SaltWire E-Edition

Senior minister swap

Haggie moves to education, Osborne to health

JUANITA MERCER juanita.mercer @thetelegram.com @juanitamercer_

Premier Andrew Furey announced a shake-up of a couple of senior cabinet portfolios Wednesday morning, July 6, moving the nowformer Health Minister Dr. John Haggie to education, and former Education Minister Tom Osborne to health.

Prior to the brief swearingin ceremony at Government House in St. John’s, Furey thanked both Haggie and Osborne for their long history of public service during some turbulent times.

Furey said Haggie has wellserved the people of the province as one of the longestserving health ministers in the province’s history. He’s been in the role for seven years.

“He has helped lead the province through a pandemic, through the cyberattack, and continued with the imagination — despite all of that — of a new health system moving forward,” said Furey, alluding to the Health Accord NL and its recommendations for changes to the health-care system over the next decade.

According to the Legislative Library’s listing of ministerial portfolios since Confederation, the longest-serving health minister to date was Dr. Jim Mcgrath, who was in office from 1956 to 1967.

Furey thanked Osborne for serving as education minister for two years, and during that time lowering childcare costs — with an imminent move to $10 per day — and getting students back to school during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Haggie told reporters he had previously expressed an interest in education to the premier, but Furey said the swap was not at the request of either of the ministers.

“I’ve got grandchildren in the school system here, so I’m invested in it,” Haggie told reporters.

He said early childhood education will be one of his top priorities, including the transition to $10-per-day childcare.

“We need people back in the workforce, and we can support them by doing that,” he said.

CHANGE MEANT TO ‘REINVIGORATE’

The Progressive Conservative Opposition called for a new health minister several times during the spring session of the legislature, but Furey said the swap had nothing to do with criticisms of the current state of health care in the province. Rather, the move is “to reinvigorate the portfolios, to reinvigorate the ministers,” he said.

Furey said the timing was right, with school out for the summer and the Health Accord blueprint now delivered.

The Tories and NDP both issued news releases shortly after the announcement.

The NDP questioned the motives behind the cabinet shuffle.

NDP Interim Leader Jim Dinn said the two ministers were unable to resolve concerns in their previous departments, yet now they’re rewarded with another portfolio.

“Will this cause delays in action while these ministers get up to speed on these new portfolios? Or will they not bother and start through with cuts to services that were planned all along? Their track record doesn’t exactly inspire confidence,” said Dinn.

He said he hopes there will be positive outcomes, and not “simply shuffling of the deck chairs to buy time.”

OSBORNE’S DRAMATIC HISTORY WITH HEALTH

PC Interim Leader David Brazil accused the government of being slow to move Haggie out of the portfolio.

“After years of ignoring major issues, antagonizing health-care professionals, and failing to address our health-care crisis, the premier finally realizes something has to change. I can only hope Minister Osborne has learned from his past through the Cameron Inquiry and does the right thing to help the people of Newfoundland and Labrador access health care,” Brazil stated in a news release.

Osborne was one of the health ministers during the Danny Williams era in the mid-2000s whose tenure overlapped with the Cameron Inquiry, when more information came out about errors in hormone receptor breast cancer testing.

Saltwire Network asked Osborne whether he learned any lessons during his last tenure as health minister with that scandal.

“The Commission of Inquiry provided a great deal of insight, provided recommendations that I know all government departments and all government agencies, including our health agencies, have implemented to ensure that when there’s information that needs to be provided to decision-makers, that it’s provided in a timely manner, and it’s provided in a formal manner,” he said.

At the time, Osborne’s deputy minister was John Abbott, who is now minister of Children, Seniors and Social Development. Abbott testified at the inquiry that he forgot to forward a briefing note to Osborne that described the magnitude of the inaccurate tests, leading to Osborne only learning about the note approximately nine months later during a cabinet meeting, after he was shuffled to the justice portfolio. At the time, Osborne said he was livid.

It’s now 15 years later, and another cabinet shuffle. Osborne told reporters on Wednesday he’s motivated by a challenge, and the health portfolio has always been one of the most challenging.

PC health critic Paul Dinn said he’s looking forward to hearing Osborne’s plans to recruit family physicians.

To that end, Osborne said he sees tremendous potential in working with the newly opened recruitment and retention office.

NLTA plans to meet with Haggie

Meanwhile, the Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers’ Association (NLTA) welcomed Haggie as Education minister in a news release shortly after the shuffle.

NLTA president Trent Langdon said he looks forward to meeting with Haggie soon.

“The path ahead for K-12 education in Newfoundland and Labrador must be based in the knowledge that a strong K-12 education system is critical for our children/youth and their families, for supporting government immigration initiatives, and is necessary to ensure a healthier, more productive population,” Langdon was quoted in the release.

“Proper resourcing of K-12 education, including teacher allocations, is an investment in the long-term prosperity of the province,” he said.

FRONT PAGE

en-ca

2022-07-07T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-07-07T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://saltwire.pressreader.com/article/281505049923872

SaltWire Network