Angry in the Great White North

Robert Fife drops the bombshell in a story about the appointment of Martha Hall Findlay to be the candidate of the riding of Willowdale in Toronto:

Fife said observers expect Dion to continue appointing women to prominent ridings in anticipation of a coming election.

However, the political future of Belinda Stronach -- one of the Liberals' most prominent female MPs -- has come into question in Ottawa recently, Fife said.

"She has been more or less eclipsed since the Liberal leadership race. She doesn't have a critic's job, she rarely ever gets up in the House of Commons to ask questions, and people here in Ottawa are wondering whether she is going to run again for the party," Fife said. [emphasis added]

"Her office and she herself insist that she is, but there are some doubts here."

She doesn't have a critic's job? Is Fife right about that?

Here's the full listing of the Shadow Cabinet as it appears in Wikipedia:

She is still listed in that position in the current Liberal Party caucus document.

But Fife might have misspoken. Though Belinda has a critic position, it is also true that she does not sit on any caucus committees. She is the critic for Competitiveness and the New Economy, but she is not on the Committee on Economic Prosperity, or the Committee on Canada and the World.

That is odd, and might support the argument that Belinda has been marginalized for some reason.

It's a subtle point, but I think it is a point that needs to be set straight.