Surprise N.L. cabinet shuffle sees John Haggie, Tom Osborne switch roles
CBC
Two of Newfoundland and Labrador's top politicians were shuffled into new cabinet positions Wednesday morning.
Tom Osborne, the former lead for the Department of Education, will now take over as health minister, replacing John Haggie.
Haggie, a former surgeon who steered the province through the COVID-19 pandemic, is now the education minister.
Premier Andrew Furey congratulated Haggie as one of the longest-standing health ministers of all time. "And they haven't been easy times," he told reporters.
"There's criticisms everywhere across the country right now, with closing emergency departments, stress and strain on nurses, on doctors. Doctor recruitment issues. It's not unique to here."
A release from the PC Party, issued a little more than an hour after the shuffle, criticized the Liberals for being "slow to address issues in healthcare, only today recognizing Minister Haggie could not continue in his position."
The statement continued: "After years of ignoring major issues, antagonizing healthcare professionals, and failing to address our healthcare crisis, the premier finally realizes something has to change."
Osborne, previously a finance minister for the Liberals, also served as health minister under Danny Williams's Progressive Conservative government in the mid-2000s.
Osborne helmed the Health Department during a political scandal over how hundreds of breast cancer patients received flawed test results through the health authority now known as Eastern Health. He testified at an inquiry that he wasn't told about the error.
The inquiry, led by Justice Margaret Cameron, found top health authority officials withheld mistakes from the provincial government.
Cameron ruled "there was a failure of both accountability and oversight at all levels" in her March 2009 report.
Haggie, meanwhile, has led the Health Department since the Liberals took power in 2015, most recently grappling with more than two years of COVID-19 regulations and a cyberattack on the health system last year.
The shuffle comes at a time of increased tension for the department, lately plagued by staffing shortages at its four health authorities, a lack of family doctors, and long wait times for mental health care.
The ministry as it stands is also groaning under the weight of health-care costs, which eat up approximately 40 per cent of the provincial budget.
This story was first published on Oct. 20, 2025.
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