In January.
I met the minister on December 19. I also had lunch with the Prime Minister and a senior staff member on December 19, which was an end-of-session wrap-up. Oh my goodness, that was a heavy session. We had a long conversation about planning for January, and the Sherbrooke cabinet retreat, which took place around the 16th and 17th of January.
At that time, on December 19, there was no thought, talk or any intent to move any minister before the election. It was Minister Brison's walk in the snow that triggered the cabinet shuffle. It was Minister Brison's leaving, and wanting to leave quickly, that created the following problem for the Prime Minister. “I need a new President of the Treasury Board. I need a Nova Scotia minister. I need to maintain gender balance in my cabinet, and solve that problem with the fewest moves possible.” Those discussions took place in the first week of January, when everybody returned to work.