The New Democrats tried to minimize the significance of a cabinet minister publicly disagreeing with her own cabinet colleagues. "This is an issue she has been vocal on even before she became a cabinet minister," said government house leader Mike Farnworth. I bet Farnworth couldn't name one precedent for a minister publicly criticizing a decision by his or her own colleagues and yet remaining in cabinet. cabinet minister Blair Lekstrom breaking with the Gordon Campbell government over the harmonized sales tax and resigning in 2010. "If you're a cabinet minister that cannot abide by the decision of cabinet, you either keep your mouth shut or you resign.