Prime Minister Elect Justin Trudeau announced yesterday that he plans to have his first cabinet selected by November 4. GPRC Political Studies Instructor Dawn Moffat McMaster says that while Alberta did go mostly conservative blue at the polls, she expects at least one of the four Liberal MPs elected in the province to be included in Trudeau’s new cabinet.
“One of the things that all Prime Ministers try do is get representation for different parts of the country for different groups to be on cabinet, so they will be trying to get a great deal of diversity. I would be very surprised if one of those Alberta Liberals is not in cabinet.”
Trudeau also announced that he intends to make good on his election promise to create a gender balanced cabinet. Moffat McMaster says she is encouraged by that news, and hopes it will influence more co-operative governance in the House of Commons.
“One of the very common concerns that I hear from people is that the debate in the House of Commons has become incredibly combative and fractious. For people who have studied it, the presence of women in the House of Commons, generally speaking, has toned that down somewhat.”
Here at home, the Peace Country no longer has an MP that is part of the federal governing party, but Moffat McMaster says that’s not all bad news because Conservative Chris Warkentin now has the benefit of being one of the more senior MPs in the party, and she would not be surprised to see him come into more of an actual critic’s role in the official opposition.
“They have lost a lot of senior people. They had three or four senior ministers step down even before the election, and then you had ministers like Chris Alexander and Joe Oliver who lost their seats. They are certainly going to be looking for people who have some experience, and I would not be surprised to see Chris in that role.”
Moffat McMaster says she is anticipating Parliament will go into session before Christmas, even if it is a short sitting.