Gerrymandering the cabinet

I see my good blogging colleague Gerry Nicholls has come up with a few great suggestions for Harper et al. in reference to a possible cabinet tune up (replacements and/or demotions). Just for fun, I will add my top three replacements (in bold print) to Gerry's suggestions below.

1. Defence Minister Gordon O'Conner: No brainer. Defence supposed to be one of the issues the Tories own. Whether through bad luck or incompetence, O'Conner has made a strength into a weakness.

Replacements: Art Hanger, Peter MacKay or Gerry Ritz

2. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty: Huge disappointment. Maybe it's not fair to blame Flaherty for all the fiscal miscues of this government but he has been the point man for the Income Trust flip flip, the ABM bank silliness and of course the big spending budget. Maybe we need a real conservative as Finance Minister.

Replacements: Monte Solberg, Diane Ablonczy or Maxime Bernier

(I think it's finally time for a fiscally conservative Albertan to be put in charge of the nations's finances. I think the last one to be from there in the last four decades was Don Mazankowski in 1991-93)

3. Heritage Minister Bev Oda: Never met a dopey "arts" project she didn't like to subsidize. More Liberal than a Liberal, Oda is part of the problem not part of the solution.

Replacements: Helena Guergis, Diane Ablonczy (if she doesn't get finance) or Lynne Yelich