30 October 2009
Meet Minister Who? Minister Where? And Minister Why?
Every government has Ministers you’ve never heard of, and for some MPs joining the Cabinet is the fastest ticket to public obscurity. But this government has taken the concept of low profile to new heights. For every John Baird, Jim Flaherty and… I can’t think of anybody else… there are many other Ministers you’ve never heard of.
Consider the following “Minister Whos”:
- The Hon. Gail Shea, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans
- The Hon. Denis Lebelle, Minister of State for Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec
- The Hon. Rob Merrifield, who has less than no profile as Minister of State (Transport)
- The Hon. Keith Ashfield, Minister of State for ACOA
Then there are the “Minister Wheres”, who USED to have profile, but who we never hear about anymore, like:
- Chuck Strahl, a great MP who has disappeared at Indian Affairs and Northern Development
- The formerly feisty Gordon O’Connor, Minster of State and Government Whip
- The once ubiquitous Quebec political minister, Josée Verner, Intergovernmental Affairs, Privy Council and La Francophonie, who I haven’t seen or heard from in months
- Bev Oda, Minister of International Cooperation (I actually thought she was dropped from the Cabinet but the Interweb says differently)
Finally, there are a few people who a few months ago would have been in the Who list, but through forces beyond their control have come to public attention and not for good reasons. These are the “Minister Whys”:
- Top of that list is Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt, who probably wishes she still was obscure. And who also plucked one of her colleagues from obscurity, the formerly low-profile…
- Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq, who has been unable to ride such high profile files as H1N1, the isotopes crisis and more
- And finally, and sadly, Dianne Ablonczy, a spectacular talent who was smacked into obscurity for doing her job too, I don’t know, honestly. I put her on the WHY list, not because she has no talent, but because I don’t know why she put up with it!
It’s often been said that the Prime Minister is the only Minister that counts in this government. Sounds about right to me.
Soon, I’ll take a look at the lesser talents in the Opposition… an embarrassment of riches if there ever was one, with emphasis on ‘embarrassment’.
30 October 2009 at 19:56
your thoughts on a cabinet shuffle before the spring?
30 October 2009 at 21:17
Based on your apparent lack of knowedge of these ministers, I can only assume that you and your firm do not know Ottawa as well as many of the rest of us who follow government affairs in Ottawa. Perhaps you should consider changing the tag line about being “Canada’s leading PR firm” until you have had time to get to know the ministers of the present Cabinet?
30 October 2009 at 22:37
Great point, Two Yen. I found it odd, too, that a lobbying/GR firm would admit that he ‘thought’ someone had been dropped from cabinet, and that he doesn’t know Ministers who hold a lot of sway in Atlantic Canada and QC. In an effort to embarrass these Ministers, it seems to diminish his firm’s claims of being so plugged in…
And didn’t Merrifield play a pretty significant role in the administration of infrastructure funds? That’s only a multi-billion dollar portfolio he’s associated with…
I guess if you’re interested in fishery policy, infrastructure, economic development on the east coast or Quebec or international development, you might want to give F-H, or at least this one individual, a pass.
2 November 2009 at 8:56
It seems to me the obscurity is less about the individual’s abilities and more about the the individual’s character and charisma. It’s disappointing that the people in these positions don’t do more to inspire conversation among people other than their constituents.
Is it just me or were political figures of the 80s more interesting?