Nova Scotia MP Bernadette Jordan will be Canada’s new fisheries minister, while Newfoundland and Labrador’s Seamus O’Regan will take over the high-profile natural resources post.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveiled his cabinet team Wednesday, naming key players who will navigate the most important portfolios and adding some fresh faces at the same time.
P.E.I. MP Lawrence MacAulay remains minister of veterans affairs and associate minister of national defence, and Dominic LeBlanc will stay on as president of the privy council, considered a largely ceremonial role. According to the PMO, LeBlanc, who is fighting leukemia and arrived at the Rideau Hall ceremony wearing a surgical mask, will also take on a new role as chair of a committee that will be in charge of tracking key files and priorities within the minority government. New Brunswick MP Ginette Petitpas Taylor, who served as Canada’s health minister, has been removed from cabinet and will serve as deputy government whip, a role that will have increased importance as the Liberal minority is vulnerable to defeat on a vote of confidence.
University of P.E.I. political science professor Don Desserud said the privy council role is sort of open-ended.
“The Prime Minister can offload to Dominic a lot of the organization of cabinet, getting the priorities together, seeing who's going to be on what committees....It could be asking Dominic ‘okay, how can we govern effectively (in) the minority situation,’ it could be that big,” he said.
At the same time, Desserud said it allows Trudeau to give LeBlanc carte blanche to do as much or as little as he is able, keeping his friend and advisor close while offering the time and space to take care of his health if needed.
The fisheries portfolio is a big promotion for Jordan, who was first elected in 2015 to represent the riding of South Shore-St. Margarets. Jordan made her debut on cabinet in January during a shuffle prompted by Scott Brison’s departure when she was given the newly created position of rural economic development minister. That role that now goes to Maryam Monsef.
Prior to that, Jordan served as the chair of the House of Commons’ standing committee on fisheries and oceans.
“Fisheries and oceans is a critical portfolio, and of course very critical for our region. I think in her short time in the cabinet (Jordan) has demonstrated steadiness and competence,” Cape Breton University political science professor Tom Urbaniak told SaltWire.
O’Regan, who was also elected in 2015 and served as veterans affairs minister and later as minister of indigenous services, is a logical choice for the natural resources job as he comes from an oil-producing province. That's a calculated move according to Dalhousie political sociology professor Howard Ramos.
“I think Liberals are trying to frame O’Regan being from an oil-producing province as a way to make inroads. But I'm not convinced that that's going to fly well in Western Canada,” he said. Newfoundland and Labrador share with Alberta an interest in oil but the similarities may end there.
"Offshore oil is very different than landlocked oil,” Ramos said.
Perhaps the biggest promotion went to Chrystia Freeland who is now the deputy prime minister and minister of intergovernmental affairs.
Freeland, who was born in Alberta but represents a Toronto riding, distinguished herself as an important part of Trudeau’s cabinet first as minister of international trade then as minister of foreign affairs where she has helped negotiate major trade deals such as CETA and the new NAFTA. In her new role, she is expected to help the government navigate the nettlesome issue of growing Western alienation. She is also the first deputy prime minister since Paul Martin’s government.
Ramos said Freeland’s appointment to the high-profile role is recognition that some heavy-lifting will be needed on the domestic front and that intergovernmental relations and regional relations are vital while governing without a majority.
Trudeau’s new cabinet has seven new faces, including two newly elected MPs. Rookie MP for Oakville Anita Anand, a highly-regarded law professor who was born and raised in Nova Scotia, will serve as minister public services and procurement, the portfolio largely responsible for the government's massive, multi-billion National Shipbuilding Strategy.
There are familiar faces in new places.
Former fisheries minister Jonathan Wilkinson will become the new environment minister, while former environment minister Catherine McKenna will serve as minister of infrastructure and communities.
“McKenna out of environment is quite striking given that she was one of the ministers that gained a lot of attention. She also gained a lot of harassment as well,” Ramos said. “I'm curious to see how (her move) will be read by people.”
Patty Hajdu, previously minister of employment, workforce, and labour takes over the health portfolio as the new government takes its first steps towards implementing a national pharmacare program. Former Toronto police chief Bill Blair is now minister of public safety and emergency preparedness, a role previously held by long-time MP Ralph Goodale, who was defeated in the election. Former heritage minister Karina Gould is the new minister of international development and new cabinet face Marco Mendicino becomes immigration minister. Mélanie Joly is the new minister of economic development and official languages. François-Philippe Champagne moves from infrastructure to the foreign affairs portfolio, Marc Miller is the new minister of indigenous services and Carla Qualtrough moves from procurement to employment.
Key people staying put include Bill Morneau at finance, David Lametti who keeps his job as minister of justice and attorney general, Harjit Sajjan who remains minister of national defence and Marc Garneau at transport. Navdeep Bains at Innovation, Science and Industry. He remains in charge of the regional economic development agencies including ACOA.
After being shut out of Alberta and Saskatchewan during the election, Trudeau had a cabinet-building challenge in striving for provincial representation. To address this, Jim Carr, who is also in treatment for cancer, has been appointed to serve as the prime minister’s special representative for the Prairies. The PMO says Carr, who was born and raised in Winnipeg, “will ensure that the people of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba have a strong voice in Ottawa.” Pablo Rodriguez will be assuming the responsibility of House leader as well as Quebec lieutenant and will, according to the PMO, focus on unity and building connections in that province. It’s also worth noting that 10 of the 36 member cabinet are from Quebec. Trudeau’s cabinet maintains the gender parity he introduced in 2015.
The full cabinet is as follows:
- Chrystia Freeland becomes Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs
- Anita Anand becomes Minister of Public Services and Procurement
- Navdeep Bains becomes Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry
- Carolyn Bennett remains Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations
- Marie-Claude Bibeau remains Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food
- Bill Blair becomes Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
- Bardish Chagger becomes Minister of Diversity and Inclusion and Youth
- François-Philippe Champagne becomes Minister of Foreign Affairs
- Jean-Yves Duclos becomes President of the Treasury Board
- Mona Fortier becomes Minister of Middle Class Prosperity and Associate Minister of Finance
- Marc Garneau remains Minister of Transport
- Karina Gould becomes Minister of International Development
- Steven Guilbeault becomes Minister of Canadian Heritage
- Patty Hajdu becomes Minister of Health
- Ahmed Hussen becomes Minister of Families, Children and Social Development
- Mélanie Joly becomes Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages
- Bernadette Jordan becomes Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard
- David Lametti remains Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
- Dominic LeBlanc becomes President of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada
- Diane Lebouthillier remains Minister of National Revenue
- Lawrence MacAulay remains Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence
- Catherine McKenna becomes Minister of Infrastructure and Communities
- Marco E. L. Mendicino becomes Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship
- Marc Miller becomes Minister of Indigenous Services
- Maryam Monsef becomes Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Rural Economic Development
- Bill Morneau remains Minister of Finance
- Joyce Murray becomes Minister of Digital Government
- Mary Ng becomes Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade
- Seamus O’Regan becomes Minister of Natural Resources
- Carla Qualtrough becomes Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion
- Pablo Rodriguez becomes Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
- Harjit Sajjan remains Minister of National Defence
- Deb Schulte becomes Minister of Seniors
- Filomena Tassi becomes Minister of Labour
- Dan Vandal becomes Minister of Northern Affairs
- Jonathan Wilkinson becomes Minister of Environment and Climate Change
Other roles:
- The Prime Minister has asked Jim Carr to serve as his special representative for the Prairies.
- Pablo Rodriguez will be assuming the responsibility of Quebec Lieutenant.
- Under the leadership of Government House Leader Pablo Rodriguez
- Kirsty Duncan will serve as Deputy Leader of the Government in the House of Common
- Mark Holland will serve as Chief Government Whip
- Ginette Petitpas Taylor will serve as Deputy Government Whip
- Kevin Lamoureux will serve as Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
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