Conservative cabinet
Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced his new cabinet today. There are some new faces in the mix, including a few more women to even out the gender ratio. Some of the high profile jobs have been given back to the same people, but a few veteran MPs have been shifted to new portfolios. Below is a list of all of the ministers - not including the seven minister of states - and their roles, along with my random comments:
Rob Nicholson – Justice
Stockwell Day – International trade
He moved here from public safety. He once worked out at the gym I worked at in Cornwall.
Gerry Ritz – Agriculture
Vic Toews – Treasury Board
Peter McKay – Defence
The deputy prime minister easily beat Green party leader Elizabeth May to keep his seat in Nova Scotia. He’s keeping the defence portfolio from his last term.
Lawrence Cannon – Foreign affairs
Chuck Strahl – Indian affairs and northern development
Jim Flarety – Finance
In rough economic times, Harper kept Flarety in the finance position to avoid getting a new MP settled in the high-profile role. Hopefully he can keep Canada in the black.
Jason Kenney – Citizenship and immigration
Tony Clement - Industry
Jim Prentice – Environment
He’s going to have a ton of pressure from the opposition. Let’s hope he does a better job than his predecessor.
Bev Oda - International cooperation
Peter Van Loan – Public Safety
Rona Ambrose – Labour
Greg Thompson – Veteran’s affairs
Leona Aglukkaq – Health
Leona is the first Inuit to be appointed to a cabinet position. Good work, Leona! She was previously the health minister for Nunavut.
Lisa Raitt – Natural resources
Gail Shea – Fisheries and oceans
She won the Conservatives their only seat in Liberal-dominated PEI.
Jean-Pierre Blackburn – National revenue
John Baird – Transport
My man, John Baird. He’s the MP for my home riding, Ottawa West-Nepean. I wonder how much time he’ll spend in the spotlight in this job, compared to when he was environment minister.
Diane Finley - Human resources and skills development
James Moore – Heritage and official languages
Jay Hill – Leader of government in the House of Commons
He previously had the role of chief government whip. My brother-in-law is the policy chair for Hill’s district association in northern B.C.
Christian Paradis – Public works
Josee Verner – Intergovernmental affairs
Gordon O’Connor – Chief government whip
O’Connor is a third-term MP for Carleton-Mississippi Mills, the riding I work in. He moved to this role from minister of national revenue. A demotion? He just says it’s “different” and will be very challenging.
Parliament will resume Nov. 18, with the Governor General’s speech from the throne following the next day.
UPDATE: Here’s a great column reacting to the new appointments.
Cheryl
newfcollins said,
October 30, 2008 at 2:40 pm
John Baird in transport? Are there more light rail projects that need cancelling?
blair said,
October 30, 2008 at 4:52 pm
The most interesting characteristic of the Harper cabinet are its ties to the former Harris and Klein government’s of Ontario and Alberta — who form the ideological soul of the relatively new Conservative Party of Canada.
A swing to the right of at least the social policies of the old PCs.
Common Sense Revolution veterans:
Finance: Jim Flaherty, former minister of finance for Ontario government during heady slash and burn days of the Harris government.
Industry: Tony Clement, another architect of Harris’ Common Sense Revolution and won the nickname “Two-Tier Tony” over his advocacy for public-private partnerships in health care.
Transport: John Baird, another front bencher from the Harris government.
I think the selection of these veterans of the Harris government in key cabinet posts indicates the Harper government’s committment to fiscal conservatism — if anything, Harper will have to keep these three reined in.