PM SHAKES THINGS UP

A look at new cabinet

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveiled his new cabinet Wednesday, making room for western voices at the table, but also putting one of his best performers at his side to deal with fraying relationships with premiers across the country.

Former Foreign Affairs minister Chrystia Freeland will become Trudeau’s first deputy prime minister and shift her focus to intergovernmental affairs, negotiating with premiers like Alberta’s Jason Kenney and Ontario’s Doug Ford on issues like carbon taxes and pharmacare.

Freeland will maintain her focus on U.s.-canada relations, helping to ensure the renegotiated NAFTA agreement gets across the finish line.

Trudeau said Freeland’s handling of the important files at Foreign Affairs gave him the confidence to put her in this new role.

“Chrystia and I have worked very closely on some of the biggest files facing Canada,” said Trudeau.

“Our ability to work well together on these issues that touch national unity, touch energy and environment, touch relations with all provinces and regions in this country, is going to be an extremely important thing at a time when we see some very different perspectives across the country that need to be brought together.”

Although she was born in Peace River, Alta., Freeland represents a downtown Toronto riding, but she’s probably the closest thing the government has to an Albertan in caucus after the Liberals were wiped out in the province.

The statement should be qualified. Strong ministers can prove decisive in implementing, if not conceiving, policy. The trouble with this Liberal government is that there have been very few strong ministers — and the new lot don’t look like much of an upgrade.

We now have a ministry bloated by more members of the Queen’s Privy Council — 36 in total — each one earning a stipend of $264,000, even if they are in charge of nothing more than a brass plate and a driver. Mona Fortier, the Ottawa MP, is the new minister of Middle Class Prosperity, but has no ministerial department (she will be “supported” by the Finance department). There are no hints in the accompanying literature about the goals for this new ministry. A Subaru in every driveway, perhaps?

One thing that is clear is that the direction will continue to be unrelenting leftward — spending money as a quick fix, rather than doing the hard work of reform. The conviction is deeply rooted that a majority would have been Trudeau’s, if only the Liberals had been able to convince more progressive Quebecers that the spending taps would remain on gush. Nobody should expect any variations from that strategy ahead of the next election. It was noticeable that 10 ministers from Quebec were appointed on Wednesday, including former environmental activist Steven Guilbeault in Heritage and François-philippe Champagne at Foreign Affairs, compared to eight in the last cabinet.

That over-representation of Quebecers will not help Chrystia Freeland, in her new gig as minister for Intergovernmental Affairs, to stifle rising discontent in the West. She was, no doubt, induced by guilt to take the job — “ask not what your country can do for you…”. The pill seems to have been sugared with the addition of the deputy prime minister title and a pledge that she could also see the new NAFTA deal over the legislative finishing line. But to make progress on the unity file, she will need funds and political latitude. Provincial premiers generally like to deal with prime ministers, not their subordinates. Freeland will struggle to gain their attention and respect.

The appointment of Seamus O’regan as minister of Natural Resources is not going to aid her cause, given his deep roots in Newfoundland and lack of experience in the resource industry. The Liberal election campaign on the Prairies was co-ordinated by a Newfoundlander, with unspectacular results. A repeat performance seems more than likely unless O’regan immerses himself in the politics of the oilpatch and, crucially, gets some good advice from people who understand the disconnection in the West.

Elsewhere there were some positive developments. The appointment of Anita Anand as minister of Public Services and Procurement is a genuine surprise. The rookie MP for Oakville is an accomplished law professor at the University of Toronto, where she specializes in corporate governance. It is encouraging that people of substance still want to run away to join the parliamentary circus, though quite why they would want to lower their ambitions remains a mystery.

Bill Morneau remains at Finance, which is on balance a good thing as growth slows in the economy. One of Morneau’s colleagues suggested that Finance, long an independent power base, has become a “vassal state” under Trudeau. It is past time for Morneau to assert himself with the free-spenders in the Prime Minister’s Office.

David Lametti returns as Justice minister, again a net positive. In his oath of office, he affirmed a promise to uphold the independence of the judiciary and prosecutorial independence, which should forestall any prospect of Snc-lavalin being granted a remediation deal. A more politically acceptable solution would be for the company to ring-fence the parts of the business that caused the legal liability stemming from the bribery allegations. Lametti will, one hopes, resist any pressure from the centre to intervene.

There are seven new faces in cabinet — including Marc Miller at Indigenous Services and Marco Mendicino at Immigration, both able; both of whom narrowly missed out last summer. After the failed experiment of promoting MPS not steeped in partisan politics — step forward Jody Wilson-raybould and Jane Philpott — Trudeau has fallen back on friends and loyalists this time around. (Miller, like O’regan, was in the prime minister’s wedding party).

This is a cabinet that Trudeau claims will “work tirelessly for all Canadians.” Perhaps. But voters can rest assured it will be positively indefatigable in its efforts to get re-elected with a majority whenever the next election comes around.

THERE ARE NO HINTS ABOUT GOALS FOR THIS MINISTRY: A SUBARU IN EVERY DRIVEWAY?