Inside Politics

UPDATED - Orders of the Day Extra - On your marks, get set, shuffle!

by Kady O'Malley Posted: August 6, 2010 8:40 AM Last Updated: August 6, 2010 10:10 AM
So, as regular readers have doubtless deduced by now, I'm taking Fridays off this month, at least in theory, but with a cabinet shuffle -- yes, even a teensy tiny shuffle-ette, which is what this one looks to be -- in the offing, I figured you might enjoy an open thread in which to shamelessly speculate -- and, of course, react once we actually know who's gone where. 

My picks: Veteran BC MP John Duncan ascends from the backbench to cabinet, taking the regional spot vacated by retiring House Leader Jay Hill. Transport Minister John Baird gets Hill's old job - his newly hired chief of staff, Garry Keller, late of the shadowy Conservative Resource Group, is well-schooled in the dark arts of Commons procedure, and Baird was house leader himself during his Queen's Park days, and believe it or not, when he's not on camera or taking a committee meeting hostage, he gets along swimmingly with MPs on the other side of the House. Meanwhile, Chuck Strahl takes over Transport, thus leaving the way clear for Duncan to get his ministerial bearings over at Indian Affairs and Northern Development. 

Also possible: Shelly Glover to Status of Women (yes, I know that we all predicted that back in May, when the post was left unexpectedly empty by the abruptly departing Helena Guergis, but that doesn't mean we couldn't be right this time around). 

An alternate shuffle scenario, posited by one of my colleagues: Duncan and Glover still end up with INAC and Status of Women, respectively (although the reverse would be interesting too), but Strahl takes over as house leader, and finally, in a straight swap, Rona Ambrose heads off to International Trade and Peter Van Loan goes to Public Works. 


I'll update with any new information, or wild guesses. Feel free to play along in the comments! 

UPDATE: And it's official: Baird to HL, Strahl to Transport and Duncan to INAC. I'll post a link to the PMO release when it goes up. 

Tags: and now the obligatory august cabinet shuffle pre-speculation!, blackberry jungle, orders of the day, this doesn't feel like a vacation day at all