Prime Minister Mark Carney shook up his cabinet Tuesday by moving some key players involved in Canada-U.S. relations into new positions and promoting 24 new faces in a move meant to signal change at the top.
While some were prominent figures in former prime minister Justin Trudeau's government — including Dominic LeBlanc, Mélanie Joly, Chrystia Freeland and François-Philippe Champagne — Carney froze out other prominent members of his predecessor's team.
Carney named 28 full ministers to his cabinet, which will meet for the first time on Wednesday.
He also appointed a second tier of 10 secretaries of state — essentially junior ministers. On Tuesday, Carney called the two-tier arrangement a "more traditional cabinet."
Carney said he sought to balance new perspectives with experience in picking his team, and noted half of the ministers are new to the front bench.
"Canadians elected us with a mandate for change, so there is a great deal of change in this cabinet by necessity," Carney said Tuesday afternoon outside Rideau Hall after the swearing-in ceremony.
Carney said Parliament will move at a rapid pace once it starts up again on May 26 and said his government will deliver on its promises with "urgency and determination."
While Carney was flanked by core cabinet members during his appearance before journalists Tuesday, they were not made available to answer media questions during the press conference, contrary to past practice — keeping the spotlight squarely on the prime minister.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said afterward that while he would not "reflexively oppose" everything the Carney government does, it was not off to "a promising start" because the prime minister is keeping several people from Trudeau's cabinet on his front bench.
In one of the biggest moves of the shuffle, Anita Anand was named Canada's new foreign affairs minister — taking Joly off the Canada-U.S. relations file as U.S. President Donald Trump threatens to upend the global trading order.
Anand has long been seen as a rising star within the party and a competent manager, although her cabinet profile rose and fell under Trudeau.
Joly, who has been foreign affairs minister since 2021, takes on the complex industry portfolio, while former public safety minister David McGuinty becomes the new defence minister.
"I wanted to come back home, take (on) a really big challenge — which is to build the economy with the prime minister," Joly told The Canadian Press, adding she asked for the new role.
Champagne is staying put as finance minister. Carney gave LeBlanc a new title, tasking him with managing Canada-U.S. trade and intergovernmental affairs and creating “one Canadian economy.” Carney promised during the election campaign to knock down internal trade barriers.
Freeland remains at transport and will oversee internal trade, while Brampton MP Maninder Sidhu takes over international trade.
The prime minister dropped several cabinet veterans from the Trudeau years, including former natural resources minister Jonathan Wilkinson and former defence minister Bill Blair.
Trudeau's close friend and former immigration minister Marc Miller, removed by Carney from cabinet in March, did not make the cut this time either.
Neither did Karina Gould, who ran in the recent Liberal party leadership race on Trudeau's legacy policies. Gould stepped away from cabinet to make that run, as did Freeland — but Freeland was returned to cabinet.
Several of the people who got promotions have pre-government ties to Carney, including Tim Hodgson, the new MP for Markham-Thornhill, who was named natural resources minister, replacing Wilkinson.
It is a key file for the prime minister, who has said he wants to make Canada into an energy “superpower” and prioritize big, “nation building” projects.
During Carney’s time as governor of the Bank of Canada, Hodgson served as his special adviser and Carney also worked for Hodgson during his time at Goldman Sachs.
Anna Gainey, a Montreal MP who is the secretary of state for children and youth, worked alongside Carney at the Canada 2020, a liberal think tank. Her husband, Tom Pitfield, is also Carney's principal secretary.
Former CBC host Evan Solomon, who became Canada's first dedicated minister for artificial intelligence and digital innovation, is a friend of Carney and recently worked with prominent Liberal organizer and Trudeau friend Gerry Butts at the consultancy firm Eurasia Group.
Solomon was once embroiled in controversy for brokering art sales for high-profile buyers — including Carney — while he was still hosting CBC’s Power and Politics, and lost his job when the public broadcaster concluded he violated its ethics standards for journalists.
Carney also made another change in environment, after moving environmental activist Steven Guilbeault out of the role in March. Winnipeg MP Terry Duguid held the role for the last two months but was left on the outside of cabinet on Tuesday.
Julie Dabrusin, a Toronto MP since 2015, takes over the file.
Business groups indicated previously that the environment and energy ministries would be scrutinized heavily — and said that Guilbeault and Wilkinson, the key ministers defending Trudeau’s climate agenda, should be dropped from those ministries in order to mend fences with Western Canada.
Guilbeault retains the role he was given last month as minister of heritage, now rebranded as Canadian identity and culture, but is keeping responsibility for nature, biodiversity and Parks Canada.
"The reality is that we will have two environment ministers around the cabinet table," he told The Canadian Press.
Mandy Gull-Masty, the new MP for Nunavik and the first female grand chief of Cree Nation government in Quebec, has become the first Indigenous person to take on the role of Indigenous services minister.
Quebec MP Joël Lightbound, who had been a vocal critic of Trudeau at times, becomes minister of government transformation, public works and procurement, replacing Ali Ehsassi.
Wayne Long, a New Brunswick MP who was among those leading the charge to have Trudeau resign, was also named to cabinet as the secretary of state for the Canada Revenue Agency and financial institutions.
Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby
