Carney sworn in as prime minister with a reworked cabinet filled with new faces

Assahafa.com

Prime Minister Mark Carney made his first major move as the country’s head of government on Friday by appointing a cabinet filled with some new faces and old hands in new roles, as he tries to put his own stamp on the Liberal brand.

The Justin Trudeau era is officially over after nine-plus years, the Carney one has just begun and the new prime minister’s cabinet picks reflect that transfer of power.

Eighteen Trudeau government cabinet ministers are not returning to cabinet, either because they have decided not to run in the next election or because Carney replaced them with someone else as he put together a much smaller cabinet.

Carney dropped some Trudeau stalwarts altogether from this new 24-member transition cabinet, including Jean-Yves Duclos, Karina Gould, Mark Holland, Marc Miller and Diane Lebouthillier, while others, like new Transport Minister Chrystia Freeland, have been demoted to arguably more junior roles.

He’s also dropped Freeland’s old job, deputy prime minister, altogether — there won’t be one in this ministry.

There’s still considerable overlap with Trudeau’s last cabinet. Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly stays where she is, as does Jonathan Wilkinson at Natural Resources, and Dominic LeBlanc will retain the Canada-U.S. file as Carney’s new international trade minister.

Carney’s team says that’s because he wants some continuity in key files as the country grapples with a series of acute challenges.

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Promotions, demotions

François-Philippe Champagne, who has also been active on Canada’s plan to fight back against U.S. President Donald Trump, gets a promotion and will become Carney’s finance minister. Anita Anand takes over Champagne’s old job as minister of Innovation, Science and Industry.

Steven Guilbeault, an ardent defender of the carbon tax, is out as the environment minister and will take on a different job: minister of Canadian Culture and Identity. He will also serve as Carney’s Quebec lieutenant.

Some new ministers who were only sworn in late last year after Freeland’s shock resignation are also staying on, including Public Safety Minister David McGuinty and Nate Erskine-Smith as Housing minister.

Three new faces are stepping into the spotlight as new cabinet ministers. London-area MP Arielle Kayabaga becomes the government House leader, Toronto MP Ali Ehsassi is the new Public Services and Procurement minister and Nova Scotia MP Kody Blois, who led the charge against some aspects of the carbon tax, will serve as the Agriculture minister.

Carney himself, of course, never sat in Trudeau’s cabinet, which was part of his appeal to some Liberal voters who wanted a clean break from the past.

Carney’s smaller cabinet is not perfectly gender equal as it was under Trudeau — there are 13 men and 11 women, including Carney — and some provinces don’t have a minister around the table, including Alberta, P.E.I. and Saskatchewan.

The cabinet rebrand is Carney’s chance to show the voting public he’s his own man, especially as the opposition Conservatives try to paint his team as the new face of the “Trudeau-Carney Liberals” to try and tie the new prime minister to the old one.

A spokesperson for Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said there’s nothing really different between Carney and Trudeau given “87 per cent of Carbon Tax Carney’s ministers are Trudeau’s cabinet ministers,” referencing the number of ministers who have now served both leaders.

The spokesperson said “100 per cent of Carbon Tax Carney’s ministers are loyal Trudeau MPs.”

However, at least one of Carney’s picks today, Ehsassi, was vocal in caucus and in public last year about asking Trudeau to go as his popularity plummeted.

“Expecting change? All of these people helped hike carbon taxes and double the debt, housing costs, and food bank lineups. It is more of the same misery and suffering for Canadians with Carbon Tax Carney and his Trudeau ministers,” the spokesperson said.

Carney has a very narrow window before an expected federal election to convince Canadians he has the best plan for the country as it stares down Trump’s 51st state taunts and tariff threats — or he risks leading one of the shortest governments in history.

Carney has touted his experience as a central banker through the Great Recession — and, after being poached by the Bank of England, Brexit — as proof he’s the best choice for the tumultuous times ahead.

But he has also faced pointed questions about his business experience — Brookfield, a company he chaired, moved its head office from Toronto to New York — and whether he’s serious about dumping the consumer carbon tax, a policy the Conservatives have made the centrepiece of their campaign to unseat the Liberals.

Here’s the full list of cabinet ministers:

Mark Carney: Prime Minister

Dominic LeBlanc: International Trade and Intergovernmental Affairs and President of the King’s Privy Council for Canada

Mélanie Joly: Foreign Affairs and International Development

François-Philippe Champagne: Finance

Anita Anand: Innovation, Science and Industry

Bill Blair: National Defence

Patty Hajdu: Indigenous Services

Jonathan Wilkinson: Energy and Natural Resources

Ginette Petitpas Taylor: President of the Treasury Board

Steven Guilbeault: Canadian Culture and Identity, Parks Canada and Quebec Lieutenant

Chrystia Freeland: Transport and Internal Trade