Last week’s cabinet shuffle generated plenty of orders-in-council, including an OIC designating who-does-what in case the Prime Minister or other cabinet ministers are in a coma or otherwise incapacitated.
As it has been since this government was sworn in back in the late winter of 2006, Quebec MP Lawrence Cannon (Pontiac) continues to be the man who becomes the Prime Minster if Stephen Harper cannot perform the duties of the office. Harper has not formally designated anyone in his cabinet as deputy Prime Minister but Cannon, who holds the Transport and Infrastructure and Communities portfolio, is in charge when the boss cannot be.
As for the portfolios that switched around as a result of the shuffle, here’s the list of backups:
- Gerry Ritz is the new Agriculture Minister. Chuck Strahl, the former Ag Minister, is first backup; Environment Minister John Baird is backup number two.
- Josee Verner is the new Heritage Minister. Former Heritage Minister Bev Oda is on deck and Immigration Minister Diane Finley is in the hole.
- Foreign Affairs now reports to Maxime Bernier but if he’s conked out, International Trade Minister David Emerson is the boss and if he’s comatose, Bev Oda is in charge.
- At Indian Affairs, Strahl is now the man, but the former chief (if you’ll pardon the pun) Jim Prentice is first backup and Monte Solberg, the Human Resources Minister is second backup.
- Prentice — many continue to believe he is the de facto deputy Prime Minister — is number one now at Industry. Number two is the Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and number three is Cannon.
- At International Co-operation, it’s Oda who is minister backed up by Bernier and Emerson.
- Defence lost Gordon O’Connor as Minister but he gets his job back if Peter MacKay is captured by the Taliban. Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day would be in charge if the Taliban capture MacKay and O’Connor.
- Meanwhile at National Revenue, where O’Connor is now in charge, his backups are Veterans Affairs Minister Greg Thompson and Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn.