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The Niagara Independent, November 22, 2019 \u2014 <\/em>With all the traditional pomp and ceremony, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau this week announced his Cabinet to guide the minority government in the 43rd<\/sup>\u00a0Parliament. The PM has increased the number of ministers on his front bench to three dozen. A great many of these ministers were members in Trudeau\u2019s pre-election Cabinet, and eleven ministers maintain the same portfolios. And yet, there were a few noteworthy appointments in this executive council that provide Canadians with a hint of what can be expected in the months ahead.<\/p>\n Most significant, the new Cabinet is weighted with representatives from Central Canada. The majority are MPs from Ontario and Quebec \u2013 and then there are four from BC, one from Manitoba, and one from each of the Atlantic Provinces. It is remarkable that Ontario and Quebec have 28 of 37 spots at the cabinet table, including the PM. Breaking this down: nearly half (17) are from Ontario with 6 from Metro Toronto, and there is an overrepresentation of 11 from Quebec with 7 from Montreal (again, including the PM). There are two words to aptly describe the Cabinet\u2019s composition: \u201curban Laurentians.\u201d<\/p>\n Regardless the total number of ministers, the central figures in this Cabinet can be counted on one hand. Foremost, there is Deputy Prime Minister and Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland. She has been harnessed with the formidable tasks of improving strained relations with the US as well as mending an increasingly divided Nation. On the latter, there has been a great amount of ink spilt over her Peace River Alberta childhood \u2014 as if this may endear the jet-setting Torontonian to western Canadians. It remains to be seen just how far this narrative can be stretched.<\/p>\n Toronto Centre MP Bill Morneau was entrusted as Canada\u2019s Finance Minister for another Parliamentary Session. In the lead up to this week\u2019s announcement, it was widely broadcasted that Bay Street wanted the reinstatement of Mr. Morneau in the finance portfolio (being the only elected Liberal with any tie to the country\u2019s finance community). However, the news of his return was anything but welcoming. The\u00a0Financial Post<\/em>\u00a0ran an opinion piece calling on the Finance Minister \u201cto start speaking for business \u2013 not Team Trudeau.\u201d\u00a0FP<\/em>\u2019s columnist Kevin Carmichael sums up Bay Street\u2019s less than flattering assessment: \u201cBill Morneau has been a disappointment, if only because his background suggested that he would have a greater impact\u2026 Morneau was parroting the Prime Minister\u2019s made-for-social-media lines about helping the middle class. No separation, just another member of Team Trudeau.\u201d<\/p>\n PM Trudeau has turned to Pablo Rodriguez to keep order in the House of Commons, naming this veteran Montreal MP as both Government House Leader and the PMs Quebec lieutenant. Rodriguez is challenged to find common ground with opposition parties and make the minority Parliament work. Key to that mission will be to keep in check the reinvigorated Bloc Quebecois. Though this minister will not get the headlines that Ministers Freeland and Morneau garner, Rodriguez will be omnipotent behind the scenes with the reins on both the Government\u2019s legislative agenda and Quebec\u2019s patronage machine.<\/p>\n Media reaction to the Prime Minister\u2019s selection was mixed. Predictably,\u00a0CBC News<\/em>\u00a0lauded his work: \u201cTrudeau\u2019s cabinet picks seem designed to project stability, seriousness.\u201d\u00a0Sun Media<\/em>\u00a0Brian Lilley noted: \u201cMost of the cabinet couldn\u2019t get picked out of a police lineup and the reality is that the days of cabinet ministers being powerful is mostly a thing of the past.\u201d\u00a0Macleans\u2019<\/em>\u00a0Paul Wells observed the bloated membership will make most ministers inconsequential: \u201cA multiply redundant federal cabinet will quickly become a pretext for central control even if that wasn\u2019t the point of building it that way, because none of the title-holders hold enough of the elephant to discern its shape, let alone influence its path.\u201d<\/p>\n John Ivison of the\u00a0National Post<\/em>\u00a0insightfully asserted the group of ministers around Trudeau does not matter in relation to the group of advisors in the Prime Minister\u2019s Office. In a column entitled:\u00a0\u201c<\/em>Who\u2019s in Trudeau\u2019s cabinet? It doesn\u2019t matter, political power lies elsewhere,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0the columnist contends, \u201cWhat we are talking about is a shuffling of deckchairs \u2013 if not on the Titanic, then perhaps on the Queen Mary, a cruise ship that is no longer fit for purpose\u2026 Both cabinet and Parliament have been relegated to the role of rubber-stamping decisions taken elsewhere. The prime minister has surrounded himself with advisors of like mind and experience who act like a political praetorian guard.\u201d<\/p>\n Ivison concludes: \u201cJustin Trudeau\u2019s cabinet re-jig will do little to arrest the continuing disintegration of Canada\u2019s democratic representation.\u201d (An interesting side note is that there is no longer a minister for democratic institutions.)<\/p>\n With Paul Wells and John Ivison pointing to where the real power lies, the question becomes who are the policy and political advisors behind the doors of the PMO\u00a0(to be taken up next week!)?<\/em>\u00a0That being said, the story this week from Ottawa is the regal ceremony revealing Prime Minister Trudeau\u2019s selection for Cabinet. So, we now have seated 36 ministers on the front bench waiting for Parliament to resume Dec. 5.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Chris George<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0is an Ottawa-based government affairs advisor and wordsmith, president of\u00a0CG&A COMMUNICATIONS<\/a>. Contact:\u00a0ChrisG.George@gmail.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n