Cabinet will give Conservatives maximum strength and impact
George W. Bush governs the most powerful democracy in the world with a population nine times the size of Canada’s, with just 15 cabinet ministers.
And until the terrorist attacks of 9/11, when the department of Homeland Security had to be created, the U.S. generally had just 14 cabinet ministers.
So why did the ousted Paul Martin need 38 cabinet ministers to govern a nation with the population and an economy roughly equivalent to that of California?
One suspects because of the huge patronage involved and the scandal-plagued Liberal government’s need to curry favour wherever possible.
But, gee, it must have been standing room only when Martin’s sleaze-driven government held cabinet meetings.
The larger the cabinet, the greater cost to taxpayers, naturally, but the shipping tycoon and tax-haven specialist never paid much attention to the concerns of our nation’s taxpayers.
Well, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has now slashed the federal cabinet by 25%, thereby immediately increasing its effectiveness and efficiency, and hopefully giving a warning to the Liberal-dominated bureaucratic elite this is going to be a no-nonsense government.
It’s clear Harper’s cabinet make-up is aimed partly at building support in Ontario and Quebec for the next federal election—with an eye on picking up 40 more seats in those two provinces—but let’s look at the other messages the Calgary MP’s line-up sends.
On foreign affairs, defence and national security, the Harper administration is going to rebuild our relations with Washington, and have our country start pulling its weight in the war against Islamic terrorism.
Nova Scotia MP Peter Mac-Kay’s father Elmer was a big player in Brian Mulroney’s move to get a free-trade pact with the U.S., but aside from the days of reckless antagonism to Washington being over, so is that of the anti-Israel battalion in Canada’s sick delegation to the UN.
Liberal defence minister Bill Graham—effete fellow that he is—never served a day in the military. Our new defence minister, Gordon O’Connor, wore a uniform for 33 years.
We have not seen qualifications like this in 50 years. Harper’s commitment to hike defence spending by $5 billion is solid, unlike Liberal smoke-and-mirrors promises.
Finally, with the appointment of Stockwell Day as public security minister—the equivalent of homeland security in the U.S.—we have given that portfolio full cabinet status. Previously, it was in the hip pocket of defeated deputy prime minister Anne McLellan. Another disgraceful shell game.
The Liberals were soft on criminals—except in pouring them hot chocolate and giving them sympathetic hugs.
That’s all over with the appointment of former Manitoba justice minister Vic Toews as federal justice minister.
Now we have a tough-minded law and order man on the job.
Public works, human resources, and citizenship and immigration are three departments awash in scandal after scandal.
In public works, we have the main patronage trough of the government, which became obvious even to the least politically astute, under the regime of Alfonso Gagliano and Adscam.
With billion-dollar contracts under its control, it needed a thorough cleansing.
Turncoat Scott Brison wasn’t going to do that under Martin’s tutelage. Obviously, Harper feels Michael Fortier, president of the Progressive Conservative party in the 1990s, can do just that.
He will, too, and also build up Conservative forces in Quebec.
It’s hard to forget Jane Stewart’s $1 billion bogus job creation program when she held the human resources portfolio. It’s suspected not a single legitimate long-term job was created in this boondoggle, routed as it was, mainly through the offices of Liberal MPs.
Ontario’s Diane Finley won’t tolerate this apalling misuse of the taxpayers’ money.
Hard to forget, too, is Judy Sgro’s reign in citizenship and immigration—and our nation’s dire need to import exotic dancers for strip clubs. This is also a department the Liberals used shamelessly to do favours for ethic groups and vote-buying.
Medicine Hat’s Monte Solberg won’t stoop to any of this kind of malfeasance. He’ll disinfect this operation, for sure.
There’s much more to Harper’s cabinet, of course, and to his road map.
Thankfully, the Grit opposition has its own woes these days.
Let’s just hope that party’s unelected hacks in the Senate realize time is not on their side.
Justice is coming.
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