The title didn’t exist on Prince Edward Island yesterday, but Premier Robert Ghiz has created it for his agriculture minister.
Ghiz on Wednesday named George Webster as the province’s new deputy premier as part of a cabinet shuffle, in which the Borden-Kinkora MLA will continue as ag minister.
Webster, a Middleton-area farmer, briefly stepped down from the ag portfolio last August while recovering from a mild heart attack, but has since resumed his duties.
Former ag minister Neil LeClair remains in his pre-shuffle post as minister of fisheries, aquaculture and rural development, but has also been named minister responsible for the Island Community Fund.
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Among other reorganizations announced Wednesday, authority for P.E.I.’s Liquor Control Commission will move from the department of Innovation and Advanced Learning to the Tourism and Culture department.
York-Oyster Bed MLA Robert Vessey, a fifth-generation potato grower from York, will oversee the LCC as the new tourism and culture minister. The new ministry unites tourism with the culture portfolio that previously was handled by the minster of communities.
The realignment of departments is meant “to better reflect government’s priorities over the next couple of years,” Ghiz said in a release Wednesday.
Vessey, who until now served as government house leader, will be replaced in that role by Evangeline-Miscouche MLA Sonny Gallant, a Miscouche businessman.
