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Surprises mark Canada's new Conservative cabinet
By Randall Palmer and Gilbert Le Gras Mon Feb 6, 6:12 PM ET
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's new prime minister, Stephen Harper, unveiled some surprise cabinet choices on Monday and vowed to end the sort of corruption scandals that drove Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin from power.
Harper, who formally took power on Monday after 12 years of Liberal rule, poached former Liberal minister David Emerson of Vancouver to be trade minister and went against tradition by installing an unelected businessman as public works minister in order to have cabinet representation from Montreal.
Harper also recognized that his government, elected on January 23 with only a minority in the House of Commons, will have to tread carefully to get legislation past opposition parties.
"We know that governing in a minority is not going to be easy," said Harper. "But we have our legislative and governmental priorities and we will work together with others to find shared goals and common ideas."
His choice of Emerson for cabinet, as well as that of banker Michael Fortier, though he was not elected, drew immediate opposition. While cabinet members need not be elected to the House of Commons, it is a long-standing tradition that they are.
Harper's choice of Gordon O'Connor as defense minister also raised eyebrows, since he had served as a defense lobbyist after retiring as a general.
Liberal opposition leader Bill Graham pointed out that Harper had campaigned on preventing ministers and their staff from becoming lobbyists, and now was appointing a former lobbyist as a minister.
"It seems to me rather curious that we should have gone in reverse," said Graham, formerly defense minister himself.
Harper countered that he wanted to guard against public servants enriching themselves but said that past work in industry did not constitute a conflict of interest now.
The Conservatives won parliamentary seats in most regions of the country, but were shut out of the three largest cities -- Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver -- and Harper said that was what motivated him to pick Emerson and Fortier.
He will appoint Fortier to the Senate on the understanding that he will seek to be elected to the House of Commons in the next election.
Harper, a 46-year-old economist, is the fifth youngest person to take up the job since Canada gained independence from Britain in 1867.
He campaigned against what he said were Liberal corruption and excess and arrived for the formal ceremony in a family minivan rather than the usual prime ministerial limousine.
He reiterated a promise to lower taxes, starting with a cut to the federal sales tax. He also has pledged to clamp down on crime, clean up government, work to reduce health waiting lists and give more money to the provinces.
Emerson's defection from the Liberals means the Conservatives have 125 of the 308 seats in the House of Commons, compared with 102 for the Liberals. A party needs 155 seats to form a majority.
The new total means that Harper might be able to rely on any one of the three opposition parties to get a bill through -- including the 29 left-leaning New Democrats, especially if Liberal Peter Milliken stays on as the speaker of the House, who votes only in case of a tie.
Harper's cabinet has just 27 members, down from the almost 40 ministers who served under outgoing Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin.
"My smaller cabinet and more streamlined cabinet structure are designed for work -- not for show," said Harper.
Only one new member of the cabinet, Rob Nicholson, had previous experience in the last federal Conservative government, which fell in October 1993.
The new finance minister is Jim Flaherty, who held the same post in Ontario's provincial government, while Harper's deputy, Peter MacKay, becomes foreign minister.
(Additional reporting by David Ljunggren)
By Randall Palmer and Gilbert Le Gras Mon Feb 6, 6:12 PM ET
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's new prime minister, Stephen Harper, unveiled some surprise cabinet choices on Monday and vowed to end the sort of corruption scandals that drove Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin from power.
Harper, who formally took power on Monday after 12 years of Liberal rule, poached former Liberal minister David Emerson of Vancouver to be trade minister and went against tradition by installing an unelected businessman as public works minister in order to have cabinet representation from Montreal.
Harper also recognized that his government, elected on January 23 with only a minority in the House of Commons, will have to tread carefully to get legislation past opposition parties.
"We know that governing in a minority is not going to be easy," said Harper. "But we have our legislative and governmental priorities and we will work together with others to find shared goals and common ideas."
His choice of Emerson for cabinet, as well as that of banker Michael Fortier, though he was not elected, drew immediate opposition. While cabinet members need not be elected to the House of Commons, it is a long-standing tradition that they are.
Harper's choice of Gordon O'Connor as defense minister also raised eyebrows, since he had served as a defense lobbyist after retiring as a general.
Liberal opposition leader Bill Graham pointed out that Harper had campaigned on preventing ministers and their staff from becoming lobbyists, and now was appointing a former lobbyist as a minister.
"It seems to me rather curious that we should have gone in reverse," said Graham, formerly defense minister himself.
Harper countered that he wanted to guard against public servants enriching themselves but said that past work in industry did not constitute a conflict of interest now.
The Conservatives won parliamentary seats in most regions of the country, but were shut out of the three largest cities -- Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver -- and Harper said that was what motivated him to pick Emerson and Fortier.
He will appoint Fortier to the Senate on the understanding that he will seek to be elected to the House of Commons in the next election.
Harper, a 46-year-old economist, is the fifth youngest person to take up the job since Canada gained independence from Britain in 1867.
He campaigned against what he said were Liberal corruption and excess and arrived for the formal ceremony in a family minivan rather than the usual prime ministerial limousine.
He reiterated a promise to lower taxes, starting with a cut to the federal sales tax. He also has pledged to clamp down on crime, clean up government, work to reduce health waiting lists and give more money to the provinces.
Emerson's defection from the Liberals means the Conservatives have 125 of the 308 seats in the House of Commons, compared with 102 for the Liberals. A party needs 155 seats to form a majority.
The new total means that Harper might be able to rely on any one of the three opposition parties to get a bill through -- including the 29 left-leaning New Democrats, especially if Liberal Peter Milliken stays on as the speaker of the House, who votes only in case of a tie.
Harper's cabinet has just 27 members, down from the almost 40 ministers who served under outgoing Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin.
"My smaller cabinet and more streamlined cabinet structure are designed for work -- not for show," said Harper.
Only one new member of the cabinet, Rob Nicholson, had previous experience in the last federal Conservative government, which fell in October 1993.
The new finance minister is Jim Flaherty, who held the same post in Ontario's provincial government, while Harper's deputy, Peter MacKay, becomes foreign minister.
(Additional reporting by David Ljunggren)