OTTAWA (djc) – Last Sunday, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien brought the second Cabinet shuffle in a week, ousting Paul Martin as his long-time finance minister, the man considered the front-runner to succeed him.
This is almost unthinkable that the recent dramatic cabinet changes, and now the removal of Paul Martin as Minister of Finance, come less than two weeks before the Group of Seven finance ministers meeting in a prelude to the G-8 summit in Alberta.
In a carefully worded press release Jean Chrétien expressed his appreciation for Mr. Martin’s service to Canadians as Minister of Finance since 1993, and his contribution in making Canada a sound and growing economy.
What is most surprising, and even shocking, is the removal of such a successful Finance Minister which lifted Canada out of its multi-billion dollars deficit economy to a 20 billion dollars surplus.
The news about the loss of Paul Martin, the key cabinet minister credited with getting Canada’s books back in balance, will certainly be a negative for the stock market, and is expected to create at least a short-term financial turmoil and political uncertainty
In fact, the situation on Canada’s Parliament Hill is so explosive that anything could happen.
Stay tuned.
