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Commentary By Roger Cathcart Majority Time At last with a majority government that should end the turmoil in Ottawa at least for four years, Stephen Harper, pleased with the win though not happy with the Quebec result, sat down with his advisors to draw up a stable cabinet to properly govern the country. The cabinet is the choice of the PM and is very important for his image and the party in power. When parliament meets, a new Speaker will be chosen, and he or she will undoubtedly be a Conservative. With a majority in both houses of Parliament, Harper should have little trouble seeing his agenda pass, especially that which is related to law and order, and keeping the country on a straight economic recovery. The new cabinet will have 39 members, one of the three largest in history, matching that of Brian Mulroney's in 1990 and Paul Martin's of 2004. A number of critics (there will always be critics) claim that it is too big and too expensive, especially when Harper promises to pay down the debt and cut down on government spending. But the PM was undaunted, pointing out that ministerial budgets have been significantly reduced. He also pointed out the importance of a government that broadly represents the people, and of making good and proper use of the ministers' talents. There are lots of strong and talented members to choose from. House leader and feared pitbull John Baird becomes foreign affairs minister, a key portfolio in today's world, and the tough-guy image so important in a minority is not needed in a majority government. A powerful player and a key Harper supporter, Baird should do well in this high-level job. Tony Clement moves to the Treasury Board and should help out Finance Minister Jim Flaherty. Staying put in key portfolios are defence minister Peter MacKay and Rob Nicholson in Justice. New heavyweight Julian Fantino, the former head cop of Ontario, will surely help out as associate justice minister. Newly elected Four newly elected MPs are among the 39, including banker whiz Joe Oliver, who beat long-time Liberal Joe Volpe in Toronto. He becomes the new Minister of Natural Resources. Peter Penachue, an aboriginal and the only Tory MP from Newfoundland and Labrador, becomes Minister of Government Affairs, and ex-Mulroney minister Bernard Valcourt is back and responsible for the Atlantic Canada Agency. If you were one of the five Conservatives elected in Quebec, you had a good chance of landing a cabinet spot. Four of them did, including Maxime Bernier, who resigned in 2008 after being involved in a "paper scandal." He is now Minister of Tourism and Small Business Ð not a lot of confidential secrets there! No changes in Manitoba as sure winner Vic Toews stays on as Public safety Minister and head voice of Manitoba. And my favourite MP, Steven Fletcher of Winnipeg, moves to Minister of State for Transport. He's now in charge of 17 Crown corporations, such as Via Rail, the mint, and Canada Post. Steven is happy with the move, and we can be sure that our province's female Tory MPs, Shelly Glover and Candace Hoeppner, are being groomed for promotion in the future. The same might be true of Joy Smith, who handily won again. When Harper appointed his cabinet, he also promoted three losing candidates to the Senate, which sparked howls of outrage, especially from CBC and Jack Layton. Two of the three were senators who had resigned to run for the Commons Ð Fabian Manning from Newfoundland and Quebec's Larry Smith, the former head of the CFL. Also appointed was ex-cabinet minister Josee Verner, who lost re-election in Quebec. Layton called the appointments "completely undemocratic." Who is he kidding? Of course the Senate is undemocratic and always was. The rules are that the PM can appoint any Canadian he wants. They are usually party loyalists, but often they are outstanding citizens, and this has been the case in all Liberal and Conservative governments. Harper also needs and now has a majority in both houses. Layton and his party want to abolish the Senate, not reform it as Harper proposes. Layton and the other opposition parties refused to allow or approve Senate reforms in the minority governments, but now hopefully things have changed. Not only do we need an elected Senate, but also a redistribution of seats. The Upper House is grossly overrepresented in Quebec, Ontario and the Maritimes, and grossly underrepresented in the West. Let's see if reform takes place. Roger's Right Corner runs Wednesdays.3/6/11
