Friday, November 14, 2008

And the critics are...

Highlights from the Liberal Shadow Cabinet:

-Bob Rae, Michael Ignatieff, and Dominic LeBlanc are nowhere to be seen. Ruby Dhalla, however, is the Labour critic. I'll let my readers connect the dots on this one.

-Scott Brison replaces John McCallum in the VERY important Finance critic position. After watching Brison beat up on Flaherty at a CBC forum during the election, I really like this choice.

-In another good move, Gerard Kennedy lands in Industry. While he's better associated with social issues, Kennedy made innovation and enterprise a key plank of his last election campaign and has been lecturing at Ryerson on this topic since then.

-Marc Garneau gets Science and Technology. Can you say "typecast"?

-Justin Trudeau and most of the newcomers land associate critic roles.

-Conspicuously absent are Scott Andrews, Jimmy K and Joe Volpe.

posted by calgarygrit at 5:56 p.m.

13 Comments:

  • one has to wonder how decisions were made for new MPs in associate critic roles.

    There were a select few chosen while obviously worthy candidates such as Michelle Simson, Rob Oliphant and Bonnie Crombie were left out.

    Seems strange that you wouldn't want to get these people in there alongside other first timers.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:15 p.m.  

  • Michelle Simson, Rob Oliphant and Bonnie Crombie are obviously all Toronto MPs. The party clearly sees a need for growth in the east given the fairly considerable Maritime voice on the critics list.

    Nice addition by subtraction, losing Thibault and keeping Jimmy K and Volpe out of Question Period. Unfortunately, Dan McTeague keeps his spot as critic for all things grandstandy. I also think Navdeep Bains is a sharp guy, but the loss of Alghabra as natural resources critic is a tough one. He was one of the few Grit critics who owned his issues in the last parliament.

    Dryden vs. Prentice on environment should make for both interesting discussion and good political theatre.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:34 p.m.  

  • Scott Brison, former conservative leadership candidate cum Adscam apologist?

    He's really moved up in the world. Yeah, I'm sure the Libs are grooming him for something really important.

    By Blogger Möbius, at 7:20 p.m.  

  • i love how media are saying iggy is the front runner, three months before delegate selection meetings and when even seasoned veteran organizers aren;t sure who is supporting who.
    From the people i talk too, iggy hasn;t grown at all. Rae has much more caucus support this time.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:27 p.m.  

  • Out of curiosity: When a new leader is chosen next spring, is there a shadow-portfolio left for Dion? (and for the leadership losers, for that matter?)

    By Blogger Mike514, at 7:34 p.m.  

  • I'd imagine that Dion would take a step back after a new leader is in place with a potential return to cabinet should that individual be elected down the line.

    I also have to figure that the losing leadership candidates would get prominent roles similar to how it worked this time through.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:16 p.m.  

  • Gerard needs to broaden his expertise and his exposure on federal issues, so industry is an excellent start for him. I'd like to see him take on foreign affairs at some point down the line as well, when they switch up the portfolios again.

    By Blogger Jeff, at 10:20 p.m.  

  • These new critics are the future of the Liberals - it's good that they will get experience and exposure.

    Interesting to see how Kennedy does against Huey, Dewey and Louie (Flaherty, Clement and Baird - the Harris boys) after having to deal with them in the Ontario legislature. It will also give him time to improve his French.

    Brison left the CPC because they are narrow minded and intolerant people. The Liberals should use him more on Duffy's show....he's good at arguing back.

    By Blogger RuralSandi, at 11:26 p.m.  

  • I thought the advisory committee on economic strategy was a good idea. I hope they fight any attempted fire sale. Bargain hunting indeed Mr. Harper!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:31 a.m.  

  • If Dion wants to stay in politics, I'm sure he could go the route of Joe Clark or Stockwell Day and wind up with a prominent role in the party/government.

    By Blogger calgarygrit, at 10:19 a.m.  

  • I've never understood why Dion even wanted to be prime minister. I never got a sense of what he thought he could acheive as p.m. that he couldn't as a cabinet minister.

    I suppose it's possible that he was SO committed to the environmental portfolio that he thought that being p.m. was the only way to forward that agenda. If that's the case, it reinforces the perception that the Martin/Chretien governments were all talk/no action on the environmental portfolio.

    Interesting, isn't it? The Liberals elected Martin, who spent almost his entire career trying to fulfill his ambition (or his father's ambition) to be PM, and then really didn't seem to know what to do when he got there (I thought he was a fine Finance minister, btw). Then the Liberals put Dion forward...as a third choice "compromise" candidate(seriously, WTF!?) and, even though he seemed to know what he wanted to do, the Liberals promptly undermined him because compromises are never entirely satisfactory, are they?

    By Blogger Party of One, at 3:00 p.m.  

  • shamefully, i have failed to connect the dots on the Ruby Dhalla appointment.

    By Blogger dys, at 4:37 p.m.  

  • dys: shamefully, i have failed to connect the dots on the Ruby Dhalla appointment.

    I'm guessing it means she's not running for the leadership.

    RuralSandi: Brison left the CPC because they are narrow minded and intolerant people.

    Brison left the CPC because Paul Martin was going to win the biggest landslide in history. Period.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:37 a.m.  

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