It has been said the Federal Conservatives were in "too long" (which I wholeheartedly disagree with as a voting consideration or strategy). Then lets look at Ontario for a second and hope this does not spread to the Federal level. Otherwise at this rate there won't be anything left to spend on those forecasted +$30B deficits.
As published in the National Post...
"... When a government has been in power as long as the Ontario Liberals, it becomes important to mix things up every now and again, lest the narrative of who-screwed-up-what becomes a little too easy to follow. A cabinet shuffle is arguably the best instrument for muddying that narrative, while at the same time providing a diversion from whatever malignant blemish happens to be currently occupying the opposition’s attention (was it the Liberal’s atrociously received “climate change action plan,” or the investigation into Pan Am executives deleting their computer hard drives?).
Premier Kathleen Wynne delivered this diversion Monday, adding seven new members to make a swollen cabinet of 30. Growing the size of the executive council is another shrewd way to steer the discussion toward one about the composition of the cabinet, rather than taking a tough look at the cabinet members themselves, though a larger cabinet does come with the obvious disadvantage of increasing the likelihood that someone will have his or her eyes closed during the executive council “class photo.”
It goes without saying that the most challenging aspect of a good cabinet shuffle is matching the most capable person to the right ministry. Take, for example, the Treasury Board, which has been assigned to former education minister Liz Sandals. During her three years on the education file, Sandals skilfully finagled “net-zero” deals with teachers’ unions that turned out to not actually be “net-zero;” she oversaw millions of dollars in secret payouts to teachers unions, which were only discovered following an investigation by the Globe and Mail; and she literally ran from reporters when the auditor general revealed that the cost to re-open negotiations with teachers in 2013 was $468 million. Those experiences will indeed come in handy for Sandals’ new role as president of the Treasury Board, which is tasked with “leading the government’s efforts on accountability, openness and modernization.” Bring your running shoes, Liz!
Moving on, former citizenship and immigration minister Michael Chan has moved to the new Ministry of International Trade, less than a week after he defended China’s human rights record following a visit by that country’s foreign minister, who berated a Canadian reporter for asking a question about it. As minister of international trade, Chan will be expected to look past all sorts of human rights abuses to see to Wynne’s $2.5 billion worth of agreements with Beijing, all while telling Chinese media that, “the inner meaning of human rights is very broad.” Indeed, we should all take a moment to ponder whether imprisoning dissidents really is a human rights abuse, or if it’s not actually that bad because, as Chan says, China has come a long way compared to where it used to be.
As for the others: Bob Chiarelli moves from energy to infrastructure, which allows him to build instead of just blow money aimlessly; Glenn Thibeault graduates to minister of energy, with the stench of his contentious Sudbury byelection still trailing behind; and Indira Naidoo-Harris takes over the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan (ORPP) file, to work alongside former Pan Am Games CEO Saad Rafi — under whose watchful eye the Games ran $342 million over budget according to a recent report by the auditor general — and has been rewarded for his competency in his former position with a new role leading the ORPP.
Meanwhile, a few familiar faces remain where they are, including Minister of Health and Long-Term Care Eric Hoskins, who will continue to try to embarrass doctors by spilling their earnings during theatrical press conferences, and Deputy Premier Deb Matthews, who adds “minister responsible for digital government” to her title, which suggests she will be tasked with figuring out those pesky hard drives while removing the “delete” button from executive-level computers. The Liberal government thus offers Ontario the same dysfunctional, scandal-plagued cabinet but arranged in a slightly different order, and a couple more female faces on the executive council to boast about come election time. Hopefully next time the Wynne government plans to stage a diversion, we’ll get more beer options in grocery stores..."
