Mmmmm....cabinet shuffle

See, I miss being in town covering this stuff. I almost miss covering St. John's City Council.

Well....almost. Let's not get crazy here.

Anyway, a cabinet shuffle. CBC has the story. The big news is that Trevor Taylor is getting moved out of Fisheries and into Transportation. Tom Rideout is the new Fisheries Minister. Ed Hollett has some analysis on his blog about what the shuffle means for the province's view of the fishery.

I always thought that the Fishery portfolio was about the biggest no-win one there was in government. People always hate you. No matter what you do, you're wrong. You're a pawn of the manufacturers. You're ignoring the fiscal realities of the modern fishery. You're trying to destroy rural Newfoundland. And so on and so forth.

Honestly, name the last fisheries minister people liked and did a good job? I'll wait while you get back to me on that one.

I'm not sure Taylor is the biggest loser, however. Transportation is still a high profile post and lord knows with the demands of trying to fix the province's infrastructure it should keep him hoppping.

No, I would say the biggest loser is Paul Shelley. He had the cushiest job in government - Tourism Minister. He got to travel around the province and go to Mainland events. He opened The Rooms, hung out with musicians and artists and go to lots of fancy dinners. After the last budget - which threw money at the arts community - they had pretty much forgiven him for keeping The Rooms closed for an extra year. Now he was loved and toasted. It was a sweet job. I've heard him say as much. And he always looked happy whenever I saw him at an event. And why wouldn't he? He was Minister of Good Times.

Now he's minister in charge of job creation and the vastly overworked social services department. Bummer, man.

By the way, Tom Rideout is not the biggest winner. I don't care if he is deputy premier, Danny is still the one in charge. Even when he's away, Danny will be in charge. And I would aruge that Loyola Sullivan is still more important. The biggest winners? Joan Burke for the pretty solid work she did in Human Resources. I think she'll do fine in Education.

The other winner? Tom Hedderson. Party on, dude!

Last 5 on iPod
1. Jumpin' jive - Joe Jackson (Stepping Out - Greatest Hits)
2. Let's dance - David Bowie (Best of Bowie)
3. Get him back - Fiona Apple (Extraordinary Machine)
4. Where do broken hearts go? - Me First and the Gimmie Gimmes (Take A Break)
5. Falling for the first time - Barenaked Ladies (Greatest Hits)