Team Graham 
by Romeo St. Martin

[PoliticsWatch Updated 5:00 p.m. February 22, 2006]

OTTAWA  —  Even though there are only 25 Conservative cabinet ministers, the Liberals will have 41 critics and 38 associate critics in the upcoming session of Parliament. 

Opposition Leader Bill Graham unveiled his shadow cabinet on Wednesday which features a mixture of old and new. 

The most notable thing about the shadow cabinet is that no former minister is a critic for his or her former portfolio. And rookie MPs, including Michael Ignatieff, do not have full critic roles. 

Among the big names and jobs, economist John McCallum is the Liberal finance critic, Belinda Stronach is transportation critic, Stephane Dion is critic for foreign affairs, Ujjal Dosanjh is defence critic and Scott Brison is the party's environment critic.

People who were cabinet ministers in the Chretien government, but not in the Martin government, were given critic portfolios, including Wayne Easter, who is agriculture critic, and Maria Minna, who is the status of women critic.

Paul Martin, former trade minister Jim Peterson and former ACOA minister Joe McGuire are the only ministers from the last government not to land a critics role. 

Three other veteran MPs first elected in 1988 will also not be playing a role as critic -- Joe Comuzzi, Diane Marleau and Tom Wappel. 

Another from the class of 88, Peter Milliken, is not a critic either, but he is expected to be a candidate for speaker. 

"We are fortunate to have a caucus with such and abundance of talent", Graham said in a statement.

"It is a group of people with depth and diversity of experience, as well as youthful energy and fresh ideas - all of which ensure that the Liberals will put forward an effective, responsible and tough opposition to the Government". 

Leader of the Opposition: Bill Graham
Deputy Leader:  Lucienne Robillard
House Leader: Ralph Goodale
Deputy House Leader: Marlene Jennings
Whip: Karen Redman
Deputy Whip: Raymond Simard
Leader of the Opposition in the Senate: Dan Hays

Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency: Mike Savage
Agriculture: Wayne Easter
                       Paul Steckle (associate)
Canadian Border Services Agency: Raymond Chan
Canadian Heritage: Mauril Bélanger 
                                   Mario Silva; Francis Scarpaleggia (associates)
CIDA: Keith Martin
Citizenship and Immigration: Albina Guarnieri 
                                                      Andrew Telegdi (associate)
Competitiveness and the New Economy: Maurizio Bevilacqua 
                                                                            Gerry Byrne (associate)
Consumer Affairs: Dan McTeague 
                                   Ruby Dhalla (associate)
Crown Corporations: John McKay
Democratic Reform:  Stephen Owen 
                                        Alan Tonks (associate)
Environment: Scott Brison 
                          Lloyd St. Amand (associate)
FedNor: Anthony Rota 
               Roger Valley (associate)
Finance: John McCallum
Fisheries and Oceans: Bill Matthews
Foreign Affairs: Stéphane Dion 
                              Bryon Wilfert; Borys Wrzesnewskyj (associates)
Health: Ken Dryden
Human Resources and Skills: Geoff Regan 
                                                        Michael Ignatieff (associate)
Indian Affairs: Anita Neville 
                           Gary Merasty (associate)
Industry: Jean Lapierre 
                 Paul Zed; Gurbax Malhi (associates)
Infrastructure and Communities: Andy Scott 
                                                              Susan Kadis (associate)
Intergovernmental Affairs: John Godfrey 
                                                  Massimo Pacetti (associate)
International Trade: Dominic LeBlanc 
                                     Mark Eyking; John Maloney (associates)
Justice: Sue Barnes
La Francophonie: Bernard Patry 
                                 Pablo Rodriguez (associate)
Quebec Economic Development: Denis Coderre 
                                                              Marcel Proulx (associate)
National Defence: Ujjal Dosanjh 
                                  John Cannis; Wajid Khan (associates)
National Revenue: Yasmin Ratansi 
                                  Ray Bonin (associate)
Natural Resources: Roy Cullen 
                                     Ken Boshcoff (associate)
Northern Affairs: Larry Bagnell 
                               Todd Russell (associate)
Official Languages: Raymonde Folco 
                                     Marlene Jennings (associate)
Public Health: Bonnie Brown 
                           Nancy Karetak-Lindell (associate)
Public Safety: Irwin Cotler 
                           Derek Lee (associate)
Public Works: Navdeep Bains 
                           Lui Temelkovski (associate)
Science and Research  Joe Fontana 
                                             Charles Hubbard (associate)
Social Development: Carolyn Bennett 
                                       Omar Alghabra (associate)
Sport and Vancouver Olympics Hedy Fry 
                                                           Rodger Cuzner (associate)
Status of Women, Seniors,Multiculturalism: Maria Minna 
                                                                                   Sukh Dhaliwal (associate)
Transport: Belinda Stronach 
                    Jim Karygiannis (associate)
Treasury Board:  Joe Volpe 
                                Mark Holland (associate)
Veterans Affairs: Robert Thibault 
                                 Brent St. Denis (associate)
Western Ecn Diversification /Pacific Gateway: Don Bell 
                                                                                      Raymond Simard (associate)

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