By "It is long past the time when you should have a dedicated minister of the environment (and) the Conservatives have been dawdling and missing the boat here."
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Eves refused to say he had made a mistake by combining the Environment and Energy ministries just four months ago when he became premier, but he did concede that he had underestimated how tough the issues to come from them would be. "The challenges in each of those portfolios over the last few months have been a little more significant than I would have anticipated initially," Eves said shortly after announcing a mini-shuffle of his 130-day-old cabinet.
Among the challenges have been the government's failed attempt to sell off the province's electricity grid and the uproar over the exorbitant compensation paid to executives at Hydro One.
Compounding the problems have been higher electricity prices and the threat of power shortages.
There was also another E. coli scare prompted by suspect drinking-water testing at a private laboratory just weeks after the release of the report into the deadly tainted-water tragedy in Walkerton, Ont.
Opposition critics said Chris Stockwell, who retained his duties as environment minister, had been undone by his inept handling of the government's problem-plagued electricity strategy.
"Hydro privatization and deregulation has devoured another Conservative cabinet minister," said New Democrat Leader Howard Hampton.
"Stockwell could not continue as minister of energy."
Stockwell was not immediately available to comment.
Eves handed the Energy portfolio to his francophone affairs minister, John Baird, who now faces the task of selling off part of the electricity-transmission grid.
With increasing concerns about air quality both domestically and internationally, Baird will also have to deal with phasing out the province's pollution-spewing coal-fired generators amid ongoing deregulation of power generation.
"There are a lot of things on the plate in Energy coming down the road in the next few years and I think that it certainly warrants a separate minister," said Eves.
Liberal Greg Sorbara accused Eves, who took office in mid-April, of engaging in political damage control by relieving Stockwell of his Energy duties while trying to divert attention from his own lack of direction.
"After four months, there's no agenda from this government other than 'here are some of the things that we're not going to do or that we're going to delay,' " said Sorbara.
"To tinker with the cabinet at this point, one has to despair. The thing that is distressing is that this doesn't have anything to do with expanding the agenda or giving anyone a hint about what this government plans to do."
Eves said allowing Stockwell to dedicate his energy to environmental issues is in keeping with his promise to implement the recommendations that came from the judicial inquiry into the Walkerton E. coli tragedy.
In his report on the public health disaster that struck Walkerton two years ago, Associate Chief Justice Dennis O'Connor recommended a single government agency - the Environment Ministry - be in charge of water safety.
Critics argued Stockwell had little time to devote to environmental issues while he was also dealing with political crises that raged around Hydro One.
"At the end of the day, that proved to be the case," Eves said.
Hampton said Stockwell will still be unable to devote his entire attention to the environment and water, given that he will retain his role as house leader.
"In fact you still don't have a dedicated minister of the environment," said Hampton.
