PM rejigs cabinet following Baird’s exit
OTTAWA— Prime Minister Stephen Harper has appointed one of his most trusted cabinet ministers to national defence in a high-level cabinet shuffle precipitated by the abrupt departure of John Baird. On Monday, Jason Kenney became Harper’s fourth defence minister since the Conservatives took power in 2006. The former employment minister is now tasked with articulating and defending Canada’s next move in the fight against Islamic State extremists in Iraq.
Rob Nicholson, who has held the role since Harper’s mid-mandate shuffle in July 2013, will become minister of foreign affairs.
Pierre Poilievre, an Ottawa MP who spearheaded the Conservatives controversial electoral reform bill, has been appointed to Kenney’s previous position at Employment and Social Development Canada — one of Ottawa’s largest departments.
The cabinet shuffle was provoked by Baird’s abrupt departure from Harper’s cabinet last Tuesday.
“The changes to the ministry announced today will help ensure that key portfolios continue to have the strong leadership required to advance Canadian priorities,” Harper’s office wrote in a short statement.
Kenney takes over the defence file at a time when Parliament is set to debate Canada’s continuing role in the international coalition against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS. The cost of Canada’s six-month airstrike — approved by the Conservatives but opposed by both the NDP and Liberals in October — is also expected to be revealed this month. It will be left to Kenney to articulate the government’s position on the continuing fight.
“The Iraq deployment, it’s become a fairly significant electoral issue, or at least (a) partisan issue,” said Philippe Legassé, a University of Ottawa professor specializing in defence and foreign policy.
“So the placing of Kenney there seems to indicate a recognition that (defence) may be a higher electoral stake than it has been in the past . . . It does seem to indicate the portfolio has a greater degree of importance at the moment, and that the prime minister wants one of his stronger ministers taking up that position.”
Legassé said he also expects defence procurement — a notoriously difficult-to-handle file over successive governments and ministers — to return to the headlines in the coming months.
Kenney will also retain his previous responsibilities as the minister for multiculturalism. If Kenney is planning a major shift in the government’s position on its military engagement, it was not apparent Monday evening.
In an interview with CBC, Kenney reiterated that Canada will not contribute ground troops to fight ISIS in Iraq, and left the door open to potentially extending the deployment of CF-18 fighters beyond the original six month mandate.
Kenney said that he will be making a recommendation to cabinet and the prime minister on the mission’s future — after he’s been briefed by his new departmental officials.
Nicholson will be tasked with continuing Baird’s work at foreign affairs, where the departing minister has left a divisive legacy. Canada’s recent foreign policy has been lauded by some for speaking up for human rights issues abroad — but critics have accused the Conservatives of diminishing Canada’s international standing and focusing its diplomacy too narrowly on trade.
For Poilievre, the move is a major promotion. Poilievre has held only junior roles in Harper’s cabinet — including parliamentary secretary to Harper himself — but is now in charge of one of Ottawa’s largest and most important files.
Poilievre will also take over Baird’s responsibilities as the minister of the National Capital Commission — a portfolio with a lot of power in the city of Ottawa.