A Look in the Cabinet

It will be interesting to see how Martin handles the cabinet. Here are a few haphazard thoughts on the Cabinet.

1. Give Stephane Dion a spot in Cabinet. The guy has gone to the wall for Martin, despite their obvious differences and it would be foolhardy to ignore him. If Paul wants to keep playing to the soft separatists (since that worked so well this time), then fine - stick Dion in an economic portfolio. Have him take over for Stan Keyes in Revenue.

2. Make Don Boudria House Leader. Bring him and Dion back and the Chretien guys will feel a lot better (shelving Herle and friends would help too but that's not going to happen). The guy gets along great with the opposition House Leaders and has tons of experience. You need someone like this in what will be a very sticky minority government to manage.

3. Ken Dryden would make an outstanding Minister of Heritage in my opinion. Although, in all likelihood, Liza Frulla will get it.

4. If you MUST put Jean Lapierre in Cabinet for whatever reason, only give him a junior portfolio. Pick a spot where he can do the least damage.

5. Have Emerson take over for Pagtakhan in Western economic diversification. Yeah, it's a boring Junior Post, but the guy needs to get his feet wet before moving on to something bigger. Might get combined with a few other minor positions.

6. I guess Dosanj will end up somewhere. My preference would be to shelve Judy Sgro (knock her down to a PS) and give Dosanj immigration. Or maybe he gets something like Social Justice. A lot of possibilities.

7. Minister of Defense will be a tough role to fill. Scott Brison is a candidate and some people are throwing Anne McLellan's name around, although this would mean finding someone else to take over for Homeland Security (or whatever they're calling it). Honestly, McCallum's had to suffer enough from being forced to heckle Harper that he might deserve to get it back as a reward. The likely winner in all this will be Albina Guinari.

8. My guess is Ruby Dhalla will wind up in Cabinet, since she has the benefit of being female, a visible minority and a Martinite. Anita Neville's a possibility too since they're short a Manitoba Minister. Marlene Jennings is another candidate given her prominence on the Adscam committe.

9. There was some speculation that Lucienne Robillard was just a filler in Industry but I'd keep her there. With Scherrer down, it'd be shame to demote another female Quebec Minister. Groom Emerson or Brison in another junior post for the time being and keep her here for another year or two.