Harper's first Cabinet has been sworn in.
At first blush, it appears that he has tried to make it appear moderate and national in form. To my surprise, the bulk of the wingnuts appear to have been excluded. Only two of the most notable wingnuts are ministers - Vic Toews and Stockwell Day. (of course, wingnut is a relative term - I suspect many of the other ministers are significantly more hard-line conservative than I would like to see). Although Jason Kenney is not a minister per se, he has been named (obtusely) "parliamentary secretary to the prime minister" - a vague posting which gives grease-boy a seat at the cabinet table without any real accountability. (How surprising)
Interestingly, David Emerson who ran as a Liberal has crossed the floor and been appointed "Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Pacific Gateway and the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics". I've heard of 'crossing the floor' during a session, but I imagine the CPC will be astonishingly quiet about this one compared to the hullabaloo raised over Belinda Stronach's defection last year. I dare say that Mr. Emerson's constituents might have a thing or two to say about his sudden change of political stripe.
For now, I'll remain somewhat reserved, and mostly paranoid - it's going to take a lot to convince me that the CPC has begun to moderate itself, and I'll be watching the cryptkeepers of the extreme right very carefully as well.
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1 comment:
What a blunder!
Just sworn in and Harper shows his arrogance and political immaturity in these ways. It should not really be a surprise to us, though: he is used to running things “my way or the highway”, and this breathtaking arrogance in doing a 180 degree turn on parliamentarians who change parties, really takes the cake!
These crass steps just confirm the views of the voters in Canada’s big cities: don’t trust a man who runs a stealth campaign, hiding many of his policies.
Going to be a very interesting 12 months!
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