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| THE MORE THINGS CHANGE... - Monday, December 15, 2003 at 10:16 |
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PUBLICATION: The Toronto Sun ------------------------------------------------------------------------ To hear some folks tell it, Canada underwent a huge upheaval yesterday when one prime minister entered Rideau Hall and another came out. The new guy then showed 22 of Jean Chretien's 38 cabinet ministers the door. That's the good news in Paul Martin's first act as prime minister. He was expected to do a dramatic housecleaning, and he did. We won't have Allan Rock (who's off to the UN) or Jane Stewart, David Collenette, Wayne Easter, Don Boudria or Sheila Copps, among others, to kick around our tax dollars anymore. Good riddance. But Martin's new cabinet hardly constitutes a revolution. Several of Chretien's lacklustre old gang are still there - the ineffective Bill Graham still at Foreign Affairs, Pierre Pettigrew in Health and Anne McLellan as deputy PM and public security czar (a fact she ironically blabbed to CBC-TV before the swearing-in, breaking secrecy rules). The newcomers, meanwhile, will barely have a chance to find their officies before Martin calls an election, as he's expected to do in April. That, of course, is the point. Martin's first moves are all about signalling change - making us believe this is a whole new government and not a continuation of the old - as opposed to actually changing much of anything. Indeed, Martin has blown up just enough government structure and imposed just enough new rules to ensure everyone is confused and virtually nothing happens until the election call. In that sense, the new boss is much like the old boss, no matter how he may promise "a new agenda of change and achievement." That's not to say Martin didn't make some good choices yesterday. Saskatchewan's Ralph Goodale will be respected as finance minister (he even made encouraging noises yesterday about reviewing the disastrously costly gun registry). Ottawa-area MP David Pratt is the kind of sensible defence minister we've needed for a decade. Winnipeg's Reg Alcock (long touted as cabinet material by the Sun's Doug Fisher) is an asset in Treasury Board, and Toronto's Judy Sgro could, we hope, finally advance some of this city's concerns at Immigration. But at this point, Martin's cabinet is really about little more than advancing fresh faces and rewarding loyalties. Some 70 Liberal MPs were called and interviewed, though just 39 were chosen. The warning to them is clear: screw up and the boss can easily replace you. Now, tell us again how things have changed...? |