<P> However, the Cabinet's collective influence has been seen to be eclipsed by that of the prime minister alone . Former prime minister Pierre Trudeau is credited with consolidating power in the Office of the Prime Minister (PMO) and, at the end of the 20th century and into the 21st, analysts--such as Jeffrey Simpson, Donald Savoie, and John Gomery--argued that both parliament and the Cabinet had become eclipsed by prime ministerial power . Savoie quoted an anonymous minister from the Liberal Party as saying Cabinet had become "a kind of focus group for the Prime Minister," while Simpson called cabinet a "mini-sounding board". Coyne wrote in 2015: "Cabinet does not matter...It does not govern: that is the job of the prime minister, and of the group of political staff he has around him, and of the bureaucracy beyond them ." John Robson criticised the use of the prime minister's name to identify the Cabinet, calling it a "bad habit" that "endorses while concealing the swollen pretension of the executive branch ." </P> <P> Each party in Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition creates a shadow cabinet, with each member thereof observing and critiquing one or more actual Cabinet portfolios and offering alternative policies . The Official Opposition's shadow cabinet comprises members of the party not in government holding the largest number of seats and is appointed by the Leader of the Opposition; it is generally regarded as a "government in waiting". Its members are often, but not always, appointed to a Cabinet post should the leader of their party be called to form a government . </P> <P> The Liberal Party of Canada won the federal election of October 19, 2015 with a majority of seats in the House of Commons . The Cabinet was sworn - in on November 4, with Justin Trudeau appointed as prime minister . </P> <P> Initially, five members of Cabinet were appointed by orders - in - council on November 4 as ministers of state, but styled without the traditional of state in their titles . These were the Ministers of Science, Small Business and Tourism, Sport and Persons with Disabilities, Status of Women, and La Francophonie . (However, the new Minister of La Francophonie was, at the same time, appointed Minister of International Development .) Ministers of state had previously represented a second order within the Cabinet (determined by a lower salary as defined by the Salaries Act), despite the Ministries and Ministers of State Act giving them full authority for any government function delegated to them . However, after details of the aforementioned orders - in - council were published, the new cabinet stated its intent for there to "be no levels of cabinet members" and it would table in parliament amendments to the salary statutes, but also that the new ministers would continue to work with the existing departments rather than forming new ones . </P>

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