OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper's new cabinet is not only his largest but also his most diverse, with ministers plucked from every part of the country chosen to represent their region and also their ethnicity, religion and gender.
Among the 38 ministers unveiled Wednesday morning during a ceremony at Rideau Hall, there were nine new faces, a pair of snubs and several big promotions, particularly for MPs from Quebec.
Harper told reporters there were many worthy candidates, some left on the sidelines, but he believes he picked the right mix of experience and new blood.
"Any hockey coach would tell you that if a team is going to keep winning over time it must maintain a core of veterans and then gradually blend in new talent," he said. "We have many new members of Parliament who are very promising," Harper added. "(But) I didn't want to make too many additional changes unless I had to."
Among Harper's newest talents are:
- Joe Oliver, a bilingual Jewish investment dealer who defeated a longtime Liberal to win in Toronto, who will now head up the department of natural resources;
- Peter Penashue, the first Innu member ever elected to Parliament — and the second aboriginal appointed to cabinet after Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq — and the party's only MP in Newfoundland and Labrador, as minister for intergovernmental affairs;
- Bal Gosal, a commercial insurance broker who immigrated to Canada from India and defeated a Liberal in a Brampton, Ont., as minister of state for sport;
- And Bernard Valcourt, a former Brian Mulroney-era cabinet minister and lawyer in New Brunswick, appointed minister of state for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and La Francophonie.
A few familiar faces are now in cabinet, or back in cabinet, as is the case for former Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier, who famously forgot confidential documents at his girlfriend's house in 2008, prompting his ouster from cabinet.
Bernier, who arrived solo and in a taxicab, takes on a junior position as minister of state for small business and tourism.
Quebec MP Steven Blaney, a Tory backbencher since 2006 and often tasked as the francophone spokesman during government announcements, was given the job of veterans affairs minister.
Ed Fast, another Conservative backbencher from Abbotsford, B.C., where the province lost three top cabinet ministers, was rewarded with the plum position of international trade and minister responsible for the Asia-Pacific Gateway.
Alice Wong, an educator from Richmond, B.C., and Hong Kong immigrant, was the only new female appointed to cabinet. She was elevated from parliamentary secretary for multiculturalism to minister of state for seniors.
And Tim Uppal, a Sikh MP from Edmonton since 2008, was appointed minister of state for democratic reform — a task possibly made more difficult with the surprise announcement that three just-defeated Conservative candidates would be appointed to the Senate, two of them as re-appointments.
Among the three other Conservatives elected in Quebec, the two already in cabinet — Christian Paradis and Denis Lebel — received big promotions. Paradis became industry minister while Lebel was vaulted to transport while retaining the responsibility for Quebec's economic development agency.
Two previous junior ministers, Rob Merrifield and Rob Moore, were both dropped from cabinet.
Most of the party's veteran ministers stayed put, though Tony Clement moved from industry to Treasury Board — where he will watch over potentially massive spending cuts — and former House leader John Baird was rewarded with a promotion to foreign affairs.
NDP leader Jack Layton said it was disappointing that despite the stronger female representation in the House of Commons, the prime minister's inner circle was still surrounded by testosterone. The number of women in cabinet remained at 10.
"It's disappointing that . . . Mr. Harper has decided to award most of his cabinet, once again, to men," he told reporters. "While it's a new cabinet, there are a lot of the same players there that steered the last government through contempt and scandals."
Peter Van Loan, former international trade minister, was re-appointed as House leader, a position that he denied was a demotion.
"I think it will be a fun job," he told reporters who surrounded him as he exited the Governor General's home.
Former Ontario top cop Julian Fantino, the former junior minister for seniors was promoted to junior minister for national defence — a title, however, he seemed to disagree with.
"You're the associate minister, therefore you're not the senior minister, right?" a reporter asked, after Fantino denied the junior status.
"I don't know, I'm not going to quibble over that. I'm just here to lend a helping hand," he replied.
National Defence Minister Peter MacKay remains in place, as does Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, Heritage Minister James Moore, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty.
Flaherty told reporters he would bring in the budget sometime in June and hinted a revamped version of his March 22 budget might include the controversial end to the per-vote political party subsidy, but perhaps not the $2.2 billion in compensation to Quebec for harmonizing the provincial and federal sales tax.
"There are some election commitments that will be incorporated in the amended budget," he said, adding that the fiscal document wouldn't be much different than what was presented before the election.
Harper told reporters that despite his government's focus on cutting federal spending he did not contemplate cutting cabinet's size — which grew by one position — because he wanted to make full use of all the people in front of him.
"The question here is not one of cost; the question is making sure we have a ministry that is broad, representative of the country, tries to use people's talents to the maximum," Harper said.
"I think it would be a mistake to try and have a smaller cabinet that would make less use of people, but . . . we try and deal with the cost issues by slimming the budgets of the ministers' offices and we will continue to do that."
Harper's 26 full-portfolio ministers are paid $233,247 and the 11 ministers of state receive a salary of $214,368.
With files from Carmen Chai, Tobi Cohen and Amy Minsky
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