[Update: 19:45]:
Well, here it is. The only real surprise is moving Mackay into Defense, but that's pretty much a matter of replacing the most inept defense minister Canada's ever had with the most incompetent Foreign Affairs minister we've ever had.
I think more telling is the fact that Harper didn't allow his new ministers speak to the public. Instead, all speaking was left to PMSH ... you do the math.
[/Update]
Sometime this afternoon, Harper will unveil his new cabinet to the country.
I'm not expecting much - too big a shuffle of key portfolios, and Harper will look like he's admitting to having botched it in the first place. Complicating things for him even further is that he's looking decidedly "light" on the front bench in key areas - Finance, Foreign Affairs, Defense come to mind.
I fully expect O'Connor to be moved out of defense, but whether Harper will have the nerve to move Flaherty or Mackay is harder to guess. Neither of these ministers has demonstrated any coherent grasp of their respective portfolios, in my view (but I'm not sure Harper's got anyone with the appropriate backgrounds for either.
Additionally, I'd like to see Harper shuffle out David Emerson and get rid of Michael Fortier.
However, this cabinet strikes me as shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic overall. Unless Harper undoes the gag he places on all of his people, changing cabinet around really makes little difference - it's still ultimately the "all about Steve" show.
1 comment:
Well, the new cabinet has been announced and as you expected, it is not impressive. The front bench still hasn't got that much more strength. The only real addition is Diane Ablonczy as Sec'y of State for Tourism and Small Business. As for the rest, same old, same old. MacKay has to give up his US girl friend.
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