The Alberta government’s caucus lead on emergency medical services (EMS) reform has been promoted to handle the agriculture file in a post-election cabinet shuffle.
RJ Sigurdson, MLA for the constituency of Highwood, just south of Calgary, was sworn in Friday by Lt.-Gov. Salma Lakhani as Alberta’s new minister of agriculture and irrigation, replacing Nate Horner.
Horner, the MLA for Drumheller-Stettler since 2019 and the province’s ag minister since late 2021, was shuffled Friday to become Premier Danielle Smith’s new finance minister and president of Alberta Treasury Board. In that role, Horner replaces Jason Nixon, who in turn was named Friday as minister for seniors and community and social services.
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Sigurdson also first came to the legislature in the 2019 election and was named last October as Smith’s parliamentary secretary for EMS reform. He easily held his seat in last month’s provincial election ahead of NDP challenger Jessica Hallam by a spread of 10,450 votes.
Before entering provincial politics, Sigurdson was a senior project/general manager with, and shareholder in, Avalanche Air Systems, a Calgary-area commercial HVAC and sheet metal contracting firm.
Sigurdson’s experience in the ag file includes growing up on a small family farm north of Cochrane and working on neighbouring farms in his teens.
READ MORE: Pre-election reports analyze Alberta’s ag issues
“I am so pleased to have this team working with me to deliver on the promises we made to Albertans during the election,” Smith said of the new 25-member cabinet in a release Friday. “These are not just our government’s priorities, they are Albertans’ priorities.”
Those priorities, the government said, include “continuing to grow and diversify the economy, keeping life affordable, reforming the health care system, tackling crime, providing help for those struggling and defending Alberta’s interests.”
Smith also announced a shuffle of deputy ministers Friday, but Jason Hale, a former MLA (2012-15) and rancher, remains as the province’s senior ag bureaucrat, a position he’s held since last October.
Among other cabinet posts of interest to farmers, former municipal affairs minister Rebecca Schulz becomes minister of environment and protected areas; Matt Jones, former minister for affordability and utilities, becomes minister of jobs, economy and trade; and Devin Dreeshen, a former ag minister, remains in his pre-election portfolio as minister of transportation and economic corridors. — Glacier FarmMedia Network
