Over at Macleans.ca, John Geddes does a nice job of detailing the unusually understated public reactions by Stephen Harper and Michael Ignatieff to Helena Guergis' exit from cabinet.
It probably won't last. But you know, maybe it should. Because when you get down to it, and set aside the salacious details, this is not exactly a matter of enormous consequence to the lives of most Canadians.
Don't get me wrong. There may well be something seriously wrong with whatever Guergis was doing that prompted the Prime Minister to call in the RCMP. And I'm not even about to launch another of my impassioned defences of her husband's right to privacy, much as his conduct alone isn't cause enough for her to be out of cabinet. These people have been making a very strange spectacle of themselves lately, and there's legitimate cause for media attention and for some degree of public concern.
And yes, you have to be able to trust anyone at the cabinet table, where you have access to all kinds of sensitive information. If Guergis can't be trusted, she shouldn't be there.
But let's also keep in mind that we're not talking about the Finance Minister here. I highly doubt that most people outside Ottawa could tell you what job Guergis is leaving, even if they're reasonably familiar with the scandal(s) around her.
If there's ever been an article explaining how Guergis approach the job of minister of state (Status of Women) differently from her predecessor, I didn't see it. Nor do I imagine there'll be a whole lot of pieces explaining how all the really important files she's been handling will be juggled by Rona Ambrose as she steps into the job.
In other words, the government has not been thrown into any real turmoil by Guergis' departure. Public relations turmoil, sure. But there's no substantive way that the government will be different tomorrow from the way it was yesterday.
The fact that the affairs of a junior minister and the former MP she's married to have so dominated the news cycle in Ottawa is a good indicator of how little of substance there's been to get excited about lately. But maybe, beyond whatever advantage they saw in public understatement, Harper and Ignatieff maintained a little perspective and recognized that the trials and tribulations of Helena Guergis will not find a major place in the history books.
I'd like to think so, anyway.
Adam Radwanski