Rona to lead the Renovations?

If all comes to pass as the pundits suggest, by this time tomorrow at least a quarter of Stephen Harper's cabinet will have new jobs, or in some cases perhaps no jobs. It's expected that Harper will shuffle some of the chairs on the good Ship Conservative Thursday, with roughly seven or eight of his 27 cabinet ministers finding new tasks in cabinet or further down the parliamentary food chain.

Leading the pack however is expected to be the embattled Environment Minister Rona Ambrose, who has been the flash point of many of the controversial moments in the Harper government thus far.

With a newly minted Liberal leader who at least talks the environmental walk quite nicely, it's expected that the portfolio will see some serious action in the parliamentary session to come. Hence, Harper will be looking for someone up to the challenge of taking on Stephane Dion and his newly charged Liberals in all questions of Kyoto, climate and items of green.

Mind you it's not particularly fair to tie the entire can to Ms. Ambrose, the story in Ottawa is that the Prime Minister is very much of a control centred individual, who tends to leave his ministers with little in the way of individuality. So, if the Environment Ministry is in as much repair as has been suggested of late, isn't perhaps the trail leading back to the PMO.

With indications being floated daily of an election to come sometime this year, this could be Harper's only chance to rebalance some of his base, moving key players from potentially vote rich areas into high profile ministries. Look for Ontario and British Columbia to be provided with a few more players at the cabinet table.

While not a wholesale renovation of his cabinet it's still expected to be more than just a tidying up of the garage. He's taking care of the leaking faucets, the squeaky floor boards and for good measure looking at maybe a new coat of paint.

All in a bid to get his house in order for the day that it has to go to market.