Cabinet Shuffle
As expected, the cabinet shuffled occured today. Before giving my opinion of the specific changes, I would like to make two general comments. Firstly, the fact this is Harper's second cabinet shuffle since becoming PM only 19 months ago really says something about the talent within the government. Some of that is not totally Harper's fault as strong candidates tend to run for parties likely to form government and prior to the midway point of the last campaign, it didn't look like the Tories would form government. However, it is partly Harper's fault, since he has been a very controlling PM and whenever he messes up, whatever cabinet minister falls under that department ends up taking the fall. The reality is no one is strong in every area, which is why successful governments are a team effort rather than a one man dictatorial show. And this leads me to my second point, which is unless Harper starts letting his cabinet ministers have more say, what I say below is really irrelevant, since as before it will still be Harper calling all the shots. So if you believe, like me that Harper, will still be running a one man show, then don't bother reading any further. But if you happen to believe Harper will let his ministers have more say, then read on.
Gordon O'Connor: It goes without question that he had to go as defence minister. My only question is why didn't Gordon O'Connor have the integrity to voluntarily resign as defence minister after the Afghan detainee issue and when he refused to resign, why didn't Harper force him to do so?
Peter MacKay: Although an improvement over O'Connor, I still feel he is a little too hawkish to be defence minister. Although, I doubt we will find a defence minister who is dovish enough for my liking or acceptable to most Canadians as long as the Tories remain in government.
Jim Prentice: Definitely one of the brighter lights within the Harper government and it is too bad he got switched from Indian Affairs as he was one of the few Tories who was actually on good terms with the aboriginals. Nevertheless, I expect he will be a strong industry minister.
Chuck Strahl: Probably not a bad decision to remove him from agriculture, but considering the fact that he was a former Reform Party member and Reform has a long history of hostility to aboriginals, I am bit worried we could see relations with the aboriginal community worsen.
Gerry Ritz: Certainly qualified considering he was a former farmer himself, however his strong support of weakening the Canadian Wheat Board will certainly not put that issue to rest. Although the fact he comes from the Wheat Board designated area may at least allow him to make the case the Tories understand the farmers in this area better than the other parties, although I am not sure how well this will fly. If you are a Wheat Board supporter, he is a bad choice, but if a Wheat Board opponent, then a good choice.
Diane Ablonczy: Considering the lack of women in Harper's cabinet, he definitely needed to bring in another female after Carol Skelton announced her decision to leave. Still the number of women in the Tory caucus is unacceptably low and it is something the party must address including the possibility of appointing some women in winneable ridings to ensure a better gender balance.
Maxime Bernier: Also one of the stronger ministers, although seems more suited to industry than foreign affairs. However, considering he comes from Quebec, where anti-war sentiment is strongest, I hope he will play a moderating influence on foreign affairs, although I fear this is more about selling the Afghanistan mission to Quebecers rather than re-thinking it.
Josee Verner: As a fully bilingual Quebecer, where culture is a major issue, I do think she will be a better heritage minister than Bev Oda
Bev Oda: Largely a dud as heritage minister, but considering there are few females in the Harper cabinet and the fact asides from Jim Flaherty, Peter Van Loan, and Mike Wallace, she is one of the few Tory members within commuting distance of Toronto, Harper had to give her something.
As for what this will mean in terms of the direction of the government, we will just have to wait and see.
Gordon O'Connor: It goes without question that he had to go as defence minister. My only question is why didn't Gordon O'Connor have the integrity to voluntarily resign as defence minister after the Afghan detainee issue and when he refused to resign, why didn't Harper force him to do so?
Peter MacKay: Although an improvement over O'Connor, I still feel he is a little too hawkish to be defence minister. Although, I doubt we will find a defence minister who is dovish enough for my liking or acceptable to most Canadians as long as the Tories remain in government.
Jim Prentice: Definitely one of the brighter lights within the Harper government and it is too bad he got switched from Indian Affairs as he was one of the few Tories who was actually on good terms with the aboriginals. Nevertheless, I expect he will be a strong industry minister.
Chuck Strahl: Probably not a bad decision to remove him from agriculture, but considering the fact that he was a former Reform Party member and Reform has a long history of hostility to aboriginals, I am bit worried we could see relations with the aboriginal community worsen.
Gerry Ritz: Certainly qualified considering he was a former farmer himself, however his strong support of weakening the Canadian Wheat Board will certainly not put that issue to rest. Although the fact he comes from the Wheat Board designated area may at least allow him to make the case the Tories understand the farmers in this area better than the other parties, although I am not sure how well this will fly. If you are a Wheat Board supporter, he is a bad choice, but if a Wheat Board opponent, then a good choice.
Diane Ablonczy: Considering the lack of women in Harper's cabinet, he definitely needed to bring in another female after Carol Skelton announced her decision to leave. Still the number of women in the Tory caucus is unacceptably low and it is something the party must address including the possibility of appointing some women in winneable ridings to ensure a better gender balance.
Maxime Bernier: Also one of the stronger ministers, although seems more suited to industry than foreign affairs. However, considering he comes from Quebec, where anti-war sentiment is strongest, I hope he will play a moderating influence on foreign affairs, although I fear this is more about selling the Afghanistan mission to Quebecers rather than re-thinking it.
Josee Verner: As a fully bilingual Quebecer, where culture is a major issue, I do think she will be a better heritage minister than Bev Oda
Bev Oda: Largely a dud as heritage minister, but considering there are few females in the Harper cabinet and the fact asides from Jim Flaherty, Peter Van Loan, and Mike Wallace, she is one of the few Tory members within commuting distance of Toronto, Harper had to give her something.
As for what this will mean in terms of the direction of the government, we will just have to wait and see.
posted by Monkey Loves to Fight at 6:28 PM
3 Comments:
I am disappointed in this cabinet shuffle.
Two missed opportunities for Harper. Not calling a spring election may be a big mistake.
I had blogged repeatedly that Harper should have set the standard and gone hard right in the winter session. He could have used Monte Solberg at Social Development to attack Canada's social fabric and the need to reasonable accomodate ethnic immigrants. Then force an election through a budget that brought forth Mike Harris spending cuts.
Now, Harper misses an opportunity to bring Bernier into Finance and take a libertarian stance in government policy. Instead Bernier no longer has influence on an economic portfolio in Foreign Affairs. So the implementation of a flat tax and privatizing the Canada Pension Plan is no longer something Harper has in mind.
This is the shame of Harper's government. He had the chance to become Canada's most radical right wing government. Now he will just merely bleed into political infamy by a thousand cuts thanks to Stephane Dion.
In other news another Liberal is caught stealing!
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070814.wlavigne0814/BNStory/National/home
Mushroom - You seem to be being a bit sarcastic. While Harper may believe in those things, most Canadians don't and he is not dumb enough to do them with only a minority. If he a majority government, then yes the cabinet shuffle probably would be like that, but thankfully he doesn't.
Anonymous - Do you Tories have anything other than corruption to talk about or is that the only thing the Liberals have done wrong.
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