Cabinet reshuffle | Garneau swept away by a wind of change

(Ottawa) Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will significantly modify, this Tuesday, the ministerial team that will support him in the management of state affairs. As he begins his second minority term, Mr. Trudeau will assign new functions to several ministers and will grant promotions to those who have distinguished themselves in the management of the pandemic during the last 20 months.

Joël-Denis Bellavance
Press

And against all odds, Trudeau will remove from his cabinet the current Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marc Garneau, appointed head of Canadian diplomacy in January only, in order to make room for new blood. The new member for Brome-Missisquoi, Pascale St-Onge, who was a star candidate for the Liberals in the last election, would thus accede to the Cabinet, which will once again be equal and will have a greater number of ministers, according to information obtained by Press.

The last Cabinet had 36 ministers, in addition to the Prime Minister.

The 72-year-old Garneau would soon be offered a diplomatic post, along with one of his predecessors, Stéphane Dion, who was appointed Canada’s Ambassador to Germany in early 2017 after leading the ministry. of Foreign Affairs for two years, according to information obtained by Press. The post of Canadian Ambassador to Paris is still vacant.

The departure of Mr. Garneau could open the door to a return of François-Philippe Champagne to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, according to a scenario circulating in the federal capital on Monday evening. Mr. Champagne, who is Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, headed the Department of Foreign Affairs for a year before passing the torch to Mr. Garneau in January.

Quebec is on the rise

Mélanie Joly, who was co-chair of the Liberals’ national campaign, will be granted a promotion. Behind the scenes, she had expressed the desire to obtain a ministry with an economic vocation. She could be appointed to the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Industry, according to some sources.

According to our information, Pablo Rodriguez, who was government House leader, will return to Heritage, a ministry he had led for nearly 18 months before the 2019 elections. Mr. Rodriguez will thus take over from Minister Steven Guilbeault and will also retain his post as Justin Trudeau’s political lieutenant in Quebec. His mandate will not be easy: to ensure the adoption of bills aimed at submitting web giants to the Broadcasting Act and countering hate speech online, among other things.

As for Steven Guilbeault, the former environmental activist would be entrusted with the Ministry of the Environment, the daily reported Monday evening. The Globe and Mail, citing anonymous sources. The current incumbent, Jonathan Wilkinson, would retain an influential role in the fight against climate change as Minister of Natural Resources, according to the Toronto daily.

Another Quebec minister, Jean-Yves Duclos, currently President of the Treasury Board, would be transferred to Health – an important mandate as the provinces demand a substantial increase in federal transfers to fund health care.

Recall that Mr. Trudeau had already confirmed last month that Chrystia Freeland remained at the helm of the Ministry of Finance and retained her functions as Deputy Prime Minister.

New boss at La Défense

One thing is certain, the Ministry of Defense will have a new boss. Harjit Sajjan, who has headed this ministry since 2015, has been in the hot seat for several months because of his inadequate handling of cases of allegations of sexual misconduct targeting senior officers of the Canadian Armed Forces, among other things.

According to our information, the current Minister of Public Services and Supply, Anita Anand, should be given the delicate mandate of restoring order at the head of the Ministry of Defense. M^me Anand is considered one of the most successful ministers in Justin Trudeau’s last cabinet. It has particularly distinguished itself in the global race to get hold of a sufficient quantity of vaccine doses in order to be able to vaccinate the entire Canadian population, almost two months before the deadline set by the government.

Foot on the accelerator

On condition of anonymity, a senior Trudeau government official told Press that the prime minister’s top priority in this shuffling of cards is to ensure that Cabinet picks up the pace on the Liberal priorities of the last election campaign, including the creation of a national child care system, the intensification of fight against climate change, access to housing, reconciliation with the First Nations and the revival of the economy, among other things.

During the pandemic, Justin Trudeau found that the machinery of government in Ottawa was able to step on the accelerator to obtain convincing results more quickly. He intends to impose the same urgency of action with regard to the main priorities of his government within his cabinet, it was assured.

Still, Justin Trudeau has already drawn the wrath of the opposition parties for having taken five weeks to announce the composition of his cabinet after the federal election. Worse still in the eyes of the opposition, parliamentary business will not resume until November 22, two months after Canadians went to the polls.

Following the swearing-in of his cabinet, Justin Trudeau will leave the country to attend two international summits in person. His trip will begin with a stop in the Netherlands on Friday for a bilateral visit to The Hague. There he will meet his counterpart Mark Rutte. He will then travel to Rome on October 30 and 31 to take part in the G20 Leaders’ Summit. It will be about the COVID-19 pandemic. Mr. Trudeau will end his journey in Glasgow, UK, where COP26 will take place. During this summit, world leaders must once again tackle the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.