Steinbach Member of the Legislative Assembly Kelvin Goertzen attended his first caucus meeting Wednesday following the election of the Progressive Conservatives last week. Goertzen, who spent 13 years in opposition, says it was a completely new experience for him and he felt a bit disoriented at first.

"It was just incredible to walk into a room of so many people and know that they're all MLAs. I actually had to stop for a second and start counting the chairs and thinking, there must be staff involved with this too, they can't all be MLAs, and they were. Having been in a caucus of less than 20 or about 20 for a number of years, this was an incredible change, but an exciting change. It will take a little bit getting used to for me, dealing with so many different MLAs, so many different members. And it's sort of overwhelming, the mandate we've been given."

Goertzen notes 16 Conservative MLAs ran for re-election last week and the other 24 are all new to job.

"Now some of them will have legislative experience. Stephen Fletcher, for example, was an MP (Member of Parliament) so he's not new to the democratic or legislative process. We had a number who used to work in politics, either federally or provincially, so they understand the process generally but this is still a new roll, to be an MLA."

Goertzen adds the Cabinet will be announced next Tuesday and has no idea who will be included. But he notes Premier-elect Brian Pallister told caucus there will be a lot of work to do for all 40 MLAs. Goertzen is also pleased a new Session of the Legislature will begin in a couple of weeks.

"It's nice that we're going back relatively soon, that date being May 16th. It gives everybody a date to focus on and assures Manitoba that the government is working and that the government is functioning."