It's hard to make predictions, especially about the future

Actually, I think I did very well, in that I didn't make too many concrete predictions (except to predict that Blaikie and Howard would be appointed, which they were). Some highlights:

Steve Ashton has been transferred to Infrastructure and Transportation... with significant chunks of his portfolio (Emergency Measures has moved with him). This kind of makes sense, especially given that his finest hour as a minister was during this spring's flooding.

Dave Chomiak, who many thought would retreat to the backbenches, has taken on Innovation, Energy, and Mines (formerly Science, Technology, Energy, and Mines).

Rosann Wowchuk, to nobody's surprise, has been confirmed as Minister of Finance (the first woman to occupy that post, incidentally).

Eric Robinson, again not surprisingly, is now officially Minister of Aboriginal and Northern Affairs (he'd been acting minister since Oscar Lathlin's passing).

Ron Lemieux takes over the Local Government portfolio (formerly Intergovernmental Affairs, but with some responsibilities carved off).

Stan Struthers got Agriculture. No surprise there; with Wowchuk out of the picture, there's precious few rural MLAs, and Struthers is at least as good as any of the other possible choices.

Nancy Allen is now in charge of Education; a good fit given her past experience as a school trustee.

Jim Rondeau has been moved back to his original position at Healthy Living. Having spent the last five years in a higher profile portfolio, that's gotta hurt! Meanwhile, Kerri Irvin-Ross has been given responsibility for Housing (no word on whether she's responsible for cat detector vans, though).

Andrew Swan is the new Attorney-General and Minister of Justice. No great shock there; there aren't too many lawyers in caucus, and he's as good a choice as any of them. His old portfolio (under the new name of Entrepreneurship, Training, and Trade) goes to Peter Bjornson.

The new ministers include Bill Blaikie in Conservation, Jennifer Howard in Labour, and Flor Marcelino in Culture, Heritage, and Tourism. Unfortunately, Marcelino's appointment was marred by this, but hey, nobody's perfect.

Diane McGifford, Christine Melnick, and Theresa Oswald have retained their old jobs.

And for their sake I hope Erin Selby and Drew Caldwell didn't buy into all the predictions that they'd get posts...

Overall, it's hard to say how this will change things. Nice that the inner city, as well as women, have a bit more representation in Cabinet now, at least, with the appointment of Howard and Marcelino. And Howard in particular has always impressed me as someone destined for great things.

Shuffle day?

It's looking like today is the day of the big shuffle. And it's going to be a big one, apparently; it won't be just a matter of filling the finance portfolio. After all, Aboriginal and Northern Affairs is technically vacant too (Eric Robinson has been filling in since the untimely death of Oscar Lathlin), and rumour has it that one or two current ministers want to return to the backbench. Yellow Snow has a reasonably plausible set of predictions; on the other hand the Free Press' Bruce Owen has some different ones. Interestingly, Owen suggests that Selkirk MLA Greg Dewar might take over Agriculture, something I'd never heard suggested before. Expect to see Bill Blaikie and Jennifer Howard get noteworthy posts as well.

So it's over...

... and Greg Selinger was sworn in as the new Premier today. The convention went smoothly, with no shenanigans, and Ashton gave a gracious concession speech.

The next order of business will probably be a cabinet shuffle. Mary Agnes Welch has some speculations on the matter; many of them make sense, but there's a problem:

Rosann Wowchuk: Word is, she could be finance minister. As agriculture minister, she sat beside Selinger for years at treasury board meetings and took over all his files when he resigned to run for leader. And she holds a rural seat, which the NDP needs to keep.

Makes perfect sense, and Wowchuk is highly competent, but who would replace her in Agriculture? The most likely candidates are Stan Struthers and Ron Lemieux. Between the two, Struthers is probably the most likely choice... but Welch has picked him for Education. An oversight, or does Welch know something we don't?