Roundup: A refreshed Cabinet for a new parliament

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So, that was the big Cabinet shuffle. It was extensive, and we saw three ministers dropped entirely (not the first time), a few promotions, a few demotions, and a lot more hybrid and chimeric ministries which will make governance a challenge to say the least. Nevertheless, here we are. Some observations:

  • This was not a new Cabinet or ministry – this was just a shuffle. It’s also not a third term or mandate, because we don’t have those in Canada – it’s the third parliament that the current ministry has spanned.
  • Marc Garneau’s exclusion from Cabinet has fuelled rumours he’s about to become ambassador to France. My presumption is that Bardish Chagger’s exclusion is because she is going to be the new Whip, as the old Whip and his deputy are now in Cabinet. Jim Carr’s departure may be health-related.
  • After Trudeau had rather bravely centralized all of the economic development agencies under one roof and didn’t have them beholden to local ministers and the corrupting influence that offers, he has relented and re-established the practice of regional economic development ministers again, and undone the work of trying to clean up the mess they create.
  • The most important portfolios – finance, defence, foreign affairs – are now all held by women. Anita Anand is the second woman defence minister in Canadian history (the first being Kim Campbell), and her background as a law professor specializing in governance can only help in a role where there has been a crisis in civilian oversight. As foreign affairs minister, Mélanie Joly will have to deal with the tensions between the US and China (and our general lack of a coherent foreign policy).
  • Splitting up Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness was a good and necessary thing; giving Bill Blair emergency preparedness and not public safety is an even better thing because Blair was essentially at risk of capture in the role as a former police chief (with a questionable record around actions of the Toronto Police during the G20 to boot).
  • There are nine new faces in this configuration of Cabinet, and more diversity – the first Black woman since Jean Augustine, the first out lesbian minister, and the queerest Cabinet in Canadian history.
  • Putting Steven Guilbeault in environment may yet be a huge disaster given how badly he mismanaged Bill C-10, but Jonathan Wilkinson in natural resources will likely mean a steadier hand on some of those files where the two overlap.
  • Carving off an associate health minister portfolio for Carolyn Bennett to deal with addictions and mental health is a bit of a throwback to when she was the first minister of state for the newly-created Public Health Agency of Canada, back in the Paul Martin era. Jean-Yves Duclos in health – an economist who did a lot of work on poverty reduction – means he’s not going to be fooled by provinces trying to get more money out of the federal government that they plan to spend elsewhere.
  • Trudeau says he plans to lead the Liberals in the next election, but I’m not sure I believe him, and of course he’d say that now. He wouldn’t actually say he plans to leave until it comes time to do so, lest he turn himself into a lame duck without any moral authority to get anything done.

And now, the talking heads. Aaron Wherry hears from a Senior Liberal Source™ that the message of this Cabinet is the need for urgent delivery of promises. Heather Scoffield makes note of the activists leading the environment and housing files. Jason Markusoff highlights the squirming that Jason Kenney and others are doing now that Steven Guilbeault is the environment minister. Althia Raj sees some attempted legacy-building in Trudeau’s choices.

Good reads:

  • Data breaches at Citizenship and Immigration may have compromised the identities of 200 Afghans awaiting resettlement to Canada, who are in danger of retribution.
  • General Wayne Eyre says that the Canadian Forces is some 7500 members short of what it needs, and sexual misconduct and the pandemic aren’t helping.
  • In advance of Jason Kenney’s bullshit “referendum,” Elections Alberta put misleading information on their website, and lied about who they consulted about it.
  • Kenney is claiming a “claiming strong mandate” from said bullshit referendum on equalisation, but when you count votes actually cast, it’s something like 22 percent.
  • Kenney’s other referendum on permanent daylight savings time, failed by the narrowest of margins.
  • Iqaluit has found an old oil spill in an inaccessible hole near their water treatment plant, which is the likely cause of the fuel contaminating their water supply.
  • Stephen Saideman provides his thoughts on Anita Anand’s appointment.
  • My column looks at the drive to codify some of Parliament’s unwritten rules, as the (garbage) Reform Act attempts to, and why that’s generally a mistake.

Odds and ends:

https://twitter.com/EmmMacfarlane/status/1453075046960963588

https://twitter.com/EmmMacfarlane/status/1453075454534078465

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2 thoughts on “Roundup: A refreshed Cabinet for a new parliament”

  1. Like I said, wait for confirmation from the boss before jumping to conclusions.

    He may well relish the possibility of the Cons devolving into a civil war and mounting a challenge against some wingnut like Poilievre or Lewis.

    Max Fawcett even had in his column yesterday that the new cabinet is that of someone who is doubling down for a fight rather than preparing to hang up his hat.

    You know the old saying. “Just watch him.”

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