Shuffling the Deck Chairs

In his tradition of maintaining Canada's most secretive, unaccountable government, Harper shuffled his cabinet today.

Not only does the shuffle emphasize the Con$ervative party's desire to suck up to Quebec as much as possible, but it goes several steps further in maintaining the secretive, dishonest model that PMSH clearly favours.

Senator Michael Fortier, a Montrealer who doesn't have a seat in the House of Commons, was appointed international trade minister.

Christian Paradis, an MP for the southeastern riding of Mégantic-L'Érable, was picked to take over Fortier's former job as public works minister. Paradis will also continue in his role of secretary of state for agriculture.
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David Emerson was asked to fill in as foreign affairs minister temporarily, and on Wednesday he was named to take on the role permanently.

In one final move Wednesday, James Moore, a parliamentary secretary from British Columbia, was named secretary of state for official languages, the Asia-Pacific gateway and the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.

I don't think it's necessary to point out that having Fortier in Cabinet at all is a slap in the face to Canadian democracy. Fortier is unelected, was appointed to the Senate on PMSH's first day in office, and is completely unaccountable to the public, yet he holds a fairly senior post in Harper's cabinet.

Continuing to promote David Emerson is similarly offensive. The only merit he has is that he slavishly does whatever his master tells him to do - which no doubt makes PMSH very happy, as it means that Emerson won't wind up doing something that PMSH will find embarrassing. On the other hand, Emerson's profile after his "oh so amazing" softwood lumber deal has been nearly subterranean - a bit of reality that should give a lot of Canadians pause when the man is put into the Foreign Affairs portfolio.

However, we should also take note of something more subtle in Harper's cabinet structure. He has quietly left people like Jason Kenney in secondary posts, and then drags them out to act as "spokesweasel" on whatever topic needs a particularly vile form of attack that day (in PMSH's opinion, of course.

Harper isn't keeping the wingnuts "at bay", he's keeping them in reserve. Especially while he's salivating over the possibility of achieving a majority government. But, coming from Canada's most secretive Prime Minister (one who actually makes Mulroney look accountable!), this should be no real surprise.