TRUDEAU’S TO-DO LIST
Justin Trudeau will have little time to savour his party’s historic election victory before his election promises force him to focus on governing. The Ottawa Citizen’s Lee Berthiaume outlines five things the prime minister-designate will have to tackle du
NAME THE TEAM
Trudeau faces tough choices in appointing a cabinet. Not only will he have to choose from among the wide range of talent in his 184-person caucus, he also has to consider representation from different geographic regions and ethnic backgrounds. Adding another layer to the choice, he has promised as many women around the cabinet table as men. The cabinet will be unveiled on Nov. 4. A transition team will help Trudeau with cabinet-making as well as assisting in identifying legislative priorities. A retired senior bureaucrat, Peter Harder, is leading the transition team.
HIT THE WORLD STAGE
Trudeau hopes to represent Canada at several major international summits before Parliament is recalled. Those include the G20 leaders summit in Turkey and the AsiaPacific Economic Co-operation meeting in the Philippines, both in mid-November. If he attends, both will be important opportunities to interact with fellow world leaders for the first time, especially U.S. President Barack Obama. There is also a meeting of Commonwealth leaders in Malta in late November. There are two weeks of climate change talks in Paris, Nov. 30-Dec. 11, which Trudeau has promised to attend along with the provincial premiers.
MEET THE PREMIERS
Trudeau has promised to restore relations between the federal government and the provinces after a decade of strained ties under outgoing Prime Minister Stephen Harper. That includes meeting with all the premiers, something Harper refused to do, within the Liberals’ first 100 days in power. The meeting will provide a chance to hash out a cross-country approach to climate change, as well as the future of health-care funding and the Liberals’ key promise to invest billions in infrastructure spending.
SYRIA AND IRAQ
One of Trudeau’s major election promises was to end Canada’s bombing campaign against ISIL. Trudeau did not say when such an order would be given. The clock also is ticking on his promise to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees by the end of the year and provide the UN High Commission for Refugees an additional $100 million in emergency humanitarian aid for the four million Syrians who have fled their country since 2011.
PARLIAMENTARY AGENDA
It’s expected the prime minister-designate won’t wait until the end of the year to recall Parliament and begin moving on his legislative agenda. Trudeau has promised that his first order of business will be cutting income taxes for middleincome earners. As well, Trudeau’s team has started work on reforming Bill C-51, which granted Canada’s spy agencies more power. And he must move quickly on his party’s promise to appoint a panel of experts to recommend potential senators to the red chamber.