Initially Published in the Alliston Herald on October 31, 2008
Sadly, being selected as a member of federal Cabinet often has little to do with one’s ability. This is due to fact that the twin giants of gender and geography invariably factor large in the decisions of a prime minister.
Perhaps the most obvious beneficiary of this Canadian nuance is our own Helena Guergis. The gender/geography phenomenon resulted in Guergis being elevated to Cabinet in 2006 in priority to many superior candidates (both female and male) from across Canada.
In the 2006 election the Conservatives elected a total of four women from Ontario. Three of the four, including Guergis, made it into Cabinet. The fourth, Cheryl Gallant, was never going to make the cut as the result of her socially conservative views and rather controversial remarks made in the course of the 2004 election.
Given the dearth of choices available to Harper we should hardly be surprised by Guergis’ sad sack performance as a Cabinet Minister – a performance that has not escaped notice by the mainstream media (including those with a decidedly conservative slant).
Just last week the national affairs columnist for the National Post, Don Martin, referred to the multitude of newly elected Conservative women in a column headlined Harper’s Wealth of Women.
Now, before some of the local Conservative cheerleaders break into song and dance on the streets of New Tecumseth, they would be well advised to read more than the headline!
Martin writes: “The [election] results suggest the era of female MP’s being elevated into portfolios to meet some undefined fairer-sex quota, even if the task exceeded their experience or ability, would seem to be over.....That ‘yippee’ you hear is my teenage daughter, who is standing beside me insisting her gender doesn’t need preferential Cabinet consideration. I submit there could be no other explanation for Secretary of State Helena Guergis.”
Toronto columnist Grey Weston joined this chorus when he identified Guergis, who he describes as the “underwhelming junior foreign affairs minister”, as one of three Cabinet members who top the list of those most likely to receive a demotion or pink slip.
This week, Canada’s weekly foreign affairs magazine Embassy included an article that referred to the bungling Guergis as “...a lightweight and someone who resorts to personal attacks when questioned.”
If the reference to resorting to personal attacks sounds familiar, it should. On election night Guergis levelled a baseless allegation/attack (for which she declined to provide any particulars) that her opponent(s) had engaged in a “smear campaign”.
Along those lines, I expect that accusations of sexism and/or lacking respect for women will be levelled against any writer who dares to express an opinion that Ms. Guergis is out of her element and unqualified to be in Cabinet.
By the time this column goes to press Prime Minister Stephen Harper will have announced his new Cabinet. Hopefully, there will be more women. Indeed, I expect there will be as Harper has many newly elected and highly qualified women to choose from including Gail Shea (Prince Edward Island), Leona Aglukkaq (Nunavut), Shelly Glover (Manitoba) and Lisa Raitt (Ontario).
If Guergis is to remain a member of Cabinet I suspect it will be due solely to the fact that there remains a significant shortage of women elected as Conservatives in Ontario (there are now seven, up from four) and it is hard to imagine that Harper will reduce his female cabinet representation from this province down from three.
One should expect Diane Finley and newcomer Lisa Raitt (a former CEO of the Toronto Port Authority) to make the cut from Ontario. Given that Heritage Minister Bev Oda has also been a lackluster performer, and in light of the aforementioned numbers, gender and geography, it is entirely conceivable that Ms Guergis may remain a member of Cabinet.
