James Moore, the federal representative for Port Moody-Westwood-Port Coquitlam, was sworn in yesterday as MP - and as minister of heritage and official languages the day before.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper returned the national portfolio to the five-term Conservative MP for his first majority cabinet following the May 2 general election.
Moore has held the ministerial job since 2008.
In addition to his heritage and official language duties, Moore is also the minister responsible for B.C. and he reports to the prime minister's priorities advisory committee.
As well, he's vice chair on the social affairs committee so "the cabinet workload now is much greater than it was before," he said from Ottawa Thursday.
Moore said he was happy to keep the heritage job.
"I have a lot of things on the go right now and now that we have a majority government and I don't have to spend a month getting briefed up and familiar with a brand-new post, I can take action and move on a bunch of things, like copyright reform."
Meanwhile, New Westminster-Coquitlam MP Fin Donnelly is set to be sworn in Tuesday morning with his NDP caucus that now forms the official opposition. It is not known if the former Coquitlam city councillor will retain his role as fisheries and oceans critic; NDP leader Jack Layton is expected to announce the shadow cabinet next week.
The Conservative government's throne speech is scheduled for June 2, with Finance Minister Jim Flaherty reading the budget the next day.
