It’s been a busy week for Cabinet shuffles – first Alberta, then Ontario, now the feds. Assuming this was more than a “hey! look over here!” ploy to shift attention away from prorogation, what should we make of Harper’s moves?

Well, even though 10 ministers change jobs, it doesn’t feel like a big shuffle. The only new face is future “stump-the-At-Issue-Pannel-picture” Rob Moore. Sure, there are a few promotions and demotions – Lisa Raitt gets bumped down to Labour, where she will presumably do less damage, while Rona Ambrose gets promoted to Public Works after a few years in…beats me – no one’s seen or heard from her since 2006. So I guess she’s served her time in purgatory.

Oh, and Diane Ablonczy moves from an enjoyable tourism portfolio over to Seniors Affairs. Let that be a cautionary warning for any other Harper Cabmins thinking about showing any sort of support for the gay community.

But, on the whole, the Cabinet doesn’t look a lot different. Stelmach and McGuinty went for face lifts – Harper seems content with a new haircut.

Looking at some of that fine tuning, the two moves getting the most ink are Christian Paradis to Natural Resources and Stockwell Day to Treasury Board. On Paradis, the thinking is that Quebecers will feel better about a Quebecer selling them on oilsands expansion, than an Albertan. Or, at the very least, Paradis will be able to spar with Gilles Duceppe on that issue.

I’m not sure Stockwell Day’s move to Treasury Board in itself means the Tories are preparing for a round of cuts, but the Conservatives are spinning it that way, and that likely means Flaherty will be more restrained in his next budget. As an aside, I did enjoy hearing Stock refer to the stimulus program as the “Action Canada Plan” – clearly there hasn’t been enough government advertising to get the message out!