LILLEY Trudeaus new cabinet signals end of natural resource economy
Author of the article:
Brian Lilley
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during a news conference after the swearing-in of a new Cabinet in Ottawa on Oct. 26, 2021. REUTERS/ Photo by Reuters /Toronto Sun Article content The biggest changes and most worrying signs when it comes to Justin Trudeau’s new cabinet come by way of the portfolios that Trudeau has said are most near and dear to his heart.
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Article contentMelanie Joly is in at foreign affairs, Steven Guilbeault is in charge at environment and John Wilkinson is in charge of natural resources.
With these three appointments, Justin Trudeau is saying that natural resource extraction in Canada is in danger, and he doesn’t really care what the world thinks of this country.
Let’s start with foreign affairs and the appointment of Joly.
This used to be a prestigious appointment in any government, regardless of political stripe. The person in this portfolio represented Canada on the world stage.
Often, with Trudeau, this is somewhere he parks ministers he doesn’t know what to do with, and Joly is the latest example.
Stephane Dion, his first foreign minister was a disaster who tried to repair relations with Iran and Russia before the Trudeau government decided that was a bad idea. Chrystia Freeland held the post somewhat admirably from 2017-19.
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Article contentTrudeau then put in two placeholders â€" Francois-Philippe Champagne and Marc Garneau â€" before appointing Joly.
Joly has failed in the heritage and tourism portfolios, but now is being rewarded with a promotion as Canada’s face to the world.
On the environment front, it’s worse.
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Trudeau, our virtue signaller-in-chief, is signalling that he has fully endorsed the radical environmental policies of Greenpeace. Steven Guilbeault is our new environment minister and the former environment minister Jonathan Wilkinson is our minister of natural resources.
This isn’t just a warning to the oil and gas sector; this is a warning to the forestry and mining sectors, as well. Anyone in the farming and fisheries should also be worried because Trudeau has put two radicals in charge of regulating some of our biggest and most important industries.
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Article contentForget about building pipelines in the future, every single sector that relies on natural resources is now under the gun.
Trudeau has made what I hope are some good moves.
Anita Anand takes over at defence and hopefully will be given the ability to make the changes needed to deal with issues around sexual misconduct in the military.
Trudeau came to office shortly after the release of the Deschamp report, which detailed what was wrong and how to fix it. He and his former minister, Harjit Sajjan, ignored that report and let issues fester; let’s hope Anand can fix it.
Marco Mendicino replaces Bill Blair at public safety, and we have to hope brings a more realistic view on a very serious issue â€" guns and gang violence. While Blair was entirely political, as he had been as Toronto Police chief, Mendicino is intelligent and worked as a Crown prosecutor prior to entering politics.
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Article contentHe knows that the gun problem isn’t solved simply by going after hunters and sports shooters, and that more has to be done to target the gangs smuggling firearms across the border.
Thankfully, Trudeau has dropped ministries such as “middle-class prosperity†and the portfolio of “digital government†which accomplished little.
But we have separate federal ministers for sport and tourism, and a stand-alone minister for economic development in Southern Ontario. He also appointed a 32-year-old woman, Kamal Khera, who represents Brampton, as minister of seniors. I doubt many seniors will relate to that appointment.
Trudeau dropped Marc Garneau, Jim Carr and Bardish Chagger and unbelievably kept Caroline Bennett and Harjit Sajjan in cabinet despite their lousy performances.
This cabinet make-up leaves me shaking my head, but as Trudeau shifts the Liberals further to the left to outflank the NDP, I’m not exactly the target audience.
Regardless, this is a government we all need to live with, and I’m not convinced that Trudeau has put Canada’s best foot forward with this cabinet.
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