Picking a cabinet is a good problem to have, of course. It means you won. Danielle Smith won, so she has this excellent problem..However, good doesn’t have to mean easy..Nor will it be, in a party that is famously divided. How divided? Premier Kenney relinquished the leadership after winning 51.4% of the vote in a review. Ms. Smith — she becomes Premier Smith on Tuesday — won the leadership with 53.8%..No surprise, her acceptance speech included an armful of olive branches. That at least will expand her options. After all, Danielle loyalists are few and far between at the moment, while runner-up Travis Toews was endorsed by half the caucus..So, who should get what?.One is reminded of how Sir John A Macdonald answered when he was accused of introducing an untalented cabinet to the House of Commons. In a moment of alcohol-induced clarity Canada’s first prime minister retorted, “Give me better wood and I will make you a better cabinet.”.So given the wood available, what can be done? With no great expectation that my advice will be sought or heeded, here are some possibilities..One school of thought advises leaders to ‘Keep your friends close: keep your enemies closer.’. Travis ToewsTravis Toews .So, Leela Aheer to finance? No. How about someone with established leadership credentials? Smith has some choice there. But maybe not them, either: They are perhaps the exceptions that prove the wisdom of the rule..Best choice: Travis Toews. He did it before, he did it very well and on managing the province’s money, ‘steady as she goes’ would sell well to the investment community. Whether he could accommodate himself to a more clearly articulated version of the Sovereignty Act would be the question: He didn’t have anything good to say about the undefined version during the leadership race. For the same reason, it is also hard to see how Jason Nixon could continue in the role, given his strong opposition while sitting-in at Finance to allow Toews to campaign..Yet, as bin Laden once said, ‘people follow the strong horse.’ It’s funny how folks you think would never do something, think things through and once the leadership issue is decided, fall into line. Nothing would surprise me.. Adrianna LaGrangeAlberta Health Minister Adrianna LaGrange .Finance ministers like to think of their job as the top one after that of the premier..But maybe it isn’t: Long after you’ve got over a tax hike, you’ll still remember it after 20 years if your kid’s elementary school makes a mess of their head..Adrianna LaGrange gets that. Leaving her in charge and then backing her up, would be a good call. Some might say Ms. LaGrange’s basic instincts would be a poor fit for Ms. Smith’s libertarian instincts. No. There is nothing libertarian about a curriculum that teaches small children to question their sexuality and not talk about it with mom and dad. If Smith moves LaGrange, it won’t be because she wants somebody who wants to teach kids to be social justice warriors..‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,’ is also a useful axiom..As one thing none of us want to repeat is the last government’s shambolic COVID-19 performance, we should remember it indeed. However, as the loyal spokesman-in-chief for the Kenney’s government’s anti-freedom COVID response, the otherwise affable Tyler Shandro remains a divisive figure in his own right, and in that sense an unhelpful face for the new administration. Maybe not this time…. Jason CoppingJason Copping . Rebecca SchultzRebecca Schultz .In terms of money spent, no department of government accounts for more than health, which is responsible for at least 40% of the provincial budget..As Health Minister, Jason Copping earned Smith’s approval recently for negotiating a new deal with the Alberta Medical Association: He also supported Rebecca Schultz’s campaign, which separates him from any putative list of ‘enemies:’ Schultz ran a clean campaign and notably declined to join the so-called ‘mean girls,’ ‘anybody but Danielle’ effort.. Todd LoewenTodd Loewen .Smith could do worse than leave Copping where he is and move the capable Schultz into a cabinet post that carries a bigger budget. She earned the chance in Children’s Services..There is also precedent in the person of Ted Morton, to put a keen outdoorsman in charge of Environment and Parks. That would be guide-outfitter Todd Loewen, who also played more than fair during the leadership race. Sportsmen would thank Smith. One wonders whether Loewen would, but he wouldn’t just know the issues, he would have lived them..In her circumstances, the temptation to find things for people to keep busy with, so that they have neither time nor excuse to make trouble, must be on her mind. It wouldn’t be in character for her of course, and for the sake of the poor old taxpayer, we hope she doesn’t split ministries and expand the cabinet..Whatever Smith does, somebody won’t like it. She may choose to return to Macdonald for consolation: Commenting on choosing one senator from among a dozen eager aspirants, he is said to have written that in the end, all he had were eleven resentful men, and one ingrate..For the sake of all Albertans, may it go a little better than that for the new premier.
