Image Credit: CPAC

By Doug Collins

One Man's Opinion

COLLINS: Ready for another trip to the polls?

Jul 28, 2023 | 6:03 AM

NOTHING SAYS “ELECTION” more than a cabinet shuffle — unless it is a major cabinet shuffle. And that’s what happened this week on Parliament Hill.

Prime Minister Trudeau reshuffled almost his entire cabinet, introducing seven new members to the inner circle. Prior to that, Trudeau polled his cabinet to find out who was running again and who was going to leave. So when you make the shuffle, you drop the ministers who are leaving, or haven’t lived up to expectations, and you put people in places where they can become rising stars and, hopefully, help the party win the next election.

When you poll the ministers, you do it when you’re relatively close to an election, because you don’t want to have people leave too soon — especially in the trying times we have today.

With his cabinet shuffle Wednesday (July 26), the PM has kept the real inner circle in place, led by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland and Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly.

Bill Blair is now the defence minister and takes on the daunting task of shoring up our military at a time when the threat of global warfare is as close as it’s been in quite a while. I met Blair in 2015 at a conference we were both at in Toronto. He was just retiring as Toronto’s chief of police. We had a short, casual chat about a number of things. I was impressed with the man and his vision, and I haven’t changed my mind since.

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Patty Hajdu continues in her role as Indigenous services minister, obviously a critical portfolio, and B.C. MP and Paralympian Carla Qualtrough becomes minister of sport and physical activity, a tough portfolio given the scandals that have plagued a variety of sports over the past couple of years.

The ministers who have left the cabinet were not stellar, and the new ministers coming in will have a chance to show their stuff and help build the party for the next election. When will that come? Calling it this fall won’t give the new ministers the time they need to get established. But come next spring, don’t be surprised when the prime minister visits the Governor General and asks her to set the wheels in motion for us to head to the polls a year earlier than necessary.

I’m Doug Collins and that’s One Man’s Opinion

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.