For the first time in the province's history, half of Quebec's new cabinet is made up of women, a move by Premier Jean Charest to revamp the Liberals' image after last month's bitter election reduced his government to a minority.
Mr. Charest appeared humble in conferring the responsibility on the cabinet of 18, including the province's first black minister, to manage Quebec's first minority government in more than a century.
"In their wisdom, the people of Quebec decided to elect a minority government," Mr. Charest said Wednesday after his ministers were sworn in. "The cabinet I'm swearing in today is one of the smallest of modern times. It's made up of an equal number of men and women. It includes the first ever woman from a visible minority.
"The government will work with the opposition parties who will share with us the responsibility of deciding public policy. The change that Quebeckers have voted for starts now."
The cabinet has the difficult task of winning back the support of Quebeckers with the hope of leading the Liberals back to a majority government.
In the March 26 vote, the Liberals were reduced to 48 seats, with the Action Démocratique du Québec forming the Official Opposition with 41 members, and the Parti Québécois reduced to third-party standing with 36 seats.
No fewer than seven ministers lost their jobs in a reduction of the cabinet from 25 because Mr. Charest wanted to make room for a handful of newcomers.
The bad blood continued between the Premier and party stalwart Pierre Paradis, a 1983 leadership candidate and senior minister in Robert Bourassa's government. Despite Mr. Paradis's popularity among rank and file Liberal members, he was once again excluded from cabinet.
Many of the female cabinet members got important portfolios. Treasury Board President Monique Jérôme-Forget was also appointed Finance Minister. She becomes the first minister to hold both portfolios since Jacques Parizeau in the PQ government of René Lévesque.
"In a few weeks, you will present a new budget. You will reduce taxes for all Quebeckers, particularly the middle class," Mr. Charest said, refusing to commit to the full $950-million income tax cut promised in the election campaign.
In the final days of the campaign, Mr. Charest was criticized when he said he would use a $700-million increase in equalization payments from Ottawa to cut taxes rather than improve health care.
Municipal Affairs Minister Nathalie Normandeau was appointed deputy-premier, with a mandate to rebuild party support in predominantly francophone regions. The Liberals were shut out of the outlying regions of Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean, Abitibi-Temiskaming and the North Shore ridings that include Sept-Îles and Baie Comeau.
Women were also given posts such as Education and Transportation, and the all-important Environment portfolios, with Line Beauchamp becoming the first woman appointed to the Environment Ministry.
Yolande James becomes Quebec's first black minister at Immigration and Cultural Communities. And newly elected former Radio-Canada journalist Christine Saint-Pierre takes over the Ministry of Culture and Communications and is Minister responsible for Women's Issues. Newcomer Marguerite Blais will oversee the ministry responsible for the elderly.
Mr. Charest reappointed Philippe Couillard as Minister of Health and Social Services, a position he has held since 2003. Mr. Couillard, viewed in the party as a future leadership candidate, wanted a new challenge but in a minority-government situation, Mr. Charest chose to rely on experience in a highly controversial portfolio.
Many old faces were reappointed to their former duties or switched to new ones. Former Education minister Jean-Marc Fournier was given the delicate job of reaching compromises with the other two parties as the new Government House Leader. Raymond Bachand remains at Economic Development, Monique Gagnon-Tremblay at International Affairs and Benoît Pelletier will handle Intergovernmental Affairs while becoming Minister of Native Affairs as well as deputy House Leader.
This prompted the opposition parties to claim that far from a response to voters' demand for change, the Premier was proposing more of the same.
"When you look at the major portfolios it is a lot of the same people at the same place," Opposition Leader Mario Dumont said. "What we saw today however is that on the issue of tax cuts, Mr. Charest appears to be backing away ... he did not give figures,"
Similar criticism came from PQ Leader André Boisclair. "I hear a message of renewal but what I see is a message of continuity," he said.
The National Assembly will begin sitting on May 8.