Surprise vault of rookie MP into health portfolio raises eyebrows

My guess is the appointment is based on geography and gender balance -- I doubt it says much about the importance of the ministry to the Conservatives.

Surprise vault of rookie MP into health portfolio raises eyebrows
Sue Bailey, THE CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA - Rookie MP Leona Aglukkaq's dramatic leap from a rocky stint in Nunavut politics to federal health minister raised eyebrows and a few alarms Thursday.

"At first blush, it signifies to me the lack of importance that the federal government pays to health care," said Sid Ryan, general vice-president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees.

"There's a massive drive by the doctors' associations . . . to attack medicare and to attempt to privatize it. You put in somebody that's got no experience, and it just makes it all the more easy.
"And I don't really think the Tories have got much interest in defending the (Canada Health) Act to begin with."

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government has taken a pointedly hands-off approach to medicare, treating it as a largely provincial matter even as it transfers billions of dollars in yearly federal cash to help fund it.

Former minister Tony Clement, who was promoted to Industry as Harper shuffled his cabinet Thursday, barely registered on the political radar during his tenure in Health.

Medicare advocates are now asking whether the cabinet appointment of a federal neophyte speaks volumes about Conservative commitment.

Full story:

http://healthandfitness.sympatico.msn.ca/News/ContentPosting?newsitemid=68482032&feedname=CP-HEALTH&show=False&number=0&showbyline=True&subtitle=&detect=&abc=abc&date=False