VICTORIA: The BC division of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) today responded to the news of a record 28 cabinet ministers in BC.

"BC now has the distinction of having more cabinet ministers than Ontario - a province with six million more people," said CTF-BC director Mark Milke. "British Columbia, including ministers of state, now has 28 cabinet minister. Ontario has 24 while Quebec has 25. BC now has the largest provincial cabinet in the country."

"The new Premier should be congratulated for thinking beyond the box and creating a new ministry such as Competition, but the overall size of the new cabinet is worrisome," said Milke.

"The most crucial signal from the new government will be their decision in the coming weeks and months on the size of the government, and on that - the jury is still out," said Milke. "It is theoretically possible that more cabinet ministers will deliver leaner government, but it is difficult to find any example of that in practice. One hopes the new government is an exception to that rule."