It was last year on Canada Day that Babel-on-the-Bay asked if we could consider a kinder Canada. We never said it was based on getting rid of Mr. Harper and his awful Conservatives but we might as well have.
And we did it. That was a heady time late last year when Justin Trudeau and his new cabinet practically danced down the road to Rideau Hall. The sun through the trees on them spoke eloquently of sunny days and sunny ways. There was lots of promise in the air.
There have been many words written recently on the performance during this new cabinet’s first six months. It depends where you sit to decide if the analysis is favourable or unfavourable. There has been much to like in this government’s performance but there have also been a few clunkers.
There have been weaknesses shown in our gender-balanced cabinet but luckily those blotting their copy books have also been gender balanced. The surprise weakness has been in the performance of Dominic LeBlanc as house leader. We simply expected more from Justin’s crony and son of Roméo LeBlanc. Stèphane Dion was worth a shot in foreign affairs but has regrettably turned in a weak performance.
Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould has to take the heat for a very poor performance on the controversial physician-assisted dying bill that will be winding its way back to the Supreme Court for repair. And also on the distaff side, we still have the impression that Democratic Institutions Minister Maryam Monsef looks like a deer caught in the headlights. She might not be the best choice to sell this sort of reform.
Despite these criticisms, we still have high hopes for much of the cabinet. While not totally pleased with Finance Minister Bill Morneau, he is still head and heels ahead of the former minister, Joe Oliver. He might not have the political smarts of the late Jim Flaherty but there are still hopes that he will grow in the job.
Catherine McKenna has been a bright light in environment and climate change and Chrysta Freeland has shown that she is ready to move up to the full job of foreign affairs.
And the biggest surprise in cabinet has been John McCallum who stepped up to the bar and surprised many of us in immigration, refugees and citizenship. His handling of the Syrian refugees was first class.
But Justin Trudeau must be aware now that his cabinet is in need of some fine tuning. He needs to do it sooner than later.
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Copyright 2016 © Peter Lowry
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