EDITORIAL – New cabinet must start dealing with our exploding debt

An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.

A BRAND NEW FEDERAL CABINET was sworn in Tuesday in Ottawa, and it includes some big changes as well as some same-old same-old.

Harjit Sajjan, for example, is out as defence minister and Marc Garneau, the former foreign affairs minister, is out of cabinet entirely. So are a couple of others.

But Chrystia Freeland continues as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance.

B.C. remains well represented, with Sajjan, Carla Qualtrough, Joyce Murray and Jonathan Wilkinson at the table.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau retained gender parity, appointing 19 men and 19 women. The female members represent a wide variety of experience and expertise. Freeland,

Murray, Melanie Joly, Anita Anand and others are solid choices. Others must still prove themselves. Pascale St. Onge, for example, has been an MP for only a month and, as of yesterday, is the minister for Sport.

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Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.