When all the dust finally settles on the 2024 BC Election, Premier David Eby and his cabinet will finally get the chance to be sworn-in later this month.
The ceremony will take place on November 18th in Victoria at Government House.
“Judicial recounts will ensure every vote is counted,” Premier Eby said.
“Following those counts, British Columbians want to see urgent action taken on their priorities, including affordability and housing, strengthening health care and building strong communities within a vibrant economy. The first step is swearing in a new cabinet for British Columbia.”
The transition period spans from the results of the election until the swearing in of a new cabinet. During that time, the transition team will make recommendations to the Premier regarding the formations of ministries and structures across government, as well as the selection of new cabinet ministers.
The Premier will present his recommendations for cabinet to Janet Austin, B.C.’s Lieutenant Governor, thereby establishing the new government.
Newly elected MLAs will be sworn in and formally invited to take their seats in the legislature prior to this.
The now former MLA for Prince George-Valemount, Shirley Bond, said with Eby losing a number of significant cabinet members in the election, we’ll be waiting with anticipation to see who he chooses.
“He will need a new Finance Minister, a new Minister of Education, so there are very significant portfolios, and I think what we need to be looking for in northern British Columbia is how are we reflected in that cabinet, because it is a very geographically divided province,” Bond said.
“I think that it’s incumbent on Premier Eby to make sure that people in northern British Columbia see themselves and their issues reflected in that cabinet.”
Bond added where you live matters as a Cabinet Minister, but so does the composition of the ministries that will be created.
“There’s currently a transition team in place, and they will be looking at how do they address the issues, through various ministries, that were raised during the election campaign,” she said.
“Let’s be clear, Premier Eby in one of his first press conferences following the election, told British Columbians and Northern British Columbians that he had a lot of work to do in the North. We want to make sure that we see things like natural resources, what does that look like, how do we look at healthcare in Northern British Columbia. He’s going to have to be very thoughtful about the formation of those ministries, and we’ll be watching very carefully to see that Northern British Columbia can see itself in the cabinet that is created.”
Conservative Leader John Rustad will also have to form a shadow cabinet of critics, something else Bond will be keeping an eye on.
“Opposition critics are incredibly important in holding government to account, particularly one with such a very razor thin majority, and so those critic roles are going to be very, very important as we look to the future,” she said.
“John Rustad lives here near where we do, so I think that will certainly figure in how he makes his decisions. Having been a Leader of the Official Opposition, I know how hard it is to line up and create the alignment between the people who have been elected, their interests, and also the needs of the shadow critic roles.”
The Opposition caucus and BC Green Party MLAs are scheduled to be sworn in on Nov. 12.
Government caucus MLAs will be sworn in the following day (November 13th).
–With files from Darin Bain, My Prince George Now
Something going on in the Prince George area you think people should know about?
Send us a news tip by emailing [email protected].
