Stephen Harper's new cabinet includes Metro Vancouver's Alice Wong, James Moore
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has named his first cabinet since his Conservative party won a majority government, and it includes two members from Metro Vancouver.
Richmond MP Alice Wong is joining the federal cabinet for the first time as minister of state for seniors.
Port Moody-Westwood-Port Coquitlam MP James Moore remains the minister of Canadian heritage and official languages.
Edward Fast, the MP for Abbotsford—which lies just outside Metro Vancouver—has also received his first cabinet posting. Fast has been named minister of international trade and minister for the Asia-Pacific gateway.
The fourth B.C. member of cabinet is Vancouver Island North MP John Duncan, who retains his portfolio as minister of aboriginal affairs and northern development.
Here's the full list of cabinet ministers:
The Honourable Robert Douglas Nicholson
Minister of Justice and Attorney General of CanadaThe Honourable Marjory LeBreton
Leader of the Government in the SenateThe Honourable Peter Gordon MacKay
Minister of National DefenceThe Honourable Vic Toews
Minister of Public SafetyThe Honourable Rona Ambrose
Minister of Public Works and Government Services and Minister for Status of WomenThe Honourable Diane Finley
Minister of Human Resources and Skills DevelopmentThe Honourable Beverley J. Oda
Minister of International CooperationThe Honourable John Baird
Minister of Foreign AffairsThe Honourable Tony Clement
President of the Treasury Board and Minister for the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern OntarioThe Honourable James Michael Flaherty
Minister of FinanceThe Honourable Peter Van Loan
Leader of the Government in the House of CommonsThe Honourable Jason Kenney
Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and MulticulturalismThe Honourable Gerry Ritz
Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Minister for the Canadian Wheat BoardThe Honourable Christian Paradis
Minister of Industry and Minister of State (Agriculture)The Honourable James Moore
Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official LanguagesThe Honourable Denis Lebel
Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities and Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of QuebecThe Honourable Leona Aglukkaq
Minister of Health and Minister of the Canadian Northern Economic Development AgencyThe Honourable Keith Ashfield
Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and Minister for the Atlantic GatewayThe Honourable Peter Kent
Minister of the EnvironmentThe Honourable Lisa Raitt
Minister of LabourThe Honourable Gail Shea
Minister of National RevenueThe Honourable John Duncan
Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern DevelopmentThe Honourable Steven Blaney
Minister of Veterans AffairsThe Honourable Edward Fast
Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Asia-Pacific GatewayThe Honourable Joe Oliver
Minister of Natural ResourcesThe Honourable Peter Penashue
Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and President of the Queen’s Privy Council for CanadaThe Honourable Julian Fantino
Associate Minister of National DefenceThe Honourable Bernard Valcourt
Minister of State (Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency) (La Francophonie)The Honourable Gordon O’Connor
Minister of State and Chief Government WhipThe Honourable Maxime Bernier
Minister of State (Small Business and Tourism)The Honourable Diane Ablonczy
Minister of State of Foreign Affairs (Americas and Consular Affairs)The Honourable Lynne Yelich
Minister of State (Western Economic Diversification)The Honourable Steven John Fletcher
Minister of State (Transport)The Honourable Gary Goodyear
Minister of State (Science and Technology) (Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario)The Honourable Ted Menzies
Minister of State (Finance)The Honourable Tim Uppal
Minister of State (Democratic Reform)The Honourable Alice Wong
Minister of State (Seniors)The Honourable Bal Gosal
Minister of State (Sport)
You can follow Stephen Hui on Twitter at twitter.com/stephenhui.
Comments
11 Comments
Mike Puttonen
May 18, 2011 at 10:18am
Perhaps the biggest cabinet in Canadian history...and B.C. members go down from 5 to 3.
The shape of things to come.
Mike Puttonen
May 18, 2011 at 11:54am
Just to be clear, I say 3 not 4 because let's face it the "Minister of State" isn't a real cabinet post. While Ms. Chong's riding contains an enormous population of seniors and her appointment seems to make sense, we all know how these things go. She's Raymond Chan, in drag, wearing Tory Blue. And she'll be about as effective as he was....
B.C. needs at least two more real cabinet posts to even approach a semblance of fairness. Let's start with Fisheries and Oceans and Environment.
Mike Puttonen
May 18, 2011 at 12:04pm
Holy #&%^$# did I get her name wrong?... ...sorry.
My neighbour's name is... ...and she said...and I was...well...ding it, she's a Tory, too.
So...here's to Alice WONG...bless you, dear.
But you're still an empty seat.
J_J
May 18, 2011 at 1:21pm
@Mike
This is a big cabinet no doubt, but not the biggest. That goes to Mulroney who had 40 members.
Also, if you don't want to count Minister of State as a full Cabinet post, then B.C. had 4 before the shuffle, since Minister of State for Sport Gary Lunn would not count. Ed Fast's appointment to International Trade is important, considering how Canada's ties to Asia is key to sustaining economic growth.
Lastly, I don't appreciate your assumptions about Ms. Wong. Raymond Chan was a terrible MP who flip-flopped on various issues, was rarely seen in the community, and had a poor attendance record. By contrast, Alice Wong has proven herself to be a hardworker with a near perfect attendance record and is very visible in the community. The people of Richmond said it best when they gave her a 40% margin of victory over the Liberals. Let's not be so quick to judge.
glen p robbins
May 18, 2011 at 8:00pm
James Moore is going to have is work cut out when Quebec starts moving toward separation. Good luck.
monty/that's me
May 18, 2011 at 8:57pm
Does Ms. Wong have the remotest clue about seniors? What is her educational background and training? As for pursuit of buswiness in Asia that is the stupidest decision this government has ever embarked upon. Our stores are flooded with junk, inferior products, unsafe toys, runners that rot and worst of all OUR CANADIAN JOBS HAVE BEEN SHIPPED OVERSEAS. Wise up folks.
Ken Lawson
May 18, 2011 at 10:12pm
Well I do not agree with any of you, I thought Alice Wong was useless she did not do what she was asked to do on the trip to China. Working hard with whom, certainly not with main stream canadians!
Steve Y
May 19, 2011 at 6:27am
Oprah was in charge of the cabinet... you get a cabinet seat and you get a cabinet seat and YOU get a cabinet seat! Every body gets a cabinet seat!
Mike Puttonen
May 19, 2011 at 11:57am
You makes some good points, @J_J!
Ms Wong was certainly the people's choice, and why not, she was clearly the best candidate, regardless of party.
But will that make the Tory family re-unification policy--or rather, non-reunification policy--any better for families in her riding? There will be some spending in her riding on studies and pilot projects, but we'll see if she can make things better for families across Canada that way.
I know my grand-parents brought my great-grandparents over from Finland after they got settled. It's a Canadian tradition, and if Ms. Wong as Minister of State can help Tubby and The Gang find a way to make it work again, she'll be a success in my eyes.
Nonetheless, BC's immediate problems lie elsewhere, and when it comes to that, it seems we are expected to go along with whatever Alberta needs...
Fan'o Truth
May 19, 2011 at 1:18pm
@Monty
Does Ms. Wong have the remotest clue about seniors? What is her educational background and training?
Like you, I was unaware till today that Wong possesses an earned doctoral degree from UBC:
From the Alice Wong bio on her MP website
Before being elected, Alice Wong was teaching ESL and then entrepreneurship at Vancouver Community College and assisting her husband in his family business. She continued her studies at UBC and obtained her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction in 1993. Alice Wong joined Kwantlen University College (now Kwantlen Polytechnic University) in 1998 and became the Manager of International Programs until October 2006.
http://alicewong.ca/about-alice-wong/
The Vancouver media have simply pigeon-holed Wong as a social conservative, which she may be for all I know. But to emphasize that picture, they apparently feel it's necessary to withold from their tender readers any informational tidbits which might tend to make that particular picture less stark or make it appear incomplete in any way.
Consider the following carefully scripted paragraph from the Straight Slate of just a few weeks ago, and notice the contrasting treatment of the career/educational qualifications of Wong and Peschisolido, the latter being the candidate of Canada's once almighty Liberal Party :
Richmond
Michael Wolfe (Green)
The 29-year-old teacher isn’t one of those Green candidates who shows up to put his name on the ballot, and then disappears between elections. Wolfe has been a tireless defender of farmland in Richmond. He’s an articulate proponent of taking action on climate change. Most people believe that Richmond is a contest between Liberal lawyer Joe Peschisolido and Conservative incumbent Alice Wong. Peschisolido ran for the Canadian Alliance in 2000 when Stockwell Day was leader. Wong is a social conservative. New Democrat Dale Jackaman is a computer consultant and antismoking activist.
http://www.straight.com/article-390033/vancouver/straight-slate