Kelley out, James in after cabinet shuffle

BY MARC LALONDE

marc.lalonde@transcontinental.ca

The disappointment in Jacques Cartier MNA Geoff Kelley’s voice was apparent yesterday when he made his first public comments after being ousted from cabinet by Premier Jean Charest last week.

“There are two kinds of MNAs,” he said. “Those who say they want to be in cabinet, and liars.”

Kelley had been Native Affairs Minister since 2004.

That portfolio has been given back to Benoit Pelletier, who held it just prior to Kelley. Charest reduced the cabinet to 18 people, down from 26, and in a historic move, boasted a 50/50 gender split, with nine male and nine female ministers.

“Personally, it’s a disappointment,” Kelley said. “Premiers make choices. I still have a duty to the 50,000 voters of Jacques Cartier . . . and with more time, I will get to focus more on issues in the riding, such as addressing public transit, green spaces, educational issues at John Abbott College, and I have not made any secret of the fact that we have to make changes to the municipal structure and we have to fix that,” he said, referring to the agglomeration council.

Kelley’s ouster came as a disappointment to many West Islanders, who saw his consensus-building approach to leadership as a symbol for many Quebec anglophones.

“It’s a huge disappointment, for the West Island and for Quebec anglophones,” said Lester B. Pearson School Board chairman Marcus Tabachnick, who doubles as president of the Quebec English School Boards Association.

Tabachnick said he fears the anglophone voices in cabinet — now represented solely by 29-year-old Yolande James, who represents the West Island riding of Nelligan — might be muted by James’ inexperience.

“All of a sudden, that burden falls to a hardworking, but very new, cabinet minister, and it’s a lot to ask. Do I think she’s up to it? We’re going to find out,” he said, pointing out Kelley’s long track record of strong leadership.

“She’s going to have to be the eyes and ears of the English community, as well as supervising her own portfolio in cabinet,” he said.

James, 29, and the first black to ever sit in cabinet, boasts an impressive resume and is well-qualified to handle a cabinet post, the chairman of the West Island Black Community Association - who has known James since she was a teen attending WIBCA tutorials - said.

“People should look carefully at her credentials, her education and her volunteer work. She may be young in years, but she’s become wise through the experiences she’s had so far. In fact, her youth and energy should be looked upon favourably,” she said.

James did not return multiple messages left at her office for this story.

The publisher of a newspaper that covers the northern Quebec native communities said Kelley’s absence will be felt by those he worked with in that community.

“He’ll be missed,” said The Nation publisher Will Nicholls. “He had a good relationship with the Grand Council, and I hadn’t really heard any grumbling about him. The new guy (Benoit Pelletier) has a lot on his plate now (holding the Intergovernmental Affairs portfolio as well) and this, I think would be a concern for everybody,” he said.

Former Alliance Quebec vice-president and current Pointe Claire city councillor Jacques Labbé said Kelley’s demotion had a lot to do with geography and less to do with competence.

“The fact is, the West Island doesn’t carry a lot of weight at the provincial level,” he said. “If he would’ve been from a more francophone community, we might be seeing a different story. All the comments you hear is that he was doing excellent work in the portfolio and if he weren’t, the demotion would be easier to understand.”

Labbé, though, said he wouldn’t care who was sitting the cabinet chamber if Charest would live up to promises to make changes to the democratically-flawed municipal agglomeration council.

“(Charest’s) got to come through on that one,” Labbé said. “If they do that, I’ll be satisfied no matter who’s in there.”ꆱ