QUEBEC - Jean Charest began Day Two of a project to tune up his troubled Quebec government, with a cabinet shuffle just one day after a shakeup of his senior staff.
The premier assigned new ministers to a handful of portfolios Thursday, after replacing his chief of staff a day earlier.
The new cabinet adds three ministers -- taking the cabinet from 23 to 26 members -- at a time when the government is engaged in belt-tightening and deficit-trimming.
It also takes the premier away from the gender parity he had frequently touted as a source of pride. The new cabinet has 14 men and 12 women whereas the old one held the rare distinction, until last fall, of having an equal number.
The shuffle comes with the Charest government faring poorly in public opinion polls and facing widespread public anger over its refusal to call an inquiry into corruption.
But the premier swung back at reporters' questions Thursday about his motive for the shuffle.
"Be really careful with those polls," Charest replied.
"I know where I'm going. I like what I'm doing. There are things I want to accomplish for Quebec."
The shuffle adds a third Anglo to cabinet. Geoffrey Kelley makes a return to the ministry as native-affairs minister, after a stay on the back benches during which he led a provincial commission studying assisted suicide.
Party whip Pierre Moreau becomes intergovernmental affairs minister.
The new cabinet features a move by Pierre Corbeil, to the agriculture portfolio from native affairs.
Moreau's responsibilities as whip will be assumed by Lucie Charlebois.
The moves alleviate the workload of two prominent cabinet ministers.
Deputy premier Nathalie Normandeau, who is also natural resources minister, had been looking after the intergovernmental affairs portfolio.
And Municipal Affairs Minister Laurent Lessard had been appointed agriculture minister following the death of Claude Bechard last fall.
