6 • THURSDAY, November 4, 2021
VIEWPOINT
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GOVERNMENT
ALBAS: Frustration over delays Last week Prime Minister Trudeau finally announced his new cabinet, after waiting over one month since the September DAN ALBAS VIEW FROM election. The THE HILL new cabinet announced by PM Trudeau is significantly larger with 39 members, one under 40 members, the largest that was appointed by Prime Minister Harper in 2015. For contrast, the first cabinet announced by Prime Minister Harper in 2006 was just 26 members, likewise Prime Minister Trudeau’s first cabinet announced in 2015 was 31 members. Unfortunately, we still must wait until November 22nd, 2021 before Prime Minister Trudeau recalls Parliament. On a personal note, I am frustrated by the long wait for Parliament to return. One reason for this relates to the expiry of Canada’s pandemic response benefit programs that occurred on October 23rd. By now you have likely heard that the government will not be renewing these programs as they previously existed, but instead have announced new assistance programs that will be more targeted. For the record I fully support the stated goal of the Liberal government in this regard, however I believe this same principle should apply to Parliament and getting MPs back to work in Ottawa as well. As is often the case with Government programs reading the fine print is always the key to ensuring they are working as intended. In this case the details of many of these programs require clarification and proper Parliamentary scrutiny and oversight is an important part of this process.
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