On dissatisfaction

The Chronicle Herald reports that despite the Cons' efforts to sell Jim Flaherty as a relatively steady hand in Finance (which shouldn't have been that difficult a pitch compared to many of the Cons' other cabinet members), there's now an internal movement to bump Flaherty from that position to try to stop the Cons' bleeding in Atlantic Canada:

Some senior Tories hope Prime Minister Stephen Harper will move Jim Flaherty out of his job as finance minister because of the way he has handled the Atlantic accord dispute with Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador.

"The finance minister is not safe," a senior government official said Wednesday...

Some believe it might be easier for a new finance minister to resolve the dispute with the provinces, since Mr. Flaherty has repeatedly said he won’t negotiate "side deals" with the two provinces and since he and his department insist the budget did not violate the Atlantic accords.

Some staffers in the Prime Minister’s Office blame Mr. Flaherty’s office for failing to anticipate the political problems the budget would cause on the East Coast.

"They were surprised that the department didn’t foresee how badly this would go over with the two premiers who are whining the most," said a source close to the government. "Work wasn’t done beforehand to signal that it was coming or correct it or whatever had to be done."...

Some Atlantic Tories, who have been under pressure at home over the accord dispute, would be happy to see Mr. Flaherty pushed aside.

"Certainly, the Atlantic caucus have some frustration with him," said one senior Tory.

Public opinion polls show East Coast voters may send those Tory MPs packing if the accord dispute is not resolved before the next election.

"Jim Flaherty could single-handedly defeat more Conservative MPs from Atlantic Canada than the combined efforts of all Liberal organizers in the region," Canadian Taxpayers Federation spokesman John Williamson said.

Of course, the question in replacing Flaherty is whether any alternative would be seen as having any more credibility. And despite Flaherty's role in breaking two of the Cons' most important campaign promises, there's little reason to think that a change in ministers would make the Cons any more trustworthy when Deceivin' Stephen's fingerprints will still be all over any decisions.

As a result, the only cabinet shuffle likely to make much difference is a change in the party in power. And thanks to the understandable frustrations of the senior Cons cited (as well as Atlantic Canada in general), that may be far closer than the Con sources would like to admit.