Redford puts new face on Tory government with cabinet shuffle

Premier Alison Redford shook up her Tory cabinet Friday in what appeared to be an attempt to heal fractious relationships with the provinces municipalities and post-secondary institutions, and make a fresh start on the contentious social services file.

The shuffle, announced late Friday afternoon, saw 10 ministers getting new jobs in the first major cabinet shuffle since immediately following the 2012 general election.

But opposition parties said the government missed the mark and Redford failed by grossly expanding cabinet, with the number of full ministers increasing by one to 19 and the cadre of associate ministers increasing from 9 to 11 meaning more than half of Tory caucus members are now ministers.

Among the biggest changes is veteran Tory Dave Hancock taking over Thomas Lukaszuks roles as deputy premier and minister of Innovation and Advanced Education.

Its an important time in the mandate as we come through the first two years and (have) dealt with some of the really tough things that needed to happen, said Hancock, who also loses his position as house leader after 15 years.

With the shift, the government is now able to get out and set the direction . . . to expand on that vision that has been set out by the premier, he said.

The outspoken Lukaszuk, who had taken heat for major budget cuts in the post-secondary sector, was named to a new ministry of Jobs, Skills, Training and Labour.

Calgary-Greenway MLA Manmeet Bhullar one of the governments youngest MLAs receives a major promotion as he moves from the Service Alberta portfolio to assume Hancocks role as Minister for Human Services, the super-ministry that deals with child and youth issues, social programs and homelessness.

Hancock has been facing the fallout of a Calgary Herald-Edmonton Journal investigation that showed a greater number of children in government care had died between 1999 and 2013 than the province had reported.

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Redford puts new face on Tory government with cabinet shuffle