Premier’s office will hire EAs “based on political chops”

Premier Dexter's office is quietly taking a firm hand in the hiring of ministerial executive assistants, insisting the new hires must be chosen for their policy chops. Officials in the premier's office will begin interviewing candidates for long-term EA positions next week, replacing the makeshift crew of temporary EAs assigned immediately after the election. The move suggests the Dexter Government could feature a Harperesque degree of central control. Executive assistants are explicitly political positions tied to a ruling party's tenure. Each minister gets an EA to help with political aspects of the job, including major constituency issues and partisan concerns related to a minister's portfolios. They are not to be confused with the eight unpaid 'ministerial assistant' positions Dexter handed out Monday as sops to disappointed backbench MLAs who lost out in the 12-person cabinet sweepstakes.