He’s served as a front-bench critic for four of his six years in Parliament, and has been the vice-chair of an important standing committee for the remaining months. He’s never strayed in his loyalty to incoming Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and, at 52, is at a point in life where his public image stands comfortably between energy and experience. So, is Yellowhead MP Rob Merrifield cabinet material?

Ask Merrifield if he’d like to serve as a cabinet minister, and you receive a response that reflects what he is: a seasoned representative increasingly able to provide a politically correct answer.

“It’s up to Stephen Harper,” he says. “My first role is to represent the people of Yellowhead as aggressively as possible and if I lose track of that and start thinking of my own political career the people of Yellowhead would recognize that and respond.”

Cabinet or not, Merrifield does believe that he will likely end up doing something related to health care, even if that is an area fraught with political landmines.

“I would think that I would be used in the health care portfolio somehow,” he said. “That sometimes turns out to be a suicide run, so maybe I’d be better off in another area, but I’ll leave that to the leader to decide.”

Merrifield seemed to be a rising star from the time he was elected to Parliament in 2000 as a Canadian Alliance MP. He was named the party’s health critic in 2001 and served until the 2004 federal election was called, surviving the merger of the Alliance and the Progressive Conservatives in 2003. In fact, Merrifield was given increased responsibility in the final months of the 37th Parliament, becoming the opposition critic on intergovernmental affairs in addition to remaining as health critic.

The 2004 election marked an important turning point in Merrifield’s personal political fortunes for two reasons. The first was a crisis of his own making, as comments he made on abortion derailed the Conservative campaign and, in the opinion of some, hurt the party’s cause in Central Canada come voting day. The second was the election of Stephen Fletcher in the Manitoba riding of Charleswood-St. James. Fletcher made headlines as the first severely disabled Member of Parliament, and the Conservatives decided that his extensive experience as a patient in the health care system would make him a natural choice as the party’s critic for that portfolio.

Since 2004, Merrifield has served as the vice-chairperson of the Standing Committee on Health. It’s an important job, one that gives Yellowhead’s representative a hands-on role in hammering out the details of federal health policy, but it’s a far cry from a cabinet position.

Fletcher is widely touted to maintain his post as the Conservatives prepare to take power, but Merrifield may not be given much consideration for some of the available junior ministries (Transport, Revenue, Treasury Board etc.) more because of geography than competence or parliamentary experience.

With 124 caucus members representing every province save Prince Edward Island, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has to balance his cabinet with members from Quebec, Ontario, and Atlantic Canada as well as the western provinces. With the House of Commons so finely balanced, it is expected (and indeed, Harper has himself insinuated) that the best move would be to name a cabinet with previous governing experience, whether at the provincial or federal level.

Given these strategic calculations, veteran Alberta-based stalwarts like Merrifield may be overlooked in favour of newly elected MP’s like Ontario’s Tony Clement, who served in Mike Harris’ and Ernie Eves’ provincial cabinets.

A ministry of particular interest to Jasper and Parks Canada is the environment portfolio. Red Deer MP Bob Mills has served as the Conservative critic in this area since 2001 and despite his party’s negative stance on the Kyoto Accord, was still supported by the Sierra Club of Canada. The national environmental group named Mills as one of the few Conservative candidates on their roster of “Canada’s Environmental Olympic Team” in the run up to the January 23rd vote.

Mills has made several comments on the record supporting increased infrastructure funding for Parks, but a look at the Conservative platform on the environment reveals a focus on Kyoto and the party’s alternative clean air proposals. It’s doubtful that too much time or political capital will be spent on Parks Canada concerns in the new Parliament, given that the government is likely to focus completely on achieving its top priorites.

Mills might not turn out to be the man pushing forward in these areas, however. The aforementioned Clement spent time as the Ontario’s environment minister and regional mathematics might leave the Alberta option on the bench in this portfolio as well.

Mills, Merrifield, their caucus colleagues and the entire country don’t have long to wait for the final word. Harper and his cabinet will be sworn in by Governor General Michaelle Jean on February 6.