The Liberal Cabinet Shuffle Shows Real Promise

Michael Ignatieff has made some changes to his shadow cabinet, and I think they are very good choices.

I had an opportunity to hear Scott Brison speak in Kingston awhile back, my very first Liberal function, and I was very impressed. He is articulate and funny and very bright. He will make a great finance critic and hopefully, in the fall, our next finance minister.

The Conservatives really shot themselves in the foot when their homophobia drove him from their ranks.

David McGuinty will give John Baird a run for his money, as he is painfully aware of how corrupt the Mike Harris boys were. He'll keep them on their toes.

And then there's Justin Trudeau. What a cutie.

But don't let his good looks fool you. He's smart as hell, and has been spending a great deal of time encouraging Canada's youth to get involved in the political process. And pitting him against Jason Kenney. Brilliant.

And while we're on the subject of cuties and smart people, Gerard Kennedy is now the environment watchdog.

Gerard had a huge success last winter putting in hundreds of hours of work, with an army of volunteers calling municipalities across the country to expose the government's incompetence on stimulus spending. Rumour has it there is an Environment Minister in the current Harper cabinet - though nobody can actually prove it to be the case. I expect Gerard to raise the heat on whoever he/she may be this session for the total lack of a Canadian climate change policy.

Gerard was once in the Ontario legislature, and is also familiar of the way the Harrisites operate. This should be fun.

And if these three hotties can't bring a little excitement to political debate, nothing will.

However, they are not just pretty faces. They are all smart, hard-working, and in a battle of wits against Harper's crew, these guys are holding all the ammunition.

And other good choices:

Ralph Goodale will be deputy leader, Dr. Carolyn Bennett will be in charge of democratic reform and Dennis Coderre will be the Natural Resources critic.