By Father Raymond J. De Souza - from the National Post
It was mostly old, a few bits new, rather boring, and Tory blue. Prime Minister Stephen Harper had his new cabinet sworn in, and continuity was the theme. With few changes in major portfolios, it was rather dull, but Mr. Harper is successful in part because he offers as little drama as possible. Stable government was the campaign slogan. Stability was what Canadians got.
There was one major vacancy — foreign affairs — and one senior minister who had to move, John Baird, his talents no longer needed as house leader in a majority parliament. The two were matched up, and for the most part the other key players were left in place — Finance, Justice, Public Safety and Defence left unchanged.
Behind the scenes there was an important move, with Jason Kenney taking over as chairman of the cabinet operations committee. As the architect of the Tory majority, Kenney retained the same ministry but was rewarded with the powerful chairmanship. Cabinet government is something of a misnomer since the bloated cabinets of the Mulroney era; all key decisions are taken at the two principal cabinet committees, priorities and operations. The prime minister chairs the priorities committee. Kenney chairs operations.
One of the few spontaneous moments of the swearing-in was the hooting and hollering that greeted the entrance of the prime minister, a bit of partisan enthusiasm for the long-sought-after majority, albeit out of place in Rideau Hall. Understandably for the partisans, as it has been a long road back from 1993, the last time the last time conservatives were in a majority government position.
In several ways, Baird and Kenney symbolize that road back. Both in their early forties, they are young men who have been engaged in politics for a long time; I have known both of them since the early 1990s, so my presence at Rideau Hall on Wednesday had a rather personal dimension to it.
In 1993, during the summertime premiership of Kim Campbell, Baird worked on the staff of Perrin Beatty, then foreign minister. Eighteen years later, the minister’s chair is his. Back then he had recently graduated from Queen’s University, where his final year politics paper was about the provincial Progressive Conservative Party, entitled, “I have fallen, and I can’t get up.” Two years later, he was part of the Mike Harris team that swept to government in Ontario, going from third place to first. He served at Queen’s Park until running in the 2006 federal election. He knows something about working over the long haul.
In 1993, Kenney was at the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation, an activist group belonging to the general Western rebellion that produced the Reform Party. Four years later, he was elected as Reform MP, and 10 years later led the outreach the brought the successor Conservative Party to majority status.
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