Star.

“And it’s a much higher profile. Even though Education is so important, we seem to treat it as a stepping stone and Energy, Mines and Resources is a huge department in this territory, so it doesn’t bode well for Education.”

Now sitting on the outside looking in, Cathers – the legislative assembly’s sole independent MLA – said Edzerza’s hasty rise to cabinet after fewer than four months back inside the Yukon Party, could embitter voters.

“Yukoners will question, as they should, whether there was some back room deal made with regard to John Edzerza to join the Yukon Party caucus and now miraculously being sworn into cabinet,” said Cathers.

“And I certainly expect that if you want comments from John, you probably won’t get your phone calls returned.”

As Cathers predicted, Edzerza did not respond to requests for an interview on his new responsibilities as of press time early this afternoon.

On the premier’s revival of the cabinet commissioner’s position, not seen since the former NDP government of Piers McDonald, of which the Fentie was a member, Mitchell ridiculed Nordick’s promotion.

“He’s almost a cabinet minister ... he’s got training wheels now.”

Hanson, however, said it was an insult to both Nordick and his Klondike supporters.

“At first glance it looks like a slap in the face, primarily for the constituents,” Hanson said.

“It seems to me after a number of years a member represents those loyal to the party, the constituents would be right to believe their interests would eventually be represented in cabinet.”

Asked about the Liberals’ and NDP’s take on his shuffle, Fentie was dismissive.

“There’s always speculation, and when it comes to the opposition parties, they’re firing off madly in all directions because they live in a miserable little world of discontent,” he said.