Cabinet shuffles must be fun when you know you're a shoe-in

Much as I enjoy seeing fresh new faces in cabinet, I highly doubt that this week's cabinet shuffle will have any changes of much interest to even political junkies. According to that article, it seems that about the only interesting thing that could happen would be Anne McLellan taking on the profile of Natural Resources minister (and I thought she already WAS the minister of everything). She has held the portfolio before, from 1993-1997, and it would be a good way of showing how seriously the government takes the softwood lumber dispute. On the downside, Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness is one of the most senior portfolios available - what with controlling the RCMP, CSIS, and having influence in ministries such as Health and Foreign Affairs - and Natural Resources is, quite simply, a demotion. However, so long as she remained Deputy Prime Minister and got to sit beside Big Paulie in the House of Commons, I don't think too much could be read into that.

Well, whatever happens, I'm sure McLellan won't have anything happen to her that she doesn't want. Whenever there's talk of a cabinet shuffle, she's always got a big smile on her face, and why not? She's the only Liberal from Alberta, and a woman to boot, not to mention being one of Martin's most devoted supporters. That makes her a very important person in the Martin government, and frankly the only way she would ever be stripped of her Deputy Prime Minister title would be if she were defeated in an election - which is not unlikely, given how close her victories always are.*

*I make a pledge here and now never to refer to Anne McLellan by her media-given nickname. You know, the one involving a natural occurance of moving rocks and mud along with an endearing form of her name.