Pundits were disappointed Wednesday when Stephen Harper’s much-anticipated cabinet shuffle magically disappeared.
He played only one card, replacing Bev Oda with Julian Fantino as minister of international co-operation and adding Fantino’s former defence procurement responsibilities to Bernard Valcourt’s portfolio.
There are good reasons to desire a more thorough shakeup. It’s hard to imagine some of the young talent in the Tory ranks couldn’t shine in cabinet; and a number of old-guard ministers are underperforming.
But the emerging narrative that a major cabinet shuffle was necessary because the government is in some kind of trouble is not convincing.
Polls a few weeks ago showed the New Democrats with a three-point lead, although a Forum poll Thursday had the Conservatives and NDP neck and neck again. And a Postmedia poll this week revealed that Canadians are still a pretty progressive bunch despite years of Tory government. But Conservative policy is firmly on the progressive side of most of the social issues raised, including access to abortion, public health care and gay marriage.
Oddly, the apparent NDP surge came at a time when the Conservative government appears to be rounding into form. It has dispensed with the costly, likely ineffective and possibly quite harmful omnibus crime legislation. It has back-burnered the controversial fighter jet procurement. It has survived contempt of Parliament and suspected election irregularities, so far. Bev Oda will soon be buying her own orange juice. The unprecedented omnibus budget bill might have alarmed voters and they would be right, but given the shrugs that followed Harper’s previous abuses of Parliament, that seems unlikely.
Consider also that the government seems to have finally begun to get down to the business of governing in a proper conservative fashion.
It has raised the threshold for reviewing foreign takeovers to $1 billion and increased openness to foreign competition. It has made difficult-but-forward-looking changes to immigration, Old Age Security and Employment Insurance. It has shown a real commitment to deficit fighting, the issue that towers above all others. It has given the provinces fair warning that health transfers well in excess of inflation won’t last forever. It has redistributed seats in Parliament to more properly reflect changes to Canada’s demographics. It is actively pursuing a variety of bilateral and multilateral trade agreements. It has tightened mortgage lending rules in an effort to cool off the housing market and reduce private debt loads.
While not all of these changes have been perfectly executed, taken together the government seems to be making significant progress in preparing Canada for the future, not just getting votes for 2015. For this it should get a great deal of credit.
The NDP’s popularity might not be a mirage. The party has chosen the best leader from its field of competitors, a good communicator and no shrinking violet in Tom Mulcair. He has performed well in opposing a majority government and seems to have solidified his base in Quebec. He projects a moderate face of the party. Proposals for the worst anti-trade measures and perhaps a sprawling new Crown corporation were left on the leadership convention floor.
But the post-Layton New Democrats are still necessarily something of a blank slate, allowing Canada’s left-of-centre voters to project their own hopes and desires on the Official Opposition. It’s impossible to know if that support can hold or increase between now and the 2015 federal election.
Luckily for the New Democrats, the Conservatives will likely have balanced the books by then. But how long the country would be in the black after an NDP win is decidedly in doubt. In the 2011 campaign, the party promised to cement six-per-cent annual increases in health transfers, transfer hundreds of millions for post-secondary tuition, double CPP benefits, build a national childcare strategy, increase infrastructure funding, offer rebates for home heating, and spend hundreds of millions more on foreign aid.
Some of these are indeed worthwhile initiatives, as they say. Some are not. How would all this be paid for? Raising corporate income taxes?
The Conservatives should be vulnerable for their complete disdain for environmental issues and on democratic reform. These, along with support for the poor, can be real NDP strengths. But the party must make clear that environmental stewardship amounts to more than constraining the oilsands. Polluters should pay as Mulcair says. But he usually neglects to mention that there are 20 million polluters in Ontario and Quebec, and only 3.5 million in Alberta.
The Conservatives are busy governing, which is their advantage. Whether the NDP can replace them will take all of three years to determine.
Original Article
Source: ottawa citizen
Author: The Ottawa Citizen
He played only one card, replacing Bev Oda with Julian Fantino as minister of international co-operation and adding Fantino’s former defence procurement responsibilities to Bernard Valcourt’s portfolio.
There are good reasons to desire a more thorough shakeup. It’s hard to imagine some of the young talent in the Tory ranks couldn’t shine in cabinet; and a number of old-guard ministers are underperforming.
But the emerging narrative that a major cabinet shuffle was necessary because the government is in some kind of trouble is not convincing.
Polls a few weeks ago showed the New Democrats with a three-point lead, although a Forum poll Thursday had the Conservatives and NDP neck and neck again. And a Postmedia poll this week revealed that Canadians are still a pretty progressive bunch despite years of Tory government. But Conservative policy is firmly on the progressive side of most of the social issues raised, including access to abortion, public health care and gay marriage.
Oddly, the apparent NDP surge came at a time when the Conservative government appears to be rounding into form. It has dispensed with the costly, likely ineffective and possibly quite harmful omnibus crime legislation. It has back-burnered the controversial fighter jet procurement. It has survived contempt of Parliament and suspected election irregularities, so far. Bev Oda will soon be buying her own orange juice. The unprecedented omnibus budget bill might have alarmed voters and they would be right, but given the shrugs that followed Harper’s previous abuses of Parliament, that seems unlikely.
Consider also that the government seems to have finally begun to get down to the business of governing in a proper conservative fashion.
It has raised the threshold for reviewing foreign takeovers to $1 billion and increased openness to foreign competition. It has made difficult-but-forward-looking changes to immigration, Old Age Security and Employment Insurance. It has shown a real commitment to deficit fighting, the issue that towers above all others. It has given the provinces fair warning that health transfers well in excess of inflation won’t last forever. It has redistributed seats in Parliament to more properly reflect changes to Canada’s demographics. It is actively pursuing a variety of bilateral and multilateral trade agreements. It has tightened mortgage lending rules in an effort to cool off the housing market and reduce private debt loads.
While not all of these changes have been perfectly executed, taken together the government seems to be making significant progress in preparing Canada for the future, not just getting votes for 2015. For this it should get a great deal of credit.
The NDP’s popularity might not be a mirage. The party has chosen the best leader from its field of competitors, a good communicator and no shrinking violet in Tom Mulcair. He has performed well in opposing a majority government and seems to have solidified his base in Quebec. He projects a moderate face of the party. Proposals for the worst anti-trade measures and perhaps a sprawling new Crown corporation were left on the leadership convention floor.
But the post-Layton New Democrats are still necessarily something of a blank slate, allowing Canada’s left-of-centre voters to project their own hopes and desires on the Official Opposition. It’s impossible to know if that support can hold or increase between now and the 2015 federal election.
Luckily for the New Democrats, the Conservatives will likely have balanced the books by then. But how long the country would be in the black after an NDP win is decidedly in doubt. In the 2011 campaign, the party promised to cement six-per-cent annual increases in health transfers, transfer hundreds of millions for post-secondary tuition, double CPP benefits, build a national childcare strategy, increase infrastructure funding, offer rebates for home heating, and spend hundreds of millions more on foreign aid.
Some of these are indeed worthwhile initiatives, as they say. Some are not. How would all this be paid for? Raising corporate income taxes?
The Conservatives should be vulnerable for their complete disdain for environmental issues and on democratic reform. These, along with support for the poor, can be real NDP strengths. But the party must make clear that environmental stewardship amounts to more than constraining the oilsands. Polluters should pay as Mulcair says. But he usually neglects to mention that there are 20 million polluters in Ontario and Quebec, and only 3.5 million in Alberta.
The Conservatives are busy governing, which is their advantage. Whether the NDP can replace them will take all of three years to determine.
Original Article
Source: ottawa citizen
Author: The Ottawa Citizen
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