Like a Kid in a Cabinet Store

The opportunity to comment on the appointment of a new Cabinet doesn't come around too often, so when it does there's really no other option but to give in to the power of the blog. For the sake of brevity, however, my comments will remain limited to Peter Mackay, Stockwell Day and David Emerson.

With the position of Deputy Minister absent from Harper's Cabinet, there was no better place to put Mr. Mackay but in Foreign Affairs. Unlike the other candidates for the job (Monte Solberg and Mr. Day), Mackay fits into the statesman-like mould of his successors Lloyd Axworthy, John Manley and Bill Graham (I'm not sure where to put Mr. Pettigrew). Mackay represents a young, intelligent and progressive vision of Canada and brings to the portfolio plenty of experience with human rights and justice issues that bodes well for an activist Canadian foreign policy while the Conservatives are in power.

What can we say about Stockwell Day, except for "well, it could be worse..."? Given the fact that his appointment to Cabinet was virtually assured, it's relatively comforting that he was not given a high-profile position. Instead, Public Safety (formerly Landslide Annie's domain), is a place where he is likely to take an approach that would be followed by any other Conservative MP.

In charge of CSIS and the RCMP, he'll likely be keen on upgrading our intelligence sharing capabilities with our southern neighbour, while any radical changes he may want to make concerning restricting Canadian civil liberties in the name of security would be trumped by the Opposition. Considering the options: Heritage, Indian and Northern Affairs, Industry, Finance, Trade and Foreign Affairs, I'd say we Canadians lucked-out on this one.

Lastly, as a result of a move that has already upset plenty of his long-time supporters, David Emerson has been appointed our Minister of Trade and Minister for the Pacific Gateway and the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics. There are two ways to look at this one, and I think both will benefit the country as a whole.

First, his crossing the floor only a few weeks after the election makes the Conservatives look bad. After the stink they raised when Stronach switched teams not so long ago and following all his talk concerning accountable government, Harper and his boys (okay, there are six women...), now appear to many as walking contradictions. All those swing voters who helped award him with a minority government will remember this come next election.

Second, the former star Liberal representing the riding of Vancouver-Kingsway was probably the most well qualified individual for the job in both the Liberal and Conservative caucus'. Critics will claim that his was only a vain attempt to stay in power, but I'd be inclined to argue that a man with his talent and experience knew that he'd be more effective in Cabinet than in Opposition, so when the opportunity came around to continue the progress he made on the trade agenda as a Liberal, he wouldn't have hesitated long before accepting it.

Finally, as a (somewhat displaced) Vancouverite, I'm pleased that our interests will remain front and centre in Cabinet. The 2010 Olympics are in need of extra funding to make up for the budget shortfalls stemming from the unanticipated construction boom it was responsible for, and with a Vancouver MP as Minister responsible for the 2010 Olympics the federal government's share is assured.