Justin Trudeau to appoint new cabinet with equal gender balance

Prime minister-designate Justin Trudeausayshe is still committed to promises he made during the campaign, but would not be pinned down on timing, committing only to naming a new cabinet on Nov.4.

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Ina news conference he held on Tuesday, he offered few details about his coming agenda.Trudeaudid not set a date for reconvening Parliament, saying only that thenew cabinet will be named in two weeks and will havegender balance, meeting a commitment he had made previously.

Choosing that cabinet is just one of the tasks set before the Liberal leaderas thetransition ofpower begins. The job involvesnot just naming names in cabinet, but also choosing, for example, the different type of cabinet committees.

"Dreadfully boring things to most of us, but they're critically important to how the government will functionand howdecisionswill betaken," said Scott Reid, a former senior adviser to Paul Martin.

Moving day at 24 Sussex

The transition alsoincludesfiguring out when the current occupant of 24 Sussex Driveshould vacate.

"Typically the sitting outgoing prime minister willbe gracious and accommodating and say 'PM elect, what's yourtimetable? Do youwant more time or less time? Do youwant me out of the office tomorrow, do youwant me to linger around 24 Sussex Drivefor a couple of weeks?" Reid said.

Reid said there'sno fixed date, and the process usually takes a couple of weeks, but can vary depending on circumstanceandwhether something is coming up thatwoulddictatehavingthe new Prime Minister's Office up and running.

Reid said that when his former boss handedover the keys to Stephen Harper, it was a very simple process.

"They had a couple of conversations. Mr. Martin immediatelyindicated that as far as he was concerned, the timeline for transition would be dictated by Mr. Harper."

And no, the two do not meet in a dimly lit room and hand over secret files, he said.

Advance planning

Manyof the conversations takeplace between the incoming prime minister'stransition team and the Privy Council Office and senior civil servants.

Trudeau'stransition team was likelyalreadyestablished and working discreetly behind thescenesin the event ofvictoryto begin the transfer of power and establishment of newpriorities.

Thatteamusually consistsof a mix of peopleincludingthose with a political background and some fromthe policy side, who are familiarwith the machinery of government.

They will then meet with the Privy Council Office and senior civil servants who have also been preparing for a possible transition of power.

"You would talk about priorities, go through a whole hostof items. What are the priorities going to be?" Reid said.

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"Senior civil servants will say, 'We're looking for you to give us a read on what your musts are.'"Reid said.

They will providetimetables and how those may place limitations onproposals, Reid said.For example, they may explainthat theinitiatives of the prime ministercouldn'tbe done any later than a certain date because of variousconsiderations.

"So they'll spell it out and sayif you wanted to add things to that package, then you have to take into consideration these additional factors," Reid said. "It's detail work but it's awfully important detail."

The civil servantswill also alert the transition team of upcomingmajor events. Trudeau has a number ofinternational summits coming up, for which he will need to beproperly briefedto understand the concerns and considerations.

"Everyprocess will besomewhat tailored to the needs of the incoming prime ministertheir priorities, their personality," Reid said.