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From the Vancouver Sun
Prime Minister Stephen Harper made small but potentially important adjustments to his cabinet Wednesday, including the appointment of B.C. MP James Moore as secretary of state for the 2010 Olympics, the Asia-Pacific Gateway, and official languages.
The decision to promote Moore, 32, along with Quebec MP Christian Paradis, 34, who went from secretary of state to minister of public works and government services, was seen by some in Harper's office as a start at grooming a new generation of ministers in the Conservative caucus.
Moore, MP for Port Moody-Westwood-Port Coquitlam, is one of Canada's youngest MPs, having first been elected at age 24 as a Canadian Alliance MP in 2000.
Harper also moved Senator Michael Fortier, 46, out of Public Works and over to International Trade, a job that had been held by B.C.'s David Emerson.
Emerson, 62, will remain foreign affairs minister, a job he has held on an interim basis since Maxime Bernier's resignation late last month because of a security breach.
Moore, who did not return phone calls, has already bulked up his political might with jobs as campaign volunteer, party strategist and radio talk-show host.
A product of the French immersion school system in B.C. and a graduate of the University Northern B.C., where he earned a B.A. in political science, Moore has shown is not averse to controversy.
Most recently, he was the government pointman in the Commons on the Chuck Cadman affair. In the last Parliament, he was the only B.C. Conservative to break with his party and vote for a Liberal law allowing same-sex marriage.
In 2002, as a Canadian Alliance MP, he challenged Vancouver's mayor-elect, Larry Campbell, to include a question on safe injection sites in a proposed referendum on the 2010 Winter Olympics. A year earlier he took a stand on behalf of leaky condo owners, trying to get a motion voted on in the Commons urging Ottawa to drop the GST on the cost of condo repairs.
The opposition Liberals say they see a prime minister with little talent from which to choose.
"Today's shuffle demonstrates how little bench strength the Conservatives have, particularly in Quebec," said Denis Coderre, a Liberal MP from Montreal.
And yet, of the 11 Conservative MPs from Quebec, four are ministers and two others are parliamentary secretaries.
Wednesday's shuffle does not change the regional or gender balance within cabinet.
Neither Harper nor any of the ministers involved in the shuffle would answer questions from reporters outside Rideau Hall. As he was getting into his vehicle, Harper simply said, "We're on track. We're going to stay on track."
Emerson did not attend the ceremony. He was travelling to Japan where he is to participate in meetings of G8 foreign ministers.
Emerson is widely viewed in the capital as one of Harper's most capable ministers, just as he was in former Liberal prime minister Paul Martin's cabinet, where he served as industry minister. Emerson was vilified by many in his riding of Vancouver-Kingsway when, after being elected as a Liberal in the 2006 election, he crossed the floor a week later to join Harper's first cabinet.
Emerson had vowed to be "Stephen Harper's worst nightmare."
Ironically, he may have become Harper's dream minister, a reliable policy-problem solver who, among other things, chairs two powerful cabinet committees, one on Afghanistan and another on economic affairs.
Emerson hasn't yet declared whether he will seek re-election in Vancouver-Kingsway, but there is at least one indication that he plans to run in Vancouver Quadra in the next election.
A telephone poll conducted in Quadra questioned residents on everything from the state of the nation to who they planned to vote for in the next election, according to former Vancouver Sun reporter Nicholas Read, who was among those polled.
Emerson was on the list of candidates. "I said, 'What, is David Emerson running in Vancouver Quadra?' He said, 'That's what it says here,'" Read said. "That's why I was surprised because I know he's a member for Vancouver-Kingsway and there's been talk about whether he would run and where he'd run."
Read said the poll also asked residents to rate a list of people in Canadian politics, including Emerson, on a scale of one to 10.
NDP MP Paul Dewar said the fact that the two men now responsible for Canada's international relations -- Emerson and Fortier -- were not elected as Conservatives is problematic. "There are questions of democratic credibility there," he said.
Emerson and Harper are believed to be in agreement on most foreign policy files such as Afghanistan and relations with the United States. But there may be some differences between the two men when it comes to China. Harper is seen as favouring a more hard-line approach to calling China out for human rights violations, while Emerson believes forcing change in human rights and democratic reform will come about when China is engaged on trade issues.
A PMO spokesman said Emerson's appointment should not be seen as heralding any significant policy changes.
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