Wild About Writing

I’m a longtime Liberal but I’m going to say it — I like the looks of Stephen Harper’s new cabinet.

The Prime Minister has framed a government he hopes will be able to deal with the big economic problems that lie ahead.

I like its youth. I like the new MPs the Prime Minister has brought on board, helping boost to 11 the number of women in the cabinet. And I like the way the Mr. Harper has shuffled poorly performing ministers to less critical posts. Most of them, anyway.

Since the election (and maybe I’m just grasping at straws in the wind) it seems to me the PM has displayed a more reasonable and less partisan tone. True, we haven’t had a lot of opportunity to judge how he’s reacting to the fact he didn’t win a majority, but the signs so far are promising.

A few words about what I like about the cabinet.

Youth. Eleven of the 38 ministers are under 45. The youngest, James Moore, was given the important Canadian Heritage portfolio. He’s a former broadcaster, and handled several difficult tasks well in the last House. I have a hunch the Harper government may try hard to make amends for the anti-culture streak it showed in the campaign. This probably cost Harper his majority, considering how negatively Quebec reacted to the Tory undermining of the importance of culture.

Another young member, Jason Kenney, gets his reward with Citizenship and Immigration. This figures, as he led the Tory push into the ethnic communities.

The new members. There’s a clutch of them. The new women include Leona Aglukkaq, the Inuit MP from Nunuvut who goes to Health after having served as health minister of her home territory. That’s a big step-up, but those who know her have confidence in her ability to grow into the job. I’m also impressed by Lisa Raitt from Halton, the former CEO of the Toronto Port Authority. She should do well in Natural Resources and mark my words, she’ll get a more important portfolio the next time round.

Peter Kent, the ex-broadcaster elected from just north of Toronto, should do well as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Americas. He’s world-traveled and knowledgable and a fast learner. 

The Stand-bys. Jim Prentice , the former Industry Minister from Calgary, steps up to Environment. Before anyopne asks how an MP from Alberta can give a damn about the environment, let me make an important point. Prentice may have it right when he ties the environment and the economy together as a single challenge. We can’t neglect one for the other. The right use of economic tools offers the most effective means of protecting the environment. As long as he doesn’t use the economy as an excuse to do nothing.

I’ve never been a big booster of Jim Flaherty, who stays in Finance. But he’s been talking common sense since the election. Promising not to download Ottawa’s problems to the provinces. Realistic in terms of being “responsible” if it ever becomes necessary to budget for a deficit. Which it probably will. Almost sounds like a Liberal!

Lawrence Cannon, the former Transport Minister from Quebec, was an inevitable choice for Foreign Affairs. Of all the ministries, this is the one that Stephen Harper will control most closely. With Peter McKay staying at Defence, “steady as she goes” will be the watchword.

It’s good to see Steven Fletcher, the Winnipeger who hasn’t allowed being a paraplegic to hold him back, given new responsibility: Minister for Democratic Reform. Now if Mr. Harper would only add proportional representation to his yen to shake up the Senate. At least for the Upper House!

I’m disappointed, however, in the PM’s choice for Industry. Putting Tony Clement in that job at a time when every industry in Ontario is looking for a hand-out from a  hard-up Tory government, is a guarantee of trouble. He didn’t accomplish all that much at Health.

Yes, the cabinet’s too large at 38. But if Mr. Harper will let his ministers manage their portfolios without his constant interference, we can expect a less ideological, more reasonable approach than we saw in the first Harper cabinet.