Martin announced a cabinet shuffle today.
Bill Graham as Minister of Defense. God help us.
Martin also appointed former separatists (Jean Lapierre), former Tories (Scott Brison), and former goalies (Ken Dryden). Would someone please explain Ken Dryden’s qualifications for a cabinet posting to me. Because I don’t think that a resume specifying his NHL save percentage is exactly relevant.
My overall reaction: YAWN.
? He’s reputed to be a well known Lawyer and influential guy around town.
You’d rather have Sheila Copps maybe…
Ask Damian, he probably knows more about him.
Yeah but there are plenty of well-reputed lawyers. Dryden got elected – and appointed to cabinet – because of his hockey fame.
Let’s see then. Hockey players = tough, quick thinking and quick on their feet, team players, not afraid to go toe to toe with the opposition, sticking to a game plan is the norm, forceful personality, a charmer off ice, (avoids skating on thin ice), etc…
Yup, sounds like Cabinet material to me.
Oops! Forgot “Good at blocking cheap shots”. heh…
Sari, Dryden is a lawyer, has had a successful career in business, nad has been at the forefront of child-welfare issues in Ontario (Ontario Youth Commissioner, the ‘ken dryden’ scholarships, author of a book on high school). A minimal amount of googling would tell you this, or a modest knowledge of the Ontario political scene.
If you’re concerned about former pro-athletes in parliament, Gary Carr or Gord Wicklum would be the place to start.
Segacs wrote: Would someone please explain Ken Dryden’s qualifications for a cabinet posting to me. Because I don’t think that a resume specifying his NHL save percentage is exactly relevant.
Ikram wrote: If you’re concerned about former pro-athletes in parliament, Gary Carr or Gord Wicklum would be the place to start.
“Cabinet” is not the same as “parliament”, I think. Neither Gary Carr (who spent 13 years in provincial politics) nor Dan Wicklum (who spent the last 4 years as a federal policy advisor) were named to cabinet, so it’s hard to see how they are relevant to Segacs’ comments.
More to the point, the objection was obviously as to the absence of political experience, not to the presence of sports experience. While I think Dryden is one of the better-qualified rookies out there, it’s hardly outrageous to wonder openly about putting a rookie in a high-profile cabinet position. Political commentators for major Canadian news media have raised the question — so implying that a minimal amount of googling would tell you this, or a modest knowledge of the Ontario political scene would dispel it is downright bizarre.
Gimme a Ken Dryden over the Chretien do-nothing crew anyday. What the hell has ‘Parliamentary experience’ accomplished over the last couple of terms other than grease the flow of cash to Liberal friends and insiders?
Here is the question, will Bill Graham do more harm in defense or foreign affairs?
Frankly, I’m glad that his Israel-bashing days are over
Has anyone figured out what Dryden did for the Maple Leafs all those years? Of course, it’s not clear why they need any executives. They make money from their building and TV, so they can’t be bothered acquiring the best players.
Martin’s new cabinet reminds me of the Statue of Liberty: give me your tired, your poor….