Canada.com
OTTAWA -- Gordon O'Connor will be bumped in out of the defence portfolio in a cabinet shuffle expected in the week of Aug. 13, according to a report Saturday night. CTV News reported that sources say they expect Harper will put Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice into Defence and move O'Connor to Veterans Affairs. A shuffle this month would be Harper's second change to his cabinet since coming to power in 2006. His officials have told CanWest News that a shuffle won't elevate any backbenchers to the club; only existing ministers will be moved around. Speculation on the shuffle has centred around O'Connor, who is saddled with selling an increasingly troublesome war in Afghanistan, and seemingly at odds with his chief of defence staff.
Heritage Minister Bev Oda will be given a less challenging post and Revenue Minister Carol Skelton, who announced Friday she won't run in the next election, will be dropped, CTV reported. The report said Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay will remain in their posts. The expected cabinet shuffle comes as a new poll shows Harper's Conservatives are still failing to improve their support among the electorate.
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