It is not what we thought. You might have supposed that the best person available, in this recent cabinet shuffle by Justin Trudeau, would get the right job. That might be in an ideal world but Canada has to deal with regional realities and sex and skin colour when considering who gets what cabinet job. And have you ever considered how unpalatable it would be to mix Habitant pea soup with Campbell’s chicken soup?
And, quite frankly, I was impressed with the job Anita Anand had been doing in National Defence. I am appalled that someone such as Bill Blair has been given this responsibility while the war continues in Ukraine.
Blair was never charged with the kettling of innocent Canadians during the crock-up of the G20 meeting in Toronto in 2010. The Toronto police chief was spectacularly absent when the Black Bloc took over downtown Toronto streets, when Canadian citizens were kettled and arrested on The Esplanade in front of the Novatel Hotel, and then when innocent citizens, out for a Sunday walk, were kettled in the rain at Queen and Spadina. And all that time, Bill Blair was the boy in charge. The Toronto Police Services was ordered by the court to pay $16.5 million to the hundreds of people caught up in his breach of their civil rights. He might like to think of his policing years as quasi military but they were not. He did a bad job of it and let the blame fall on an underling whose only excuse was he was following orders.
It sometimes appears that Justin Trudeau has some anger with lawyers. I cannot figure what the heck attorney general David Lametti, did to deserve being turfed from cabinet.
I was appalled that Marco Mendicino was being held to blame for his failure to communicate effectively. The man needed some help in his communications, not to be dropped like a hot potato.
It was very interesting to see how much was being heaped on the real deputy PM’s shoulders. Dominic LeBlanc has been moved to the highly sensitive arena of public safety. I, for one, will be fascinated by his attempts to tame the RCMP and to show the Security Intelligence Service their real job. In his spare time, he will continue with his responsibilities for democratic institutions and inter-governmental relations.
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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry
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