The long-serving finance minister, who had been made to wait what seemed like an eternity before taking over as Prime Minister, promised sweeping change. Petty party differences should not prevent the best people from serving the country, he said. Indeed, his government would be one of all the talents.
When it came to announcing the Cabinet, however, there was just one figure who had not previously been a member of the governing party. The country groaned - the same old, same old, in reality.
I'm talking, of course, about December 2003, when Paul Martin became Canadian PM.
