Think of this as the Soylent Green of cabinet shuffles.

Over the past week, we’ve watched as ageing MPPs were turned into eco-friendly sludge to be devoured by their own party.

Kathleen Wynne’s cabinet was massively moved and shaken Monday. It wasn’t so much a shuffle as an earthquake.

It was all about taking out the trash as she pushed the old farts out the door.

In a highly-inelegant process over the past week, we saw the Liberal Party tossing the old geezers overboard to make way for fresh blood.

And I say that as an old geezer myself.

There was a series of “resignations,” from older, whiter and mostly-male ministers, stepping down to make way for cabinet “gender parity.”

Gone is Jim Bradley, who held the largely honourific title of minister without portfolio. Bradley will stick around in a lesser role as chief government whip.

Ted McMeekin also stepped down in municipal affairs, saying he was making way for more women to join cabinet.

Ditto Mario Sergio. Ironically, Sergio was seniors minister. So the seniors minister gets canned to make way for a younger person.

Attorney General Madeleine Meilleur also quit. And you almost have to believe her statement that she wanted to “spend more time with family.” She resigned her Ottawa Vanier seat, triggering a byelection.

Some observers are surprised Bob Chiarelli survived the old geezer cull. His performance as energy minister has been lackluster at best and jaw-droppingly awful at worst.

He has been patronizing to women, insulting to the auditor — and performed dreadfully. Why’s he still in cabinet?

Here’s my theory: The standings in the Legislature are 57 Libs; 28 PCs; 20 NDP; 2 vacant seats (Bas Balkissoon and Meilleur.) Had Wynne dropped Chiarelli from cabinet, it’s unlikely he’d stick around as a backbencher, commuting to Toronto from Ottawa for the next two years.

Yet, if he quit his Ottawa West-Nepean seat, he’d trigger a byelection — a tough fight for the Liberals. Ditto for Bradley. Without his name on the ballot, St. Catharines would be a tight race.

Sergio is staying on in his York West seat — but that’s a lot shorter commute than from Ottawa.

There are still rumblings that veteran MPPs Monte Kwinter and Joe Dickson may quit as both have had health issues. If Wynne had to fight six or seven byelections, she could well find herself in a minority situation.

She had to give a sop to Bradley and Chiarelli to have them hang around.

There are seven new members of cabinet and 40% of Wynne’s crew are women. Not gender “parity,” for sure.

Then again, there are other important factors that come into play when building a cabinet — such as geography. All parts of the province must be represented.

Can this brave new cabinet slough off the incompetence and scandals of the past? In her first two years in office, Wynne brought in sweeping change. She calls it innovative. Others call it recklessly dangerous.

Cap and trade, the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan and the sale of Hydro One will have a massive financial impact on all of us and change the face of the province.

Wynne’s brought in a crew of rookies to implement these initiatives.

I don’t trust the new guard to deliver them any more than I trusted the old farts.