Premier Gordon Campbell shuffled his cabinet Monday, saying it would build on recent success. But critics dismissed the shuffle as a desperate attempt to look busy while his government continues to take a beating in the opinion polls.

Campbell shuffled 17 of his 23 ministers in a wide-ranging reorganization which included splitting up responsibilities for welfare and homelessness, adding a new minister of state for building-code renewal, streamlining natural resource operations into a single ministry, and combining tourism, trade and investment under one umbrella.

"You need a cabinet like this to drive an economic agenda that actually takes all the opportunities in British Columbia," Campbell said. The new team "really is aimed at building on a number of successes we've had."

The government's reorganization came shortly before a province-wide television address Wednesday evening, in which Campbell said he'll speak to taxpayers about the unpopular harmonized sales tax and his vision for education and economic policies.

The Opposition NDP called some of Campbell's changes "laughable," particularly the appointment of former solicitor general John Les as parliamentary secretary for HST information.

"Sometimes, reorganization is done to try and take attention off the real issues," NDP Leader Carole James said.

"He's basically thrown all the ministries up in the air, done some reorganization, taken all the same old players and moved them around a bit — but done nothing to try and address the fundamental issue, which is that the public doesn't trust him. They don't trust the B.C. Liberals and they're just waiting for the opportunity to tell them that."

Among the high-profile appointments was that of Rich Coleman as solicitor general. The former RCMP officer, who has been B.C.'s top cop before, takes with him responsibility for housing, homelessness, liquor and gambling, which he held in his previous portfolio as housing minister.

Social development, disability assistance and welfare responsibilities were hived off to Kevin Krueger, who moves from the tourism ministry. Krueger said he was "jubilant about the opportunity."

George Abbott became education minister, replacing Margaret MacDiarmid. She moved to a new Ministry of Tourism, Trade and Investment that Campbell said will help B.C. capitalize on the momentum of 2010 Winter Olympics and seize international opportunities.

Ben Stewart moved to the Agriculture Ministry, replacing Steve Thomson, who now heads a new Ministry of Natural Resource Operations. That includes forest fire management, dam safety, aquaculture and heritage conservation.

A number of Campbell's stalwarts did not change ministries, including Finance Minister Colin Hansen, who has faced the bulk of the public backlash on the HST.

Campbell said Hansen deserved to keep his ministry because he's done a "really good job." Hansen said he's proud to continue, but joked that there were days he wished he'd been shuffled to a different portfolio.

Attorney General Mike de Jong, Health Minister Kevin Falcon, Children's Minister Mary Polak, Citizens' Services Minister Mary McNeil and Transportation Minister Shirley Bond kept their jobs.

The premier's shuffle was underwhelming, James said. "He's run out of gas, run out of ideas and run out of people. I think that's pretty clear," she said.

The cabinet shuffle also included a reorganization of deputy ministers.

The premier's longtime chief of staff, Martyn Brown, left to become deputy minister of tourism, trade and investment.

Brown was replaced by Paul Taylor, who resigned as CEO of the Insurance Corporation of B.C. in 2008 amid a car resale scandal, which involved wrecked vehicles being repaired in ICBC facilities and sold to the public without proper disclosure of their crash history.

Turner has insisted his resignation was not related to the scandal.

The premier's shuffle was large by his standards, but is unlikely to change people's negative opinions of his government, said Norman Ruff, University of Victoria political science professor emeritus.

"In terms of immediate perceptions, people are so angry they're not tuned in to the government's channel," said Ruff. "To put it mildly, he's in very dire straits."

rfshaw@timescolonist.com