Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
Canada’s New PM: Looks Shallow but May Have Depth
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau swore in his new cabinet today, striking for its number of political rookies. In our Parliamentary system, the Cabinet is usually picked from a small set of politicians (imagine if America’s cabinet had to be made up only of congressmen, and you get the idea).
Usually, seniority is a primary consideration, but Trudeau picked a collection of political rookies. He seemed to match his MPs based on strangely superficial grounds: Hey, an astronaut, let’s put him in Transport; look, a Paralympian, let’s put her in charge of sport and the disability departments; the quadriplegic should get Veterans’ Affairs! Trudeau’s remarks and ceremony consciously echoed Obama’s.
I have to admit, though, he has attracted some pretty impressive resumes — people who committed to a run back when the Liberal Party had fewer than 10 percent of the seats in the House of Commons and was fighting for its life. That indicates Trudeau has developed some powers of persuasion (he sure didn’t have them when I met him in 2005).
Of note for the American conservative:
- Finance Minister Bill Morneau is, unusually, a rookie but with an impressive résumé building one of Canada’s largest HR firms. Most people have never heard of him but he’s getting good reviews in the financial press. Market is ambivalent so far. He will spend on infrastructure (per election promises) but is a reassuring pick to conservatives.
- Foreign affairs is Stephane Dion, a disastrous former Liberal leader who may be well suited. In the 1990s he was intergovernmental affairs, which means corralling unruly provinces (an important job in Canada). Americans will be shocked by his shaky English. He’s single-minded and stubborn, and faceplants about as often as he shines. English Canadians like him because he outmaneuvered the separatists in 1997 with what has turned out to be a permanent wound. He’s also a hard-left environmentalist, which may shine through in this post.
- Our new Defence Minister, Harjit Sajjan, is a hero of the Afghan war. Again, a turban-wearing Canadian may look surprising to Americans, but Indo-Canadians have a strong history in law enforcement and the Canadian forces, and by all accounts he’s a pretty good guy. Another political rookie, though — it’s not clear that he has the sophistication required to deal with America on its military priorities. My bet: Americans can look for cooperation from him on North American issues, but Canada will refrain from most international military deployments. He was born in India but was raised in Canada.
- You normally wouldn’t care about the Environment Minister, but with upcoming climate change conferences, it matters. A human rights and “social justice” lawyer, I have no doubt Catherine McKenna is a leftie, but she’s also a political rookie. The appointment is notable in that she is not an accomplished environmentalist, like some of those who were passed over. Look for Canada to take a green turn, but more in platitudes than policies that matter. The Federal government will stop pushing so hard for Keystone, but the company is likely to still cautiously pursue it.
Also:
fyi: Trudeau’s chief advisor (many would say, his puppet-master) Gerald Butts is (allegedly) the yahoo who invented Earth Hour, back when he worked for the World Wildlife Fund.
Be afraid.
Yeah Misthi, but at least his name gives an opportunity for cheap cracks.
Dan, the Chretien-Martin axis showed, I think that a coalition of Liberals can do what’s required in a crisis. Martin on his own actually ran the trend the other way, and Chretien was Pierre Trudeau’s finance minister for some record-busting deficits in the 70s. But when the two wings came together they often govern reasonably – go back through the 40s and 50s Liberal governments and you have growing government but a growing, confident country.
The question is whether the Pierre Trudeau’s anomaly is about to repeat itself. Justin owns his party – he felt confident enough to snub the runner-up from his leadership contest in his Cabinet choices – but he appears not to be choosing the “strong PMO” approach usually associated with effective change.
On the other hand, the country’s not in crisis – with good fiscal footing, both the Liberals and – sadly – our compatriots feel we can afford some silly left-wing policies. We’ll see whether it’s just talk, or whether the foxes are getting keys to the henhouses…
Dan, I also have to agree that calling “climate change” a cabinet post is ridiculous.
I cannot, however, agree that Naomi Klein is a “major figure” in any circles – even progressive ones. She’s a pretty effective self-promoter but I think her influence is overrated – even the lefties I know roll their eyes at her mention. Make sure you link your article for us, I’ll be interested to know if this is wrong.
I don’t know…. My kid was forced to watch her execrable ‘No Logos’ video in grade 11 social studies, and had to do a unit on her ideas. The teachers called her ‘economist’ Naomi Klein and treated her as a distinguished mainstream figure.
The indoctrination going on in Canadian schools is a real scandal. I swear half the material they had to learn was produced by Greenpeace and other lefty organizations. They are flooding the schools with free materials, and the lazy teachers are presenting it without question. And most of them agree with it anyway.
Look. He is Quebecois. He is handsome. His dad was famous. He has instant cred. If he is not deep, it is because he doesn’t need to be.
As well as placing them square into inevitable embarrassment.
This is going to be Ontario spread all over the country. Borrow huge sums of money to invest in pipe dreams while being covered by an excellent PR apparatus. Foreign money is driving real estate in some cities, but the rule is three part time jobs and/or dealing with incessant demands of petty bureaucrats.
The only thing that will keep a level of sanity is the shrinking economy. Expect in two months an announcement that Canada slipped into recession in the fall. Alberta oil patch projects are being shelved one after another, that gravy train and the source of the ability of Canada to borrow money cheaply is diminishing.
Canadian business has been through this cycle before. Either you get on the gravy train, which for all it’s glitz and PR will be rather meager by necessity, or go Galt. Every business has been facing a 25% increase in the costs of it’s inputs, and other than beneficiaries of the real estate boom, cash is tight. I expect to see half a dozen regulatory requirements imposed upon me, meaning less investment in growth.
There have been many hints from this crowd that business is an enemy to dominate. We are a high cost jurisdiction in an extremely competitive global market, and commodities have been our source of cash. Those prices are low, so the hard reality of the non competitive economy has hit. Voters went for a magic unicorn and are going to rue the day.
On the other hand, the newly-created Ministry of Families, Children and Social Development is a full ministry.
The only possible opposition to this paradigm will be the provincial premiers. The Prime Minister doesn’t have the constitutional authority to meddle in things like health care, welfare, energy, etc.
Trudeau père got around the constitution by bribing the provinces with taxpayer dollars. Now, as then, this strategy will work out great for Trudeau fils in Ontario and the Maritimes.
The big question is how the western premiers and the premier of Quebec will react to the promises of “free” money.
Considering that even Alberta is run by the NDP, I’m not optimistic. Saskatchewan’s Brad Wall can’t hold back the tide all by himself.
I’m Québécois too (by ancestry). Perhaps I should run for Parliament some day. And my academic credentials are stronger than Trudeau’s.
The new Prime Minister is not playing with a full container of maple syrup.
If you got your citizenship, I’m sure the Conservative Party would welcome you, or at least let you run for the nomination. Our candidate nomination process is much more open than theirs.
Another tidbit about his “gender-parity cabinet”: About a third of his female ministers are only “ministers of state”. They means they don’t get to run their own ministry, they are subordinate to an actual minister, and they only make 80% as much as a full minister.
None of the male ministers are “ministers of state”.
Source: http://ipolitics.ca/2015/11/05/one-third-of-women-in-trudeaus-cabinet-are-actually-ministers-of-state/
Update: He’s since said that the discrepancy was the result of a “bureaucratic glitch”, and that women will all have their salaries topped up and that they will have the same signing authority as a full minister.
One wonders if that means that the offices they run will also be upgraded to full ministries, with all the increased costs that implies. The new Finance Minister will be under a fair bit of scrutiny on this point. Will the finance minister allocate an “equal” amount of funding to these new “women’s ministries”?
After his first budget, we’ll see how much the “men’s ministries” are allocated compared to the “women’s ministries”.
Source: http://ipolitics.ca/2015/11/06/trudeaus-office-vows-to-fix-gender-gap-in-cabinet-salaries/
Meanwhile, the Conservative Party caucus just elected its (arguably*) fourth female leader: Rona Ambrose.
The previous leaders were Kim Campbell, Elsie Wayne, and Deborah Grey.
(Campbell and Wayne were leaders of the old Progressive Conservative Party, and Deb Grey was leader of the old Reform Party/Canadian Alliance. The PC Party and the Canadian Alliance merged to become the Conservative Party of Canada. I count them all as progenitors of the CPC.)
Personnel is policy:
http://thewalrus.ca/the-climate-change-cabinet/
Yep, that’s the problem. I don’t have Canadian citizenship. And even if I were to eventually become a citizen, I doubt I could ever run for office in Quebec due to my poor French language skills. Then again, the latter didn’t stop Ruth Ellen Brosseau, who was just re-elected…