The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
The day before Halloween, Stephen Harper announced his new cabinet, appointing what he called an economic cabinet with the intention of fighting the worldwide economic slowdown. The cabinet heavyweights are in strong portfolios, and three powerful newly elected women are also in major portfolios. The one who got the most ink was from Nunavut, an Inuit former territorial health minister named Leona Aglukkaq, the first woman from the northern territory in cabinet. The new health minister is described as bright and tough. The Tories wanted this seat badly and plan on keeping it. Defeating Tory-maverick-turned-Liberal Garth Turner in Halton, near Toronto, was Lisa Rait, a former head of the Toronto Port Authority. She was given Natural Resources. Turner ran for the PC leadership in 1993. He sent me (and I am sure most delegates) a copy of "The Turner Plan," his program for the country. The plan was good, but Garth was not the one. In Harper's caucus, he could not keep quiet and was tossed out for revealing secrets to the press. He became an independent, then joined the Liberals, but could not defeat Rait. The third new woman was Gail Shea from P.E.I., the first Tory elected there in decades. She was given the Fisheries portfolio, a natural for an islander. Gail is a highly experienced provincial politician and should do well in this post. There were also a number of women reappointed to cabinet, including Diane Finley and fellow Ontarians Bev Oda and Helena Guergis, Marjorie Lebreton from the Senate, Josee Verner from Quebec, and Alberta's Rona Ambrose and Diane Ablonczy. Saskatchewan's Lynne Yelich was the 11th female appointed. The big six portfolios went to solid performers like Stockwell Day in International Trade, particularly important since Obama has threatened to revise NAFTA. Attack dog John Baird was put in Transport, Tony Clement in Industry, Jason Kenney in Immigration, and young B.C. member Jim Moore in Heritage. Harper signalled that the environment is an important factor in the economy by appointing fellow Calgarian Jim Prentice, his best cabinet minister, to that portfolio. The skillful Prentice will be responsible for working with Alberta and the oil patch to see what can be done about oil sands pollution. There is good representation from across the country in the cabinet, except from Newfoundland thanks to Danny Williams, the offbeat anti-Harper premier. For the first time since that province joined confederation in 1949, Newfoundland will not be represented in cabinet. The big representation is from Ontario, where the economic crisis has hit the hardest, led by the re-appointment of Jim Flaherty as finance minister. Flaherty will provide stability in the portfolio and hopefully in the economy. Flaherty's re-appointment was roundly criticized by Liberals because he had cut the GST and spent the $12-billion surplus he inherited from the Liberals. What Flaherty actually did was give everyone, including those who don't pay income taxes, a tax break by cutting the GST. He gave the surplus back to the working people and families because it was their money. One Harper appointment that had no negative reviews was that of Winnipeg's Steven Fletcher as Minister of State for Democratic Reform. He will work with the Prime Minister on plans to reform the Senate and other electoral reforms. Steven is a shining light to handicapped people everywhere. The first quadriplegic to be elected to Parliament, he is now the first one to be appointed to cabinet. Steven pays close attention to his constituency. When the passport crisis hit the country, he was the only MP to hold seminars on how to get a passport with the least amount of trouble. He also holds regular seminars to keep his people informed. No wonder his majorities have been increasing! Even though Flaherty nearly blew away the government with his economic update, which gave the Opposition supposed cause to form a coalition, the finance minister is one of Harper's best, and many people thought his update was okay. His budget in the upcoming session will show phase two of the governments' plans for the economy. Roger's Right Corner runs Wednesdays.
