Cabinet shuffle taking aim at new challenges

Whatever this week’s cabinet shakeup does for Justin Trudeau’s re-election prospects next year, it should be judged on how well it serves Canada today.

On this count, it deserves high marks.

The prime minister has reinvigorated his cabinet with five new ministers and several new portfolios to deal with daunting challenges facing the country today, while keeping in place the party’s top power players who, for the most part, have performed capably in demanding jobs.

Nearly three years into their mandate, Trudeau’s Liberals are grappling with issues neither they, nor Canadians, dreamed of in 2015.

Donald Trump, elected U.S. president the year after Trudeau’s victory, may scrap the North American

Free Trade Agreement, which is so vital to Canadian prosperity. Partly because of Trump’s crackdown on migrants, Canada has seen a surge of asylum-seekers entering the country and straining its ability to cope.

Meanwhile, federal-provincial relations have increasingly soured, especially since the combative Doug Ford and his Progressive Conservatives won Ontario’s June provincial election.

And, while it was obvious to statisticians three years ago, the growing cohort of Canadian seniors is putting new stresses on government services and coffers.

These are the pressure points Trudeau wants to relieve. His action plan, at least, is strong, and here are its highlights:

While the Liberals are fighting hard to save NAFTA, Canada must be prepared if the trade deal dies.

With this in mind, Trudeau has wisely moved Jim Carr into the revamped international trade portfolio. While most Canadian exports are currently destined for American markets, and while it will be impossible to quickly end our dependency on U.S. customers, now is the time to open up greater trade with more nations.

Now is also the time to get a better handle on the tens of thousands of asylum seekers who have entered Canada in the past 18 months. More must be done to expedite their hearings so legitimate refugees can be welcomed in. More must be done, too, to provide the housing and care that all refugee claimants need.

With key experience running Canada’s largest urban police force, former Toronto police chief Bill Blair is a shrewd choice to become minister of the new border security and organized crime reduction portfolio. He’ll have to do a lot of juggling — handling border management, gun violence and cannabis legalization.

His ministry must also realize that while it will be crafting policy to reduce criminal activity, legitimate refugees who enter this country are certainly not in that category.

A gruelling future also faces Dominic LeBlanc who is the new intergovernmental affairs minister. The revolt against Trudeau’s’ carbon-tax plan being led by Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe and Ontario’s Ford is just the first shot in what could become a political war between Ottawa and several provinces. A cool head but firm hand will be needed.

Can these ministers deliver and make this shuffle more than a cosmetic change or virtue-signaling? One test case will come with Filomena Tassi, the Hamilton MP who takes on the new cabinet file for seniors.

Will hers be a vanity portfolio or will Tassi lead the government to address the needs of a rapidly-aging population as never before? We’ll hope for the latter.

For now, think of this government as a sailing vessel with a few new deckhands headed on a steady course to its next destination, the 2019 fall federal election.

That’s when voters will decide if they want to stay aboard or jump ship.