Manitoba’s minister of agriculture, food and rural initiatives will remain in the same post he held before the Oct. 4 election, but will also be the province’s fill-in finance minister.
Dauphin MLA Stan Struthers, the province’s ag minister since November 2009, was reappointed Wednesday to handle the farms file but was also named acting finance minister.
In the finance portfolio, Struthers replaces a former agriculture minister, Rosann Wowchuk, who did not seek re-election in her Swan River constituency.
Premier Greg Selinger’s cabinet remains otherwise unchanged from its pre-election roster, except for the appointment of Innovation, Energy and Mines Minister Dave Chomiak as acting conservation minister.
Chomiak, the long-time MLA for the north Winnipeg riding of Kildonan, takes on the additional conservation file from former Elmwood MLA Bill Blaikie, who also did not seek re-election.
Returning cabinet ministers with portfolios relevant to the province’s farm sector also include Christine Melnick in water stewardship, Steve Ashton in infrastructure and transportation and Ron Lemieux as minister responsible for local government.
