Montreal City Weblog

Kate 12:38 on 2023-07-26 Permalink Reply  

• Ian 16:04 on 2023-07-26 Permalink

  Anthony Housefather didn’t get tapped for Minister responsible for Official Languages? Surprise, surprise 😀
  I’d vote for him if I was in his riding but the rest of them can go suck eggs. The federal Liberal handling of Bill 96 and C-13 was a gross betrayal.

• H. John 11:28 on 2023-07-27 Permalink

  Andrew Coyne in the G&M writes “I do not know what David Lametti could have done to merit being turfed as Justice minister. (I have my beefs, same as you, but a firing offence? In this government?)”

  Michael Geist writes “removing David Lametti as Justice Minister and replacing him with Arif Virani means online harms loses an important voice for freedom of expression in favour of someone who has expressed impatience with delays in new regulations.”

  and on Heritage, Geist continues:

  “Not only is St-Onge likely to continue down the same path on Bill C-18, but her mandate letter will undoubtedly also call for her to lead on online harms (or online safety) legislation …. The online harms package has long been viewed as the most controversial of the government’s three-part digital regulation plan (yes, even more than Bills C-11 and C-18). The new Justice Minister Virani played the lead role on online harms consultation in 2020 on behalf of Lametti, leading to the 2021 consultation package that was criticized by 90% of Canadians who responded…”
  Geist’s full opinion about the shuffle: https://t.co/0hKiXvSgUU

  Paul Wells on substack (https://paulwells.substack.com/p/the-army-you-have) quips “Why do they call it Canadian Heritage if only ministers from Quebec are allowed to do the job?” Canadian Heritage ministers under Trudeau: Melanie Joly, Steven Guilbeault, Pablo Rodriguez, and now Pascale St-Onge.

  On the change at Justice from Lametti to Virani, after saying a few nice things about the new minister, Wells goes on to say “Virani was Jody Wilson-Raybould’s parliamentary secretary; she seems not to have kept many fond memories. (In her memoir she calls him one of the “talking heads” who were sent out “to make comments that evidence has now shown were not accurate or right.” In general, Trudeau, a non-lawyer mostly counselled by non-lawyers, seems to be chronically unsure why he should have a justice minister or what they are good for.)”

  The G&M’s cartoonist, Gable, has Trudeau standing in the centre of a stadium announcing:

  “Next, in tier two: seat 238, is the new minister in charge of government efficiency and productivity.”

• Kate 13:17 on 2023-07-27 Permalink

  H. John, do we know that Lametti didn’t want to leave?

• H. John 13:59 on 2023-07-27 Permalink

  @Kate Well, when asked, Lametti said he intends to continue to serve his riding as an MP, but more importantly, he will run again at the next election.
  When Trudeau was asked why Lametti is gone, he rambled about him being a strong member of the team, and continuing to be a strong member….

• Spi 15:13 on 2023-07-27 Permalink

  Lametti was probably just unlucky to be the easiest to move out in order to abide by all the other political considerations of constructing cabinet. Gender parity, geographical and provincial representation along with electoral necessities (905 vote) and unique Canadian political realities (can’t have a heritage minister that doesn’t speak French) gotta balance senior portfolios between Toronto and Montreal representation. For example you can’t have Freeland at finance and Anand at Treasury Board with no Quebecer in an economic portfolio so Champagne is unmovable. Then you’ve got certain “star” cabinet ministers that want specific ministries (Duclos at Health, Anand that wanted something economic)

  It’s a miracle and debatable if you end up with enough competent MP’s to fill all these roles.

• Kate 15:31 on 2023-07-27 Permalink

  CBC now has an item about David Lametti saying it was a surprise when he was dropped from cabinet. As does La Presse.

• steph 09:01 on 2023-07-28 Permalink

  Any minister is going to have a short list of criticisms (I have my own concerning Lametti). He wasn’t incompetent, but he was far from being a star. A little shuffling is a good thing.

• Kate 12:47 on 2023-07-28 Permalink

  I have to admit to having no opinion at all of Lametti’s track record as justice minister, a job he’s been doing since 2019. But in government, often no news is good news, and a minister who can work in a non‑flashy way might be what’s wanted for the job.

  It mostly seems odd to me that Lametti didn’t see this coming. At that level you’d think you’d have some intimation that the top boss wasn’t happy with you for whatever reason.

• H. John 16:41 on 2023-07-28 Permalink

  Lametti didn’t see this coming because no one did.

  Every political columnist has opined for months about Marco Mendicino’s likely ouster because of the mistakes he’d made during and after the convoy crisis amongst other things.

  Lametti wasn’t on the radar of a single columnist or pundit since the shuffle was announced.

  The fact that it’s the one thing that there has been so many columns about says a lot of people don’t understand. You won’t find a single column asking why was Mendicino removed.

  As Chantal Hébert said today, on Peter Mansbridge’s podcast The Bridge, when Trudeau was asked why Lametti was removed from cabinet the “Prime Minister’s explanation was totally lame.” She went on to say “When this is one of the dominant questions on the day after, you have to say the message of change was not, at this point, received in a significant way.”