This editorial by the Edmonton Journal really makes sense to me. Why does a Prime Minister necessarily have to choose Cabinet Ministers according to provincial criteria?
If most of the talent is out West, so be it. Those are the people who should get the plum positions, IMHO.
And as the Journal suggests, Thunder Bay may have a lot more in common with Fort McMurray than Toronto.
It’s time to think out of the box – and out of provincial constrictions.
Now, let’s move on to Senate reform.
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Sunday Update: I caught the rerun of CBC’s ‘At Issue’ this morning. Andrew Coyne seemed to be supporting this point of view – namely that we should start talking more about competence instead of regionalism and gender, when it comes to Cabinet building. Chantel Hebert seems to agree to a point. The relevant segment starts just past the half-way mark.
Tuesday Update : Gee, this sounds familiar… Regions aren’t everything – Globe :
…A better idea would be for Mr. Harper to spend less time preoccupied with geography, and more of it worried about merit. Certainly, he cannot overlook any region entirely. But the reality is that there are more talented Conservative MPs in Alberta and British Columbia than in the rest of the provinces combined. And in a government in which few ministers have distinguished themselves, it is nonsensical to have people such as Diane Ablonczy, James Moore or Jason Kenney biding their time as backbenchers or junior ministers while colleagues from elsewhere are in over their heads…
