{"id":216719,"date":"2019-05-30T20:32:25","date_gmt":"2019-05-31T00:32:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=216719"},"modified":"2019-05-30T20:32:25","modified_gmt":"2019-05-31T00:32:25","slug":"newfoundland-and-labrador-minority-liberal-government-swears-in-cabinet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/05\/30\/newfoundland-and-labrador-minority-liberal-government-swears-in-cabinet\/","title":{"rendered":"Newfoundland and Labrador minority Liberal government swears in cabinet"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
FILE: I humbly thank Newfoundlanders and Labradorians for providing our Cabinet and caucus with a new mandate, and a new opportunity to work closely with fellow MHAs with the goal of making our province an ideal place to live, work, and raise a family. Together, we will engage business, community, cultural, and Indigenous leaders; and we will build on the strong foundation built to date \u2013 a foundation that includes economic development, job creation, improved food self-sufficiency, better health and education outcomes, and the only stand alone Status of Women Minister portfolio in any province in Canada. (Photo<\/a>: Dwight Ball\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. \u2014 Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Dwight Ball was officially sworn in again Thursday, with a slate of familiar faces stepping back into the cabinet roles they held before last month’s provincial election.<\/p>\n

Ball’s Liberal government was re-elected May 16 with a minority government, winning 20 of a possible 40 seats. Still to come, though, is a judicial recount in Labrador West, where NDP newcomer Jordan Brown unseated Liberal Graham Letto by a five-vote margin.<\/p>\n

Former backbencher Brian Warr is the sole new face in cabinet, sworn in as minister of education and early childhood development, replacing former minister Al Hawkins, who was not re-elected.<\/p>\n

Cabinet member Lisa Dempster is taking on Letto’s former municipal affairs and environment file, in addition to her previous role as minister of children, seniors and social development.<\/p>\n

The premier told reporters that Letto will return to his former file if the judicial recount currently set for mid-June goes in his favour. If Letto wins that recount, the Liberals will hold a majority.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, the premier said the House of Assembly will reopen sometime around June 10, with a throne speech and election of a Speaker.<\/p>\n

Also on the agenda is the provincial budget, which was tabled in April but not passed before Ball dropped the election writ.<\/p>\n

Ball defended his decision to leave his old cabinet largely intact, touting the ministers’ \u201cexperience, consistency and stability.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s important to have that level of experience when you’re debating that budget,\u201d Ball said. \u201cWe have a very experienced, stable cabinet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Opposition politicians had criticized the Liberals for an overly optimistic budget that resisted any tax hikes, with critics calling it more of an election platform than a realistic budget.<\/p>\n

Ball said the budget will be unchanged, and a vote on it will come \u201cquite early.\u201d<\/p>\n

With one seat unfilled while the recount is pending, the Liberals will technically hold a majority, but Ball denied that his intention is to pass the budget before the recount is over.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s nothing strategic about this. I would prefer if the judicial recount was done today and over and we had that decision made, that would be my preference, but it’s not,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Standing with his diminished cabinet, Ball said he’s looking forward to working in greater collaboration in the House of Assembly should the minority government hold.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m looking forward to it. I see significant opportunities, don’t see this as a challenge at all,\u201d Ball said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. \u2014 Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Dwight Ball was officially sworn in again Thursday, with a slate of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":216720,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-216719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","mauthors-holly-mckenzie-sutter","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216719"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216719\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":216721,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216719\/revisions\/216721"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}