Canadian leader to select cabinet

Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin will talk to opposition leaders this month to plan the course for the country's new minority government. The prime minister is expected to announce his cabinet appointments Tuesday.\nLed by Paul Martin, the Liberal Party formed a minority government in Canada after the results of general elections were announced June 29. This is the first minority administration in Canada in the last 25 years.\nThe incumbent Liberals have won comfortable majorities since 1993 but lost 37 seats this year because of voter dissatisfaction over scandals involving misappropriation of money by Liberal-affiliated advertising agencies. \nThe announcement of a Liberal majority came as a surprise to many experts and members of the media since voter surveys had predicted a close tie between the liberals and conservatives. Stephen Harper, who led the newly united Conservatives, at one point, told his followers to prepare for government since he was predicted to pull off a victory.\nLori Poloni-Staudinger, a graduate student in political science at IU, attributed the Liberal victory to the Canadians' discomfort with Harper's social conservatism.\n"His fiscal conservatism may play well in relation to the scandal, but the majority of Canadians have tended to shy away from social conservative stances," she said.\nBrian Shoup, graduate student in comparative politics and public policy, said Martin won by successfully convincing Canadians that a Conservative victory would spell an end to a number of social welfare programs. \n"Whether the Conservatives could actually do this is doubtful, but it was certainly a good strategy for Martin to pursue," Shoup said.\nAccording to the BBC, Harper's provocative statements suggesting that Martin was soft on pornography annoyed voters and even right-wing newspapers. Some of his party members' insinuated that a Harper government would attack abortion rights and impede legal steps to enable same-sex marriages, which also irked voters.\nThis general election also witnessed a landslide victory by the separatist party Bloc Québécois in its French-speaking province. The Bloc Québécois political object is for Quebec to secede from Canada and become an independent nation.\nShoup said that Bloc Québécois victory in Quebec does not signal any credible resurgence in secession efforts.\n"(Leader of the Bloc Québécois, Gilles Duceppe) was pretty careful with his words during the campaign, stressing that his party would represent Quebec's interests in the national government, as opposed to playing up the idea of independence," he said. "I think (Bloc Québécois) realized that this scandal represented their best electoral opportunity in years and clearly the Conservatives weren't going to make huge headway in Quebec."\nPoloni-Staudinger said the Liberals' image has not been permanently tainted by scandals.\n"I don't think that something like this will have particularly long-lasting impact on the party's image," she said. "I don't think that the scandal will permanently scar the party over the long term, but it may become an annoyance to Martin."\nJournalism professor Michael Evans said Martin has the potential to salvage the party. \n"He has the reputation for reliability to do it," Evans said. "Basically, the Liberals need to clean up their act and let some time pass without scandal."\nAccording to The Economist, the leftward tilt will be a challenge for Martin who as finance minister balanced Canada's books by cutting spending and taxes.\nPoloni-Staudinger said as the leader of a minority party, Martin will find it harder to cut spending.\n"Usually, during periods of minority rule, spending needs to increase rather than decrease in order to appeal to a wider audience," she said. "Also, if the New Democrats become a partner of sorts to the Liberals, it will be very difficult to cut spending as the New Democrats are arguing for increased social spending."\nThe survival of this government has become a pressing issue since most minority governments have an average lifespan of 18 months in Canada.\nShoup said it is possible that Martin can cobble together support on an issue-to-issue basis.\nPoloni-Staudinger and Evans do not share Shoup's confidence in Martin's ability to garner support and build coalitions.\n"Martin is a safe, solid, competent leader -- but not exactly dynamic or exciting," Evans said. "I think he will have to work hard to shore up his support nationwide, which may well mean calling for another election soon."\n-- Contact staff writer Sheeba Madan at smadan@indiana.edu.