Cicero and Jeffrey Simpson
I asked Jeffrey Simpson a message on the Globe and Mail website, today. The whole discussion can be found here. I'm on page 3.
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Cory MacDonald from Toronto writes: Jeffrey. I know that the conventional wisdom is that Rona's move to Intergovernmental Affairs is a good fit. I'm not so sure. I know she has some civil service experience in intergovernmental affairs, but its very low level experience. At the same time she has not shown herself to be particularly adroit at handling hot button files. Quebec's place in Canada is still the quintessential 'hot button'. Stephane Dion was a very successful Intergovernmental Affairs Minister under the Chretien government and her french is said to be just 'passable'. Do you think this move will backfire for the Harper government?
Jeffrey Simpson: Ms. Ambrose was in inter-governmental affairs while a mid-level civil servant in Alberta. That is actually bad training for playing a national role. I spent quite a bit of time with her when she first arrived in Ottawa talking about fed-prov relations. She was very provincialist, carrying that Alberta perspective. But, look, it doesn't matter. Mr. Harper runs federal-provincial relations. Period. She won't have much to do, frankly.
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I agree with Simpson on everything he said, but still think she's a vulnerability for Harper. She'll have to answer questions at some point.
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Cory MacDonald from Toronto writes: Jeffrey. I know that the conventional wisdom is that Rona's move to Intergovernmental Affairs is a good fit. I'm not so sure. I know she has some civil service experience in intergovernmental affairs, but its very low level experience. At the same time she has not shown herself to be particularly adroit at handling hot button files. Quebec's place in Canada is still the quintessential 'hot button'. Stephane Dion was a very successful Intergovernmental Affairs Minister under the Chretien government and her french is said to be just 'passable'. Do you think this move will backfire for the Harper government?
Jeffrey Simpson: Ms. Ambrose was in inter-governmental affairs while a mid-level civil servant in Alberta. That is actually bad training for playing a national role. I spent quite a bit of time with her when she first arrived in Ottawa talking about fed-prov relations. She was very provincialist, carrying that Alberta perspective. But, look, it doesn't matter. Mr. Harper runs federal-provincial relations. Period. She won't have much to do, frankly.
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I agree with Simpson on everything he said, but still think she's a vulnerability for Harper. She'll have to answer questions at some point.
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