Dion's Shadow Cabinet
On the whole I must say I was very impressed with the choices Dion made for his shadow cabinet. Choosing Michael Ignatieff as deputy leader while keeping Ralph Goodale as House leader were both good choices. I also like the four committees he created and thought he struck a good balance in his choice for chairs and vice-chairs. For economic prosperity, he choose John McKay and Massimo Pacetti who are generally both on the right of the party while for Social Justice he choose Ken Dryden and Andy Scott who are generally on the left. Most of the critics are generally people who have a strong knowledge in their chosen area as well as the fact he choose people from each of the different camps. In some areas such as national defence, there really isn't anyone with a military background so I guess Denis Coderre was an okay pick, although I probably would have chosen someone who had once been defence minister or at least foreign affairs minister. At the very least someone with a large military base in their riding such as Keith Martin would have been a somewhat better choice.
For the environment, I think David McGuinty was a good pick since he chaired the national roundtables in the 90s, but also he knows John Baird probably better than anyone else so he will be the best able to withstand his attacks as well as find his weakenesses. Interestingly enough they both come from Ottawa and their ridings are right next to each other. For health, Bonnie Brown is generally a good pick, although I would have chosen Carolyn Bennett since she was once a doctor. Scott Brison was definitely a good pick for Industry since he seems to know a lot the business sector having been a successful businessman himself. I would have rather Joe Volpe didn't get a position, but really Dion had no choice but to give him one, so at least he got one that isn't known for scandals since if any scandal breaks out, he will be the last one with any credibility to attack the Tories. Omar Alghabra was a good choice for immigration, Stephen Owen for democratic reform, and Wayne Easter for agriculture (Ralph Goodale would have been my first, but Wayne Easter is the next best).
I noticed already many Tories are slamming the choices, but all I can say is it wouldn't matter what shadow cabinet Dion put together, the Tories would slam it. At the end of the day the question is who will Canadians choose. I believe the Liberals have an edge here for the simple reason many of them have served in government before whereas very few in the Tories had served in government prior to the last election. In fact the Tories are very thin on talent and one of the thinnest of any government I've ever seen, although in all fairness you will probably be short on talent if you are in opposition for a long time. I suspect that is why Harper is very much a one man show whereas Dion is quite comfortable delegating responsibilities out to other members of his team. I personally prefer a team approach over a one man style approach since we are a diverse nation and it is important input from others be given before decisions are made. As a result you get better decisions than having them decided by one person. Things may not happen as fast, but at least you get the right results, rather than being decisive, but with bad results.
Off course if Dion wins the election, the actual cabinet will be much different since the party will pick up new seats as well as Bob Rae, Martha Hall Findlay, and Gerard Kennedy are pretty much shoo-ins for a cabinet post. But at least this can give us a glimpse at what a Dion government would look like.
While it is early going, I am so far impressed with Dion as leader. I was honestly quite concerned that after the Liberal convention I would be a very reluctant supporter since I expected either Rae or Ignatieff to win. And even when Dion won, I still wanted to take a wait and see attitude. It is certainly too early to say he will be a great PM, but at least he can count on my vote in the next election, although after that, it really depends on his performance as PM.
For the environment, I think David McGuinty was a good pick since he chaired the national roundtables in the 90s, but also he knows John Baird probably better than anyone else so he will be the best able to withstand his attacks as well as find his weakenesses. Interestingly enough they both come from Ottawa and their ridings are right next to each other. For health, Bonnie Brown is generally a good pick, although I would have chosen Carolyn Bennett since she was once a doctor. Scott Brison was definitely a good pick for Industry since he seems to know a lot the business sector having been a successful businessman himself. I would have rather Joe Volpe didn't get a position, but really Dion had no choice but to give him one, so at least he got one that isn't known for scandals since if any scandal breaks out, he will be the last one with any credibility to attack the Tories. Omar Alghabra was a good choice for immigration, Stephen Owen for democratic reform, and Wayne Easter for agriculture (Ralph Goodale would have been my first, but Wayne Easter is the next best).
I noticed already many Tories are slamming the choices, but all I can say is it wouldn't matter what shadow cabinet Dion put together, the Tories would slam it. At the end of the day the question is who will Canadians choose. I believe the Liberals have an edge here for the simple reason many of them have served in government before whereas very few in the Tories had served in government prior to the last election. In fact the Tories are very thin on talent and one of the thinnest of any government I've ever seen, although in all fairness you will probably be short on talent if you are in opposition for a long time. I suspect that is why Harper is very much a one man show whereas Dion is quite comfortable delegating responsibilities out to other members of his team. I personally prefer a team approach over a one man style approach since we are a diverse nation and it is important input from others be given before decisions are made. As a result you get better decisions than having them decided by one person. Things may not happen as fast, but at least you get the right results, rather than being decisive, but with bad results.
Off course if Dion wins the election, the actual cabinet will be much different since the party will pick up new seats as well as Bob Rae, Martha Hall Findlay, and Gerard Kennedy are pretty much shoo-ins for a cabinet post. But at least this can give us a glimpse at what a Dion government would look like.
While it is early going, I am so far impressed with Dion as leader. I was honestly quite concerned that after the Liberal convention I would be a very reluctant supporter since I expected either Rae or Ignatieff to win. And even when Dion won, I still wanted to take a wait and see attitude. It is certainly too early to say he will be a great PM, but at least he can count on my vote in the next election, although after that, it really depends on his performance as PM.
posted by Monkey Loves to Fight at 2:41 PM
4 Comments:
Miles:
Good post. The most impressive thing about Dion's picks, in my view, is that they are based on merit rather than political consideration. It shows that his party puts the best interests of the country ahead of its own.
I would say the decisions were based partly on merit, but also based on reaching out to the different corners of the party in order to create a united team. One of the reasons the Liberals got in trouble in the first place was due to fighting amongst the Chretien-Martin factions, so I think Dion wants to avoid that mistake from happening again.
Only ONE women in a prominent position?
Wilson61 - It depends what you define as prominent positions. In total there were 18 out of 56 shadow cabinet positions going to women which is 1/3. 50% should be the long-term goal, but at least it is moving in the right direction.
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