> Canada's Cabinet [1] is diverse and the positions are individuals representative of those fields. I don't know if that's necessarily a good thing. Secretari

> Canada's Cabinet [1] is diverse and the positions are individuals representative of those fields. I don't know if that's necessarily a good thing. Secretaries of State are supposed to be advisers to the {elected|appointed|self-selected} leader of the Government. If they already have some personal 'skin in the game' then that may influence the advice they give, rather than listening to their experts and selecting the options that are best for the country. For example a Lt Col certainly knows how a regiment of 5000 men works, but why should that qualify him to advise a Prime Minister on, say, the strategic implications of nuclear deterrence? He's going to have to go and ask the experts first. In that example it might actually be better to appoint him to a totally different department, so one still benefits from his management skills but he in turn has to start from a blank slate without preconceptions.