You couldn’t swing an angry cat around the CTV mini-studio in Ottawa without hitting a wall or a television camera.

It’s compact, but functional enough to handle a camera operator and one guest.

Earlier this week, federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz squeezed inside the booth with THREE aides anxiously monitoring his victory declaration over Americans in a meat labeling dispute. It was a very tight fit.

This excessive staffing is why cabinet size matters as a symbol of a government’s frugality or its preference for rampant payroll bloating.

And that is why the most impressive thing about Alberta premier-designate Rachel Notley’s news conference yesterday was her vow to limit the cabinet to an even dozen ministers, herself included.

Cynics would argue she’s got a stable of rookies who can’t be trusted with the keys to a major ministry. Perhaps.

But if one of the most important and challenging provinces to govern in struggling economic times can get by with 12 ministers, it says a lot something about her early commitment to a streamlined, cost-efficient government.

Consider the contrast with small-government-guru Stephen Harper, who set a new record when he appointed 40 members to his ministry earlier this year.

That’s one for every four Conservative MPs and includes 11 junior ministers, who essentially spin their training wheels waiting for a full ministry to open up.

Each minister gets a car and driver, various workers to run a pair of Parliament Hill offices and, apparently, a trio of babysitters to make sure the ministerial foot stays out of a loose-lipped mouth.

Every position is thus severely costly in staff, salaries and perks.

So Rachel Notley has set a promising and surprising tone of restraint for a province where the departed Progressive Conservative dynasty should look in the mirror to see the cause of its supersized budgets.

If this continues and she can make her NDP policies shine despite a skittish oil industry, the afterglow will reflect all the way to Ottawa and the federal NDP campaign.

The best shot at western election gains for leader Tom Mulcair would be the successful displacement of a motley PC reign with a professional Notley crew.