Premier Klein had increased Alberta's cabinet from 20 to 24, making it the second-largest provincial cabinet in Canada, after Quebec's cabinet of 25. Alberta's cabinet is also the largest in Western Canada - ahead of B.C.'s NDP cabinet of 21. Manitoba and Saskatchewan, also run by the NDP, have cabinets of 16 and 18 respectively.

Alberta cabinet ministers receive $45,877 in addition to their M.L.A. salary and benefits of $59,531. Four extra ministers, for four years, will cost taxpayers $734,000. Four more deputy ministers, for four years, will cost taxpayers $2,163,000.

That amounts to less than one dollar for each of Alberta's three million citizens. So why worry

The problem with a bigger cabinet is that it opens the door to more and bigger government. Alberta now has four more advocates for increased spending at the cabinet table, each backed by her or his own bureaucracy.

One new minister will advocate more spending on aboriginal affairs and northern development. Another new minister will advocate more spending on seniors. Another new minister will lobby for policing and correctional services, another for sustainable resource development, and yet another for transportation.

Each minister is under constant pressure to get more money for her or his department. Bureaucrats have time, talent and resources to explain to their minister how vitally important their bureaucratic work is, and how much more good they could accomplish if only their budget was a tad larger.

Various interest groups (natives, seniors, businesses looking for hand-outs, etc.) present compelling cases to the minister about how deserving of taxpayers' money their special causes are. It's much easier to lobby a minister for tax dollars than to go to taxpayers directly and ask them to contribute voluntarily to a worthwhile cause.

Even if a minister is personally committed to reduced spending and lower taxes, it's still hard to say "no." The short-term political benefit of a happy special interest group always looks much bigger than the long-term political benefit of happy taxpayers. It pays to please the person sitting in front of you now, rather than a large anonymous group of people down the road: taxpayers.

In the United Kingdom, Margaret Thatcher had a reputation for cutting taxes and reducing the size of government while Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990. But when she was education minister from 1970 to 1974, she succeeded in obtaining huge spending increases for her department.

Some individual ministers in Klein's enlarged cabinet might favour smaller government and lower taxes, in general. But when the rubber hits the road on home turf - your own department - there is always a very good reason why more spending is justified. That's why a bigger cabinet often leads to more spending. And more spending is the biggest threat to low taxes and debt freedom.

In survey after survey, Albertans demand lower taxes as their number one priority - not bigger government. A bigger cabinet is a step in the wrong direction.

With a government caucus of 74, Premier Klein felt pressure to put more M.L.A.s into cabinet. But increasing cabinet's size from 20 to 24 solves nothing. Instead of 54 government M.L.A.s who are not ministers, there are 50. The problem of a large caucus should be solved by giving M.L.A.s - and all Albertans -- a greater say. More on that topic in a future column.