With the threat of a looming spring election, Canadian Prime
Minister Stephen Harper on Thursday moved embattled Environment
Minister Rona Ambrose out of her portfolio in a cabinet shuffle
amid growing public concern about climate change.
Harper, who came to power a year ago, expanded his 27-member
cabinet by adding five new junior secretary of state positions
while making some big changes.
Most noticeably, Harper appointed John Baird, previously
President of the Treasury Board, to replace Ambrose, who has been
lambasted by opposition parties over her handling of environment
policies, at a swearing-in ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa.
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The 37-year-old woman minister was instead made Minister of
Intergovernmental Affairs, a role that she has experience in her
days working in the Alberta provincial government.
In other significant changes, Robert Nicholson moves from
government House leader to Justice Minister; Monte Solberg gives up
the immigration portfolio to become Human Resources Minister; and
Vic Toews leaves his justice post to become Treasury Board
President.
"Over the past year, we have been delivering change by getting
things done for families and taxpayers," Harper said in a written
statement. "Our new ministerial team will continue to deliver on
the Government's commitments to Canadians."
It is Harper's first cabinet shuffle since the Conservatives
came to power after the January 2006 election.
The move came as his government faces growing criticism over its
refusal to honor the Kyoto Protocol, the UN plan that commits 35
rich countries to cut emissions from burning oil, coal and natural
gas by 5 percent below the 1990 levels by 2008-2012.
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In October 2006, the Harper government, which repeatedly said the
Kyoto targets are unrealistic, introduced its "made-in-Canada"
Clean Air Act. The Tory plan would implement regulations to make
industries cut their air pollutants by 2010. It also sets a new
target for cutting overall greenhouse gas emissions by the year
2050.
Opposition parties and environmentalists have slammed the act,
saying that the Conservatives has virtually given up Canada's Kyoto
commitments. They demanded action to be taken now, and not half a
century later. Newly elected Liberal leader Stephane Dion has
already made the environment a priority.
The environment file has increasingly been seen as the Harper
government's biggest challenge if it hopes to win next election,
not to say to win a majority government.
A recent Decima poll, conducted over the past two weeks, shows that
the environment is the No. 1 issue for Canadians. It comes ahead of
health care, the military mission in Afghanistan and the
economy.
The poll also shows that Canadians believe Ottawa is doing a
poor job on the environment.
"We've clearly determined that we need to do more on the
environment,'' Harper told a news conference after Thursday's
cabinet changes.
"We recognize that, particularly when it comes to clean air and
climate change, that Canadians expect a lot more." He said.
Another Decima poll suggests that at year's end, the
Conservatives and Liberals were in a virtual dead heat in political
support.
The poll, released on Wednesday, suggests the Conservatives
had34 percent support, compared with 31 percent for the Liberals, a
spread within the poll's 3.1-percentage-point margin of error.
Former Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney warned last
month that unless Harper moved quickly on the issue, other parties
including the Liberals under Stephane Dion, who campaigned for the
Grit leadership as champion of the environment, could claim the
issue.
Canada's minority governments traditionally only last about 18
months on average. The Harper government faces a key test in
delivering its budget in February or March, because the defeat of
the budget would automatically trigger a new election.
(Xinhua News Agency January 5, 2007)
