Kirsty Duncan
Mélanie Joly
Carla Qualtrough
Ginette C. Petitpas Taylor
Bernadette Jordan
MaryAnn Mihychuk
Patricia Hajdu
Filomena Tassi
Diane Lebouthillier
Carolyn Bennett
Canada’s “Feminist” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Part Two)
On the face of it, being in the Government’s Cabinet doesn’t just pay substantially better than being a Member of Parliament, it carries a great deal of power. After all, it is the PM & Cabinet who decide policy and law.
Cabinet Ministers can be fired for cause — they sit at the table where policy is made, and they’re are not allowed to disagree with Government policy, ever. Even if every member of the riding that elected them begs them to vote against a law the Government is putting through, even if the Minister agrees, to vote against such a law in Parliament would lose their Cabinet post.
Perhaps growing up in a big family has left me with stronger than usual aversion to having personal boundaries breached. I’ve chosen the photographs I have because I personally find most of them extremely creepy. These photographs show the Prime Minister getting right in people’s faces. In the nose to nose shots he’s gone way past personal distance as he gets right into people’s intimate space.
In all fairness there are a few photos like this where he gets disturbingly close to men as well, so I imagine this is just his style. Nonetheless, it is totally inappropriate in the workplace. No employer should use his unequal power and privilege to overstep the personal boundaries of women— or men— who are effectively his employees.
“The Prime Minister and the Ministers he or she chooses form the Cabinet. The Prime Minister also appoints Ministers of State to assist individual Cabinet Ministers. Persons appointed to the Cabinet are generally elected Members of Parliament, although it is customary for the Prime Minister to appoint at least one Senator to the Cabinet. Ministers serve “at the pleasure” of the Prime Minister, who may replace them or request their resignation at any time. The Prime Minister may also redefine ministerial portfolios and determine the size of the Cabinet as he or she sees fit.”
—Executive Branch of Government in Canada
Employment law protects most people from being fired on a whim, but like a medieval monarch, Prime Minister Trudeau has the unquestioned power to fire any Cabinet Minister at any time. For any reason. Or none.
15 of the 20 Cabinet female Cabinet Ministers are pictured in our Feminist PM’s embrace in these two posts.
What happens to the women in Cabinet who are made uncomfortable by the imposition of such physical intimacy in the workplace? Perhaps women MPs who mark their personal boundaries never make it into the Cabinet.
I don’t think my definition of feminism is the same as Mr Trudeau’s.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is pictured above with female Cabinet Ministers:
- Kirsty Duncan
Minister of Science
November 4, 2015–July 18, 2018
Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities
January 25, 2018–July 18, 2018
Minister of Science and Sport
July 18, 2018 – Present - Mélanie Joly
Minister of Canadian Heritage
November 4, 2015 – July 18, 2018
Minister of Tourism, Official Languages and La Francophonie
July 18, 2018 – Present - Carla Qualtrough
Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities
November 4, 2015–August 28, 2017
Minister of Public Services and Procurement and Accessibility[b]
August 28, 2017 – Present
Receiver General for Canada
August 28, 2017 – Present - Ginette C. Petitpas Taylor
Minister of Health
August 28, 2017 – Present - Bernadette Jordan
Minister of Rural Economic Development
January 14, 2019– - MaryAnn Mihychuk
Minister of Employment, Workforce and Labour
November 4, 2015–January 10, 2017 - Filomena Tassi
Minister of Seniors
July 18, 2018 – Present - Diane Lebouthillier
Minister of National Revenue
November 4, 2015 – Present - Carolyn Bennett
Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations[a]
November 4, 2015 – Present
Find Part One here.