Your cabinet will meet around this oval table

Sir John A. MacDonald once inscribed his occupation as cabinet maker in a guest book. When people would criticize his cabinet ministers, Sir John A would tell them to send him better wood. Crafting the cabinet is an essential but difficult task for any Prime Minister or Premier, and it is a job that does not permit a lot of flexibility.

The importance of the cabinet in Canadian politics is reflected by some of the problems facing governments. Stephen Harper has struggled in the past with unnecessary and embarrassing scandals due at least in part to weak or inexperienced cabinet ministers. He has also struggled to find appropriate appointments for important ministries, also for the same reasons. Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty has had some strong ministers in his cabinet. However, he may face future problems because the Tories are now led by the plucky and aggressive Tim Hudak, and most of his talented ministers have left or will soon leave the cabinet. The difficulties faced by the Prime Minister or by a Provincial Premier are magnified by the regional nature of the country and the provinces: the government leader must, to the best of his ability, ensure that there is adequate representation in the cabinet from all the regions within his jurisdiction.

But cabinet making can also become an interesting intellectual activity for political junkies. Political pundits often engage in a guessing game and try to predict which parliamentarian will be chosen for which ministry. This often proves to be a fruitless and inaccurate past-time. However, the intellectual game of playing Prime Minister and devising your own cabinet can be fun, and will not be impeded by inadequate candidates, if you are free to choose candidates across party lines and from any period in history. You also do not have to face a fickle electorate. The challenge however comes in justifying your selections. That person is a strong candidate, but is he really suited for that ministry? Would he really be able to work with her? Of course, there will never be an election and this will not be a real government, so you can always claim that you have crafted the best cabinet the Prime Minister never had..

For my cabinet, I would select Pierre Trudeau for my Justice Minister. He performed brilliantly in Justice, just before becoming Prime Minister. For the Health Ministry, I would choose Tommy Douglas, the father of Medicare, a government program of which Canadians are justifiably proud but now is in serious jeopardy. I should revive the cabinet position of Solicitor General, and I would choose legendary Sam Steele, the heroic and incorruptible Mountie of the Klondike, for the renewed post. For Veteran Affairs, I would choose my maternal great grandfather, Robert Robertson, who served with the infantry in the Great War and joined other Canadians in the assault on Vimy Ridge. Undoubtedly, he would have been a competent administrator, but my reasons for selecting him serve primarily nostalgic and familial purposes. I will receive some criticism for appointing a relative, which I will simply shrug off. After all, I am an imaginary Prime Minister so I can do this without too much consequence. For Finance, I would choose the great economist Harold Innis, who was also a media and communications theorist, a specialty which will prove invaluable in the internet age. Environment would go to David Suzuki. David Lewis gets Labour, and Buzz Beurling, the great spitfire ace of World War Two, would get Defense. Finally, I would create two new ministries that carry full cabinet rank, one responsible for women and the other for vulnerable persons. Agnes Macphail and June Callwood would be appointed to these ministries respectively.

Who are your heroes from history? Who would you recruit from history to help Canada navigate the choppy and uncharted waters of the future?

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Tags: cabinet, premier, prime minister

This entry was posted on Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 10:34 pm and is filed under Federal Government, Provincial Government. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.