With Coderre’s resignation as defense critic, Ignatieff has taken the opportunity to shuffle around Liberal critic portfolios.

Back in January, I had a few critical comments on Ignatieff’s initial lineup of critics – among them:

1. Dosanjh, Dion, and Cotler left out
2. Weak western representation
3. Trudeau and young stars left out
4. Coderre as Quebec lieutenant
5. Not enough women

Well, today’s shuffle addresses most of these concerns. Dosanjh replaces Coderre at defence and, along with Joyce Murray, shores up the western front. Trudeau and Bains get junior roles. Half the new appointments are women.

So, all in all, not bad.

Ignatieff has yet to name a new Quebec lieutenant, but has said he will. Personally, I don’t think he needs one. If you accept the view that Ignatieff has turned a deaf ear to Quebec (which I don’t, but who am I to contradict the all powerful media narrative?), then letting one of his MPs run the province won’t improve the situation. It would just leave him more detached from the goings-on in the province.

Plus, I think the events of the past fortnight illustrate some problems with the lieutenant system so obvious I don’t need to recap them here.