New Shadow Cabinat Guesses
So what do you think the next Shadow Cabinat will look like?
We lost abunch of Shadow Cabinat Members, including a deputy leader.
I'd suggest a new deputy leader from Alantic Canada or TO, but we have no MPs in either location.
David Christospherson is the closest to TO so he should stay a deputy leader.
Nathan Cullen should be Deputy leader for BC, I'd like Erin Weir to replace him at finance.
Peter Julian should take Industry, Linda Duncon energy, for the enviroment Murray Rankin, Nikki Ashton deserves something other then status of women, something new, maybe labour?
Ruth Ellen Brosseau Agriculture, full not deputy. Defence is obvious Christine Moore, she's the only one I can think of with any major experience in that area left, maybe with Veteran Affairs too.
Charlie Angus has done great work on the FN file, so he'd make a good FN critic.
Healthcare, Anne Quach?
There are 15 new MPs by my count, some of them may have areas of expertise of use. Katrina Trudel was a Canada Post President, so that's a natural fit.
For now Tom should remain leader for now at least, but if he moves aside, I'm thinking critic for intergovernmental affairs.
Alexandre Bouletrice should move from the treasury to something were he can more easily build a relationship with the rest of Canada, like Hertiage, or something like that. It might seem like a demotion, but long term its a way to shore up his week points.
Status of women is sexist and transphobic and should be merged with GLBT, to form Gender and Sexuality issues or something, and should go to Botin-Sweet.
Guy Caron can take over Treasury.
Helen "the giant killer" Lavadaire will likely take Foriegn Affairs, she has experience in it and the related international cooperation (or development, I forget). If people here don't like her for that, maybe Nikki Ashton for Foriegn Affairs.
The rest I don't know.
Tom should have a critic for Urbane Affairs still, maybe that would fit Alexandre Bouletrice better then hertiage.
Kudos to the NDP for beating the other parties by holding the first meeting of the new caucus Friday by Conference call, and announcing Peter Julian as the House Leader before the other caucuses even meet.
But the statement didn't make the news page on the NDP site. Everyone given the week off??
Tom made a point of saying his front bench was half women. Trudeau copied with a cabinet half women.
So his new front bench, nine MPs, is: himself, Linda Duncan, David Christopherson, Niki Ashton, Peter Julian, Helene Laverdiere, Nathan Cullen, Irene Mathyssen, and Brian Masse. Backed up by Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet, Charlie Angus, Ruth Ellen Brosseau, Guy Caron, Carol Hughes, Alexandre Boulerice, Christine Moore, Don Davies, and Anne Quach.
Do you have a link to where he said this, Mr. Day?
How did Trudeau copy Mulcair?
Trudeau announced months ago that he was going to have a 50% women cabinet.
key word is "was" debator. not going to be. so it's a copy.
Has the Shadow Cabinet been picked yet?
I think REB should be deputy leader and have a senior position.
Noel Coward?
Shadow cabinet picks are slightly better when consideration is given to whom they will be matched against geographically, linguistically, and by media market. They need to effectively deliver the NDP's chosen message too. My concern with the current Trudeau cabinet is that he has put in place a lot of ministers that do not form an effective check on the public service of their departments, in fact, I think they are likely to facilitate departmental largesse. Trudeau's budget/economic plan was a flip-flop midcampaign to running deficits because his numbers did not add up on promises. Deficits is a fancy word for "future taxes" and after Harper's largest contribution to the Canadian debt in history, the fact that the economy is not in recession, the fact that the budget is not in deficit, and Trudeau's determination to drive the country back into the red, I think the NDP's message can target the Liberal's disdain for future generations. To allude to Aesop's fables, we are in the time of grasshoppers, the NDP are ants.
The Shadow cabinet has been announced:
http://www.ndp.ca/news/mulcair-announces-progressive-oppositions-shadow-...
NDP Shadow Cabinet:
Thomas Mulcair (Outremont) – Leader, Intergovernmental Affairs, Energy
David Christopherson (Hamilton Centre) – Chair - Planning and Priorities Committee, Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Charlie Angus (Timmins–James Bay) – Indigenous and Northern Affairs
Niki Ashton (Churchill—Keewatinook Aski) – Jobs, Employment and Workforce Development
Robert Aubin (Trois-Rivières) – International Development and La Francophonie
Sheri Benson (Saskatoon West) – Labour
Daniel Blaikie (Elmwood–Transcona) – Treasury Board, Deputy Ethics Rachel Blaney (North Island–Powell River) – Multiculturalism, Deputy Infrastructure and Communities
Alexandre Boulerice (Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie) – Quebec Lieutenant, Ethics, Deputy Democratic Reform
Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet (Hochelaga) – Whip, Housing
Ruth Ellen Brosseau (Berthier–Maskinongé) – Agriculture and Agri-Food
Richard Cannings (South Okanagan–West Kootenay) – Post-Secondary Education, Deputy Natural Resources
Guy Caron (Rimouski-Neigette–Témiscouata–Les Basques) – Finance, Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, Deputy Fisheries, Oceans and Canadian Coast Guard
François Choquette (Drummond) – Official Languages
Nathan Cullen (Skeena—Bulkley Valley) – Environment and Climate change, Democratic Reform
Don Davies (Vancouver Kingsway) – Health
Fin Donnelly (Port Moody–Coquitlam) – Fisheries, Oceans and Canadian Coast Guard
Matthew Dubé (Beloeil–Chambly) – Infrastructure and Communities, Deputy House Leader
Linda Duncan (Edmonton Strathcona) – Transport
Pierre-Luc Dusseault (Sherbrooke) – National Revenue
Scott Duvall (Hamilton Mountain) – Pensions, Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario
Randall Garrison (Esquimalt–Saanich–Sooke) – National Defence, LGBTQ Issues
Cheryl Hardcastle (Windsor–Tecumseh) – Sport and Persons with Disabilities
Carol Hughes (Algoma–Manitoulin–Kapuskasing) – Natural Resources, Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario
Gord Johns (Courtenay–Alberni) – Small Business and Tourism
Georgina Jolibois (Desnethé–Missinippi–Churchill River) – Western Economic Diversification Canada, Deputy Indigenous and Northern Affairs
Peter Julian (New Westminster–Burnaby) – House Leader
Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East) – Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship
Hélène Laverdière (Laurier–Sainte-Marie) – Foreign Affairs
Alistair MacGregor (Cowichan–Malahat–Langford) – Seniors, Deputy Heritage
Sheila Malcolmson (Nanaimo–Ladysmith) – Status of Women
Brian Masse (Windsor West) – Innovation, Science and Economic Development
Irene Mathyssen (London–Fanshawe) – Veterans Affairs, Deputy Whip
Christine Moore (Abitibi–Témiscamingue) – Rural Affairs, Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec
Pierre Nantel (Longueuil–Saint-Hubert) – Canadian Heritage
Anne Minh-Thu Quach (Salaberry–Suroît) – Youth
Tracey Ramsey (Essex) – International Trade
Murray Rankin (Victoria) – Justice and Attorney general
Romeo Saganash (Abitibi–Baie-James–Nunavik–Eeyou) – Intergovernmental Aboriginal Affairs, Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency
Brigitte Sansoucy (Saint-Hyacinthe–Bagot) – Families, Children and Social Development, Deputy Health
Wayne Stetski (Kootenay–Columbia) – National Parks
Kennedy Stewart (Burnaby South) – Science
Karine Trudel (Jonquière) – Canada Post, Deputy Labour
Erin Weir (Regina–Lewvan) – Public Services and Procurement
So every single NDP MP has been given something?
Why not? The 44 members caucus is only 12 members larger than the federal cabinet. The 34 member Liberal caucus all had shadow cabinet portfolios - even someone as brain dead as Lise St. Denis was critic for child care....whihc told you everything you needed to know about what a low priority child care was going to be for the Liberal party!
Stockholm, you tend to overdo it when you go after someone you don't like.
Lise St. Denis actually had a Master's Degree and was knowledgable in many areas related to her Critic position.
It's not as if she was a 19-year old university student.
She was actually better educated than many of the other surprise NDP MP's who got elected in 2011.
I don't "like" or "dislike" her. i have never met the woman. She may have had qualifications on her cv - but its a fact that she disappeared without a trace on Parliament Hill and virtually never spoke in public and was just about the lowest profile of all 308 MPs. If anyone can find an example of anything she ever contributed to public policy debate on the future of child care in Canada, I'm prepared to give you a few months (or years) to find it. I acknowledge that may be "brain dead" wasn't the right word to use to describe LSD - I should have said "absent" or "low profile" or "non-existent"
Its not a question of who is "best educated" its a question of what people do with their education/qualifications once elected. If you are casting aspersions at Pierre Luc Dussault - who was a 19 year old student undergrad student - you might want to consider the fact that he quickly proved to be a very competent, energetic MP. He was named chair of the H of C Ethics committee, was easily re-elected last month with an increased majority compared to 2011 and is now the Critic on National Revenue in the shadow cabinet. He is considered a rising star.
She backed Mulcair in the leadership race.
And one reason she gave for crossing the floor was that the NDP had allegedly pulled its support for the Libya intervention.
So...
Actually the one "reason" St. Denis gave for crossing the floor was "In May 2011 people in my riding voted for Jack Layton and now he's DEAD!" - Bob Rae was beside her at the time and visibly cringed - and that was the one and only time time she ever spoke in public.
Well, to be fair, she also felt discriminated against because of her name being too far along in the alphabet:
Only the official opposition has a shadow cabinet. Third parties are simply pretenders.
The progressive reform minded NDP are going to slay dragons.
Too bad they aren't lead by St. George.
It's also amusing for Mulcair to claim to be the "Progressive Opposition" after growing up as an admirer of Margaret Thatcher.
offs i grew up as an admirer of snoop dogg. not so much after his girls gone wild shit......
youth is when you're supposed to make judgement mistakes. and youth goes until at least 29.
Well, Mulcair was a grown man 2 decades ago when he praised Thatcher in the National Assembly. He wasn't really a 'youth' anymore. He was in his mid 40's at the time, I believe.
The point is that it illustrates how much the NDP has changed what it stands for.
An NDPer who praised Thatcher in the past would have been driven out of town.
The fact that most NDPers gave Mulcair a pass on it speaks for itself.
I'd trade her for any of the McGill five in a heart beat. Oh hell I'd trade her for a pretezel bagel with butter.
Lise St. Denis can't have been that bad -- the Liberals won St. Maurice last month for the first time since Jéan Chrétien retired.
I doubt that anyone cast their vote on the merits of Lise St. Denis! They may have done so on the merits of actual candidates in the riding.
In her case, as in many, higher education does not seem to ahve made her a better MP. Almsot everyone in Sherbrooke is happy with Pierre-Luc Dusseault, who won votes from people who normally vote Liberal and withstood quite a Liberal wave in the region. He has no degree, but was a much better MP than several people with considerably more education.
This shadow cabinet/critics list lacks imagination, lacks inspiration, and lacks gender parity. Some fine folks in it, of course, and many may shine. But it can hardly be said to excite anyone in the way Trudeau's cabinet did when announced.
The NDP were an incredibly effective opposition last time, so I'm glad they've got this shadow cabinet together quickly. Keeping Liberals honest and making sure they follow through on their promises (via keeping the population informed) is a big and important job.
If everyone who got elected got a shadow-shadow post then the gender parity of it was, by definition, the same as the gender parity that the electorate elected.
Or, to put it another way, if everyone got a post then it's not like Mulcair chose a few women to sit on the sidelines.
Such is the life of the understudy to the understudy.
Actually, if you look at Sherbrooke, Dusseault actually lost votes compared to 2011.
He didn't lose as much ground as most other NDP MP's in Quebec, but he still dropped.
It was Liberal Tom Allen that made the big gain in Sherbrooke. The Liberals surged from a distant 3rd in 2011 to a strong 2nd in 2015.
Dusseault -> down 5 points
Liberals -> gained 20 points
BQ -> down 15 points
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherbrooke_%28electoral_district%29
Btw, on an interesting note, the Mayor of Sherbrooke, Bernard Sévigny, is married to new Liberal MP Marie-Claude Bibeau (Compton-Stanstead) who is the new Minister of International Development.
Now that Sherbrooke looks like a winnable riding the Liberals, perhaps Bernard Sévigny will run against Dusseault in 2019?