By Greg Fry with files from Canadian Press

BC Politics

Giddens likens NDP cabinet shuffle to ‘changing the deck chairs on the Titanic’

Jul 17, 2025 | 4:19 PM

PRINCE GEORGE —Update: Early Thursday evening, the provincial government announced it was reinstating drug coverage for Charleigh Pollock.

Minister Josie Osborne released the following statement Thursday evening regarding the reversal:

“I spoke to Charleigh’s family earlier this evening. I confirmed to them that I have reinstated Charleigh’s Brineura coverage and that coverage will be available to them for as long as the treating physician and the family deem it appropriate.

“I continue to strongly believe that decisions about care should be made by health experts to ensure they are based on the best available evidence. The letter I received today from Batten disease experts confirms there is significant disagreement between health experts on Brineura, and it is not acceptable that Charleigh and her family suffer as a result of that disagreement about the use of Brineura for Batten Disease.”

Earlier: Less than a year into their new mandate, and the provincial government has announced a large cabinet shuffle.

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Premier David Eby calls the shuffle a strategic shift in order to focus on jobs and the economy.

Former housing minister Ravi Kahlon takes over as Minister Responsible for Jobs from Diana Gibson, who moves into the citizens’ services role previously held by George Chow.

Garry Begg has been ousted as solicitor general and will be replaced by Nina Krieger.

Christine Boyle will take over the housing portfolio and her ministry of Indigenous relations and reconciliation goes to Spencer Chandra-Herbert.

But Prince George-Mackenzie Conservative MLA Kiel Giddens isn’t buying what Premier Eby is selling. Giddens argues we’ve seen a lot of failures with this government, and believes the NDP is simply trying to patch holes.

For instance he says the youth unemployment rate is 17 per cent at the moment and had harsh words for the now former solicitor general, Gary Begg, who is calls an “abysmal failure.”

He says one of the government’s biggest failures has been the government’s decision to defund Charleigh Pollocks’s treatment, a terminally ill girl with a rare disease who suffers from a neurological disorder called Batten disease that leaves her with debilitating seizures.

Despite that, Health Minister Josie Osborne kept her job and a GoFundMe has been created to help fund Charleigh’s treatment, which Giddens calls “unacceptable.”