Stagg Editorial- October 1994

Premier Clyde Wells did a major remodelling of his Cabinet recently when he fired five veteran Ministers and brought in five novice replacements from the back benches. Gone from Cabinet are a battle-hardened trio of Walter Carter, Hubert Kitchen and Tom Lush. Carter and Kitchen have vast experience both provincially and federally while Lush was a stalwart in the Liberal Party provincially going back to the days of Opposition oblivion under Len Stirling.

The main political virtue of the incoming Ministers is that they are new faces. This apparent political doodling by Wells is raising speculation that he may be planning his retirement. Quite often a Premier with a fixed intention to quit will bring new blood into Cabinet with the idea of raising the profile of as many backbenchers as possible as a run-in to a hotly contested leadership convention. When a leader departs, often veterans depart with him and the demotion of the veterans may be a sign that these people had not really intended to go to the post again anyway.

Time marches on for Clyde Wells and already his 1989 ascendancy to Premier and his 1990 stand on Meech Lake are the stuff of history. This Premier may be wary of lingering too long in the style of former Premier Peckford who handed over the reins of power to Tom Rideout only to see Rideout lose to Wells in 1989. A similar situation in 1994 Quebec saw Premier Bourassa step down in favour of Daniel Johnson. Johnson's valiant election battle against Jacques Parizeau ended in Liberal defeat in Quebec and the resurrection of the many-headed monster known as Separatism.

Perhaps Wells wishes to leave in style and with ample time to explore other career opportunities. Would he be interested in being the first Supreme Court of Canada Justice from Newfoundland?

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