Picking members of a Parliamentary Cabinet

Tomorrow, Prime Minister Mark Carney will announce his new cabinet. It is a very complex and delicate task to appoint a cabinet as the members must reflect every region, be gender equal, be competent, and be supportive of the prime minister’s goals. And keep everyone happy.

My understanding is that Prime Minister Carney will have two layers of Ministers. A full minister will be responsible for the department, the budgets, and will always be required at cabinet meetings. Ministers are completely responsible for every aspect of their department and usually speak in the House of Commons for their department. They develop policy and implement programs. Some are high profile and some are not. Ministers report to the Prime Minister.

Ministers of State typically assist a full minister with one specific aspect of the minister’s portfolio. They do not lead a department of their own. Their role is more focused and limited. Sometimes Ministers of State are only required at Cabinet meetings when their relevant file is being dealt with. Full ministers are always required at Cabinet meetings.

Not all prime ministers have used the Minister of State function, but have just had only full ministers. Ministers of State generally answer to the minister of the department.

In several previous governments, both Conservative and Liberal prime ministers have tended to consolidate decision-making power in the prime minister’s office. Under this approach, a small group of elected officials and unelected advisors develop policy and direction, and then the cabinet ministers are designated to implement those polices. In conjunction with the prime minister, they generate policy and direction for the government.

I suspect Prime Minister Carney will take a different tact and use all of his ministers to develop policy in the traditional manner.

The Prime Minister must also select a wide range of Parliamentary Secretaries. This is a parliamentary position that is underestimated and does not receive the credit they are due, in my view. I find the name does not do justice to the role.

Each minister has a Parliamentary Secretary who is responsible for answering questions in the House of Commons when the minister is not available. They also handle day-to-day debates, and they often participate at some level in committees that are considering issues relating to the department.

I always found that I could count on Parliamentary Secretaries to get answers on local issues quicker than I could ministers. Parliamentary Secretaries still have all of the access and respect from government officials that ministers do.

Again, these Parliamentary Secretary appointments must take into consideration geographic regions, gender, competence, and many other aspects. It is a very difficult challenge to appoint ministers, ministers of state, and parliamentary secretaries and still have everyone happy. In fact, it is not possible.

In addition to appointing his cabinet ministers and ministers of state, the Prime Minister will also need to appoint other important positions in Parliament.

One of the most important positions in a government party or any party is the Whip. The Whip’s primary role is to ensure that there are enough MPs present in the House when a vote is called. Governments have fallen because a Whip has underestimated the number of members the opposition has available compared to the number of government members they have available. In this parliament, the ability to count is going to be very important.

If there are fewer than 20 government MPs present at any time, the opposition can call “quorum,” and everything comes to a standstill. Whips need to be able to count to 20.

Governments only fall if they lose a vote on a “confidence vote.” Confidence votes usually relate to budgets or financial matters, but a government can declare any vote a matter of “confidence.” If such a vote is lost by the government, the government will fall, generally causing an election. This is a minority government, and anything can happen.

In some parliaments, the Whip has been a counselor for the MPs as well. I find that this is up to the personality of the Whip.

My first Whip was Jim Hawkes. He knew what every single MP was doing and what their problems were. He would always offer help and was there for everyone. Since then, I have not had a Whip as much engaged with the MPs on personal issues. I have seen MPs need help with a range of issues due to the distance from home, financial issues, business issues, health issues, political issues… and often there is no one to turn to.

Prime Minister Carney will need to appoint a House Leader who is able to negotiate with the other party House Leaders in order for the House of Commons to run smoothly. House Leaders determine the status of bills to be debated and when there will be votes. The House Leader also must debate points of order when another Member of Parliament raises an issue about the conduct of the House, etc.

The House Leader needs to work closely with the Whip to ensure that there will be members present when the House Leaders agree to have a vote.

The House of Commons is a machine with many moving parts, and everyone has to know what the other parts are doing.

In fact, “the House” has 343 MPs, and they are all going in different directions with different goals and aspirations. It takes competent people to make it work right.

Caucus Chair is elected by Caucus. This person presides over weekly meetings of the party’s MPs. These meetings are where party members discuss legislation, strategy, internal issues, and constituency concerns — in private.

Caucus Chair also acts as “liaison” between MPs and Party leadership. Caucus Chair functions may include resolving disputes, diffusing tensions, or helping with internal conflict between MPs or with leadership. Often, they will work in concert with the Whip on these issues. Mr. Carney will need a Caucus Chair who has good people skills to help MPs unite and get the job done.

My first Caucus Chair was Progressive Conservative Bob Layton. Ironically, Bob Layton was the father of Jack Layton, who became the very successful leader of the NDP party.

Tomorrow I will discuss how the parliamentary Speaker is chosen and talk a little about his duties and functions. The Speaker is totally in control of the House of Commons, the finances, and “the hill” and all its employees. There are over 1,000 employees working for the speaker. It is a big job. We’ll talk about that tomorrow.

Thanks for reading,

Bill