Another MLA from Manitoba’s Interlake region has been named to handle the province’s farm file in Premier Heather Stefanson’s latest cabinet shuffle and portfolio restructuring.
Stefanson, who replaced Brian Pallister as premier in November, on Tuesday named Interlake-Gimli MLA Derek Johnson as minister of agriculture, replacing Lakeside MLA Ralph Eichler, who has been dropped from cabinet.
The move also sees the provincial ministry of agriculture and resource development split back into separate files, as former finance minister Scott Fielding, MLA for the Winnipeg riding of Kirkfield Park, becomes minister of natural resources and northern development. The agriculture and resource development files had been merged into one ministry in 2019 under then-minister Blaine Pedersen.
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Johnson, a bank branch manager before entering provincial politics, first came to the legislature in 2016, was re-elected in 2019 and was named Pallister’s municipal relations minister in January last year. He also served as a councilor in the R.M. of St. Laurent from 2010 to 2014.
“I look forward to continuing to assist our producers as we move forward from last year’s drought, and support strong agriculture production in Manitoba,” Johnson said in a separate statement Tuesday.
Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) president Bill Campbell, in a separate release Tuesday, said Johnson “understands the challenges facing Manitoba’s agricultural industry and we look forward to working with him.”
KAP, he said, has also “valued Minister Eichler’s desire to grow the industry through his various roles in public office and wish him the best.”
Eileen Clarke, MLA for the Neepawa-area riding of Agassiz, returns to the municipal relations file, “a position she held previously and in which she was well respected among her colleagues across all levels of government,” Stefanson said in a release Tuesday. Clarke was Pallister’s minister for Indigenous and northern relations before quitting his cabinet last July.
Stefanson, in announcing the shuffle and reorganization, said “the most pressing issues facing Manitoba and Manitobans will be viewed through a whole-of-government approach including the COVID-19 response and recovery, climate change and mitigation, and reconciliation.”
Among other files of interest to farmers, Turtle Mountain MLA Doyle Piwniuk joins cabinet as minister of transportation and infrastructure; Spruce Woods MLA Cliff Cullen becomes deputy premier and minister for economic development, investment and trade; and Jeff Wharton, the MLA for Red River North, becomes minister for environment, climate and parks. — Glacier FarmMedia Network
