Promising change but using a page from an old political playbook, Stephen Harper became Canada's 22nd Prime Minister today.
He picked a cabinet whose key members have previous experience as ministers at the provincial level and immediately reiterated election campaign pledges that his minority Conservative government will make accountability its highest priority.
But in his first public remarks after taking the oath of office, Mr. Harper was forced to explain two surprise appointments to his 27-member cabinet — defector David Emerson, re-elected just last month as a Liberal in Vancouver, who moves from industry to trade, and Montreal lawyer Michael Fortier, the Tory campaign co-chairman who will be appointed to the Senate so he can sit at the cabinet table as public works minister.
Mr. Harper called it a "great honour and an enormous responsibility" to be prime minister.
"We will improve Canadians' faith in public institutions by making government more accountable and effective," he promised.
The Conservative minority government will search for common ground with other parties in the House, Mr. Harper said, promising that his highest priorites will be cleaning up government, cutting the goods and services tax, reducing health care waiting times, and implementing a family child-care allowance.
"The peaceful transition of government is a blessing of democracy," Mr. Harper said after the swearing in ceremonies at Rideau Hall, the residence of the Governor-General.
Wasting no time, the new cabinet held its first meeting on Parliament Hill this afternoon to discuss the Throne Speech and federal budget.
Earlier, Mr. Harper defended the two controversial appointments by noting that Vancouver and Montreal are important cities, but neither elected Conservative MPs in the Jan. 23 election.
Rewarding political defectors with cabinet posts is an old tradition in Canadian politics — Belinda Stronach's move last year from the Tories to the Liberal front benches was only the most recent example. And Liberal and Tory governments for generations have named party campaign bosses to the Senate.
Mr. Harper told reporters Mr. Fortier, a Montreal lawyer, has promised to resign from the Senate and seek a seat in the House in the next election.
Mr. Harper said he thought Mr. Emerson's voters will understand his defection.
But Bill Graham, the interim Liberal Leader in the House, immediately rapped the appointments of Mr. Fortier and his former colleague Mr. Emerson.
As Public Works Minister, Mr. Fortier is in charge of how millions of federal dollars are spent every year and "we need someone who will be responsible to elected MPs in the House," Mr. Graham told reporters.
Referring to Mr. Emerson's defection, Mr. Graham said, "I find it worrisome that Mr. Harper has chosen someone for his cabinet who was elected under the Liberal banner just a couple of weeks ago."
This is totally inconsistent with Mr. Harper's view of defections when Belinda Stronach left the Conservative fold to join the Liberals, Mr. Graham said.
NDP Leader Jack Layton said it is very disappointing to see Mr. Emerson's defection so close to his election as a Liberal.
"People will be feeling there was an element of deception" in the vote, he said. "Canadians voted for change and to see this on the very first day of a new government has to be regarded as a setback."
The proper course for Mr. Emerson if he could no longer abide the Liberal party, Mr. Layton said, is to sit as an independent, or resign and run as a Conservative in a by-election.
The NDP ran second in Mr. Emerson's riding and the Conservatives a distant third.
The Conservative Leader was able to tap the experience of a number of former provincial ministers from all parts of the country in putting together a pared down 27-member cabinet, including Mr. Harper. The last Liberal cabinet had 37 ministers.
