Monday, February 06, 2006
Musings on the Cabinet
I'll compile the results of the pool sometime in the next couple of days, when my cold is kicking my ass less than it is right now. For now, some scattered observations:
1. David Emerson. Wow. I'm not sure about this, but this might be the first time in modern Canadian parliamentary history that a candidate has crossed the floor before the new Parliament even sat (crossing the floor before setting foot on the floor, really). But yeah: wow.
2. I don't know all that much about Michael Fortier, so I'm not sure what I'll think of his performance as International Trade Minister. People who are familiar my political philosophy, though, will be unsurprised to learn that I at least give Harper marks for being willing to look outside of his caucus for cabinet ministers.
3. As of right now, Fortier's bio on the Government of Canada page states "He was president of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in the 1990s, and ran for the leadership of the Party in 1988." This must have come as a great shock to Brian Mulroney, who was busy leading the party into one of the most pivotal elections in Canadian history at the time.
4. If anybody's counting, Cannon's the second consecutive Transport Minister to double as Québec lieutenant. At least Cannon's a federalist, though.
5. Of all the positions that were speculated to be going to Rona Ambrose, I'm not sure I heard environment mentioned even once.
6. There's much commotion being heard about the omission of a Deputy PM, but a far more striking omission seems to me to be an Intergovernmental Affairs Minister. I'm extremely curious to see how this will play out - presumably, Harper will be taking the lead on these things personally.
7. I still don't like the concept of a Minister of Democratic Reform. At least Harper only named one such minister, though.
8. If anybody's counting, Conservatives + New Democrats + Independents now make up exactly half the House of Commons. This is unlikely to matter, but I thought it was kind of cool.
9. Chuck Strahl strikes me as an odd choice for Agriculture. But his appointment to cabinet at least means that the speculation for Speaker can start now.
AMUSING QUOTE UPDATE: "I'm going to be Stephen Harper's worst enemy."
- David Emerson, January 24 2006
I'M AN IDIOT UPDATE: Apparently intervgovernmental affairs went to a chap named Michael Chong, who's also President of the Queen's Privy Council and Minister for Sport. Huh.
AND I CAN'T ADD EITHER UPDATE: Conservatives + NDP make up half the House. Conservatives + New Democrats + André Arthur make up a majority. Not that this matters, since M. Arthur appears to plan on abstaining on everything except constituency specific issues (of which precious few come up before the House) and on issues on which he purports to know how his constituents want him to vote.
I BASICALLY JUST FORGOT TO MENTION THIS THE FIRST TIME AROUND UPDATE: You know, I figured that if any cabinet position got cut, it would be the Minister for International Co-operation. I could be missing out on some subtle nuance, but it seems to me that if we have such a minister, all that's left for the Foreign Affairs Minister is war and isolationism.
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I'll compile the results of the pool sometime in the next couple of days, when my cold is kicking my ass less than it is right now. For now, some scattered observations:
1. David Emerson. Wow. I'm not sure about this, but this might be the first time in modern Canadian parliamentary history that a candidate has crossed the floor before the new Parliament even sat (crossing the floor before setting foot on the floor, really). But yeah: wow.
2. I don't know all that much about Michael Fortier, so I'm not sure what I'll think of his performance as International Trade Minister. People who are familiar my political philosophy, though, will be unsurprised to learn that I at least give Harper marks for being willing to look outside of his caucus for cabinet ministers.
3. As of right now, Fortier's bio on the Government of Canada page states "He was president of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in the 1990s, and ran for the leadership of the Party in 1988." This must have come as a great shock to Brian Mulroney, who was busy leading the party into one of the most pivotal elections in Canadian history at the time.
4. If anybody's counting, Cannon's the second consecutive Transport Minister to double as Québec lieutenant. At least Cannon's a federalist, though.
5. Of all the positions that were speculated to be going to Rona Ambrose, I'm not sure I heard environment mentioned even once.
6. There's much commotion being heard about the omission of a Deputy PM, but a far more striking omission seems to me to be an Intergovernmental Affairs Minister. I'm extremely curious to see how this will play out - presumably, Harper will be taking the lead on these things personally.
7. I still don't like the concept of a Minister of Democratic Reform. At least Harper only named one such minister, though.
8. If anybody's counting, Conservatives + New Democrats + Independents now make up exactly half the House of Commons. This is unlikely to matter, but I thought it was kind of cool.
9. Chuck Strahl strikes me as an odd choice for Agriculture. But his appointment to cabinet at least means that the speculation for Speaker can start now.
AMUSING QUOTE UPDATE: "I'm going to be Stephen Harper's worst enemy."
- David Emerson, January 24 2006
I'M AN IDIOT UPDATE: Apparently intervgovernmental affairs went to a chap named Michael Chong, who's also President of the Queen's Privy Council and Minister for Sport. Huh.
AND I CAN'T ADD EITHER UPDATE: Conservatives + NDP make up half the House. Conservatives + New Democrats + André Arthur make up a majority. Not that this matters, since M. Arthur appears to plan on abstaining on everything except constituency specific issues (of which precious few come up before the House) and on issues on which he purports to know how his constituents want him to vote.
I BASICALLY JUST FORGOT TO MENTION THIS THE FIRST TIME AROUND UPDATE: You know, I figured that if any cabinet position got cut, it would be the Minister for International Co-operation. I could be missing out on some subtle nuance, but it seems to me that if we have such a minister, all that's left for the Foreign Affairs Minister is war and isolationism.
