Prince Edward Island will keep the same agriculture minister it had before this month’s provincial election.
George Webster was sworn back in Tuesday as agriculture minister and deputy premier, roles the Borden-Kinkora MLA has held since 2009 and 2010 respectively.
Wesbter, who ran his family’s farm in the Middleton area for over 30 years before entering the legislature in 2007, briefly stepped down from the ag post in August 2009 while recovering from a mild heart attack, but later resumed his duties.
MLAs with farming experience populate a fair share of the cabinet Premier Robert Ghiz appointed Tuesday. They include new Education Minister Alan McIsaac, a former dairyman who has sat on the boards of the P.E.I. Federation of Agriculture and Holstein Canada and chaired the Provincial Milk Marketing Board.
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McIsaac, who joined the Liberal caucus in 2007 as the MLA for Vernon River-Stratford, had chaired the provincial legislature’s standing committee on agriculture, environment, energy and forestry before Tuesday.
Robert Vessey, a potato farmer from York who was the province’s tourism and culture minister before the Oct. 4 election, was shuffled Tuesday to the transportation and infrastructure renewal portfolio.
O’Leary-Inverness MLA Robert Henderson, also a former farmer, was promoted Tuesday to cabinet as Vessey’s replacement in the tourism and culture portfolio.
Kellys Cross-Cumberland MLA Valerie Docherty, whose family operates a seed potato farm at Elmwood, was returned to cabinet Tuesday as minister of community services, seniors and labour and as minister responsible for the status of women. Docherty had previously served as tourism and culture minister (2007-10).
Docherty, Vessey and Henderson have also all previously served on the standing ag committee.
Opposition leader Olive Crane, whose Tories came away from the election this month with five of 27 seats, hasn’t yet assigned shadow cabinet responsibilities.
