Do the Cabinet Shuffle

It's hard to think of a worse choice for Environment minister than John Baird. First of all, this is a man who is very clearly not given to reasoned debate or consensus-building. He's more the "shout at the top of your lungs so as to drown the other side out" type. Not exactly surgical or nuanced in his handling of the issues of the day.

Second, his record speaks for itself. He is one of those "government involvement is always bad" types, not really the best position one can hold if the goal is to actually make any substantive moves forward on the environment. I suspect, as do many others, that Baird was given the portfolio not because he particularly competent or suited to the role, but because he is good on his feet and has an uncanny ability to twist any discussion into a self-rightous tirade about the Liberals. It shows that Harper's main concern on the environment isn't so much damage control of the ecological type, but rather damage control of a more political type. Just what you'd expect from Harper.