When Trudeau shuffled up his cabinet, here’s where everyone went

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a near-total overhaul of his cabinet on July 26 in the face of growing scandals at home and rising tensions in the Liberal Party that saw seven ministers dropped and roughly three-quarters of ministerial positions changed. 

Trudeau unveiled his new cabinet team with the aim of combating some of the country’s most pressing problems. CBC News noted the prime minister's new team was designed to focus on economic priorities at home while also addressing Canada’s housing crisis. 

The shuffle saw high-profile positions like the Minister of Defense and Minister of Public Safety given to a few new faces but the move wasn’t one meant to bolster the prime minister's slumping government but rather to respond to new challenges Trudeau said. 

"This is a difficult time right now for millions of people in Canada and around the world, and making sure that we have the best possible team aligned to respond to Canadians' challenges with the support necessary,” Trudeau explained while talking with reporters. 

The Prime Minister went on to say his government needed to show optimism as well as  “ambition for getting us through these consequential times and building a brighter future for everyone —that's what we're focused on." So what changes did Trudeau make?

Anita Aanad was dropped as Minister of Defense and veteran Toronto-area MP Bill Blair has taken over the file and is a rather good choice. Blair is a former police chief who will deal with Canada’s response to Ukraine and issues in the armed forces CBC reported. 

Anand was moved from defense to treasury and it could signal the Prime Minister sees her as a potential challenger. Anand was quite vocal in her defense role but Politico said the move was likely a promotion or lateral move to a post highly respected in Ottawa.

Dominic LeBlanc is a close Trudeau ally according to Reuters and he’ll be taking over the public safety file after Marco Mendicino was dropped. The likely reason Mendicino got the ax was due to his handling of key security files: read the Paul Bernado scandal. 

Sean Fraser was replaced as Canada’s Immigration Minister Marc Miller, a fifty-year-old from crown indigenous relations who has the unenviable task of managing the influx of 500,000 new people until 2025 according to Reuters. Fraser moved on to another file.

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons

Fraser takes over the combined roles of housing and infrastructure minister, which is quite a step from his former position. This may indicate Trudeau sees Fraser as highly effective and that he could help solve the ever-growing housing crisis in Canada. 

Mark Holland was promoted to health minister while Jean-Yves Duclos moved to public procurement from health. Pablo Rodrigeuz was put in charge of transport from his spot at heritage and with a newcomer Soraya Martinez Ferrada taking his former position. 

Lawrence MacAulay is taking over agriculture, Marie-Claude Bibeau will head national revenue, Gudie Hutchings had Atlantic Canada Opportunities added to her workload, and Diane Lebouthillier became Canada’s new fisheries czar according to CBC News.

Harjit Sajjan is now president of the King’s Privy Council as well as the minister of emergency preparedness and kept his role as Minister of the Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada, Karina Gould became House Leader and Carla Qualtrough was put in charge of the country’s sports ministry.

Three ministers were dropped by Trudeau, including Justice Minister David Lammetti, Treasury Board President Mona Fortier, and of course Marco Mendicino. 

Transport Minister Omar Alghagra, Public Procurement Minister Helena Jaczek, Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray, and Mental Health’s Carolyn Bennet left on their own accord to a separate Reuters report. 

Arif Virani took over as Justice Minister, Jenna Sudds is the new minister of families,  Soraya Martinez Ferrada is the new heritage minister, Terry Beech is the new minister of citizens, and Rechie Valdez is the small business file according to National Post. 

Ya’ara Saks now heads mental health and addiction and Gary Anandasangaree now heads Crown-Indigenous relations, both will have their hands full with recent issues showing that each of the files can be extremely difficult assignments.