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Wynne shouldn't punish Broten in her fresh-faced cabinet

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TORONTO

Incoming premier Kathleen Wynne is taking a crash course in the fine art of cabinet making.

Wynne met with Liberal MPPs Tuesday and over the next few days will put together a new cabinet.

While conventional wisdom says you reward your friends, her big task now is to bring the party together.

Before the caucus meeting, she reminded reporters that after she became premier Saturday night, she called all her MPPs onto stage.

“That was my first signal that the leadership has been about choosing a leader among members of a party,” she said.

“For me there are no hard feelings.”

While Wynne has publicly been lavish in her praise for outgoing Premier Dalton McGuinty, the reality is she must quietly distance herself from him and his government.

That means chopping up his cabinet and building a new one.

A couple of key players have made that easier for her.

Finance Minister Dwight Duncan is taking a job on Bay St. Energy Minister Chris Bentley isn’t running again.

One person to watch in the next few days is Education Minister Laurel Broten.

There’s no question she’ll be moved from that portfolio. Wynne has to signal to the teacher unions that hers is a Brave New World and she’s trying to make up with them.

At the same time she can’t turn Broten into a sacrificial lamb.

She was given a tough, no-win job.

The nasty fight she had with the teachers was not of her making and it would be unfair of Wynne to relegate Broten to a minor cabinet role simply for implementing the government of the day’s policy.

It doesn’t help Broten that she picked the wrong person to back for the leadership.

She was supporting Pupatello.

Then again, most of the McGuinty loyalists were backing the second-place finisher.

This battle with the teachers has been hard on Broten.

She has been front and centre day after day, doing a lot of the heavy lifting while other cabinet ministers were on cruise control.

She’s an impressive performer. A lawyer, fluently bilingual, some even thought Broten might take a run for the leadership herself.

Since McGuinty required cabinet ministers to resign to take a run at his job, she could have unloaded a whole lot of grief if she’d taken a shot at the top job.

It would be unwise of Wynne to publicly rebuke Broten by dropping her from cabinet or giving her a minor portfolio.

Voters will see that as Wynne caving in to the teacher unions and it will not play well.

Wynne has other choices to make.

McGuinty notoriously did not open up his cabinet to new faces.

There are a number of competent people who’ve sat on the backbench for many years who could make it in this time.

Dr. Helena Jaczek is a former medical officer of health who’s extremely capable. David Zimmer has been waiting for a call for years.

Ottawa Centre’s Yasir Naqvi, the party president, has served loyally and will likely be rewarded.

Health Minister Deb Matthews was at Wynne’s side as campaign chair throughout last weekend.

That kind of loyalty will be rewarded.

Scuttlebutt has it that either Charles Sousa or Glen Murray will be finance minister. But Matthews has more cabinet experience than either of them and could be the surprise choice.

Or Wynne may choose to put Matthews in education — a ministry that’s going to be a tall task for whoever gets it.

Expect big changes.

PC Leader Tim Hudak is already portraying Wynne as the same-old, same-old.

She must show she’s a new premier, with different faces — and fresh ideas.

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