Today at Rideau Hall, the new cabinet of Canada’s 42 Parliament was sworn in along with the 23rd Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau. With 184 members to choose from, and a promise to have equal representation between all regions and gender parity, selection could not have been easy, but it was done. Now there are 30 new minister, each with daunting responsibilities as everyone is looking to the new government to immediately act on a myriad of issues. So who are these brave souls?
The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau – Prime Minister, and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and Minister of Youth.
The Honourable Ralph Goodale – Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Minister of Finance from 2003 to 2006, and leader of the Saskatchewan Liberal Party from 1981 to 1988. He has been the Liberal Member of Parliament for Wascana since 1993.
The Honourable Lawrence MacAulay – Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food
MacAulay is MP for Cardigan, Prince Edward Island since 1988, and the longest-serving MP in the history of PEI. MacAulay is a former farmer, a former Minister of Labour, Solicitor General of Canada, Secretary of State (Veterans) and Secretary of State (Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency).
The Honourable Stéphane Dion – Minister of Foreign Affairs
MP for Saint-Laurent since 1996, Dion was the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and the Leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons of Canada from 2006 to 2008. Former Minster of the Environment, Intergovernmental Affairs, President of the Privy Council, and author of the Clarity Act.
The Honourable John McCallum – Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship*
McCallum is a former academic and chief economist for the Royal Bank. MP of Markham—Unionville since 2000, and a former Minister of National Defence and Veterans Affairs.
*The title was changed from Minister of Immigration and Citizenship
The Honourable Carolyn Bennett – Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs
MP for Toronto—St. Paul’s since 1997 and Former Minister of State, Bennett served as the Aboriginal Affairs critic in the Liberal shadow cabinet in the previous Parliament.
The Honourable Scott Brison – President of the Treasury Board
MP for Kings-Hants, Nova Scotia, and former Minister of Public Works and Government Services, Brison was first elected as a Progressive Conservative, but crossed the floor when the PCs and the Reform Party merged in 2003.
The Honourable Dominic LeBlanc – Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
MP for Beauséjour, New Brunswick, son of Former Member of Parliament, Senator and Governor General of Canada, Roméo LeBlanc, Dominic LeBlanc is a life long friend of Trudeau’s.
The Honourable Navdeep Singh Bains – Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development
MP for Mississauga—Malton since 2004, Bains previously worked as a financial analyst for Ford and Nike.
The Honourable William Francis Morneau – Minister of Finance
Rookie MP for Toronto-Centre, Morneau was formally the executive chair of Canada’s largest human resources firm, Morneau Shepell, and the former chair of the C. D. Howe Institute. He has also been chair of the board at St. Michael’s Hospital, and Covenant House.
The Honourable Jody Wilson-Raybould – Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
MP for Vancouver Granville, a former provincial Crown prosecutor, B.C. Treaty Commissioner, and Regional Chief of the B.C. Assembly of First Nations, Wilson-Raybould is also a member of the Kwakwaka’wakw First Nation, and is the first aboriginal woman to serve as Justice Minister.
The Honourable Judy M. Foote – Minister of Public Services and Procurement
MP for the Newfoundland riding of Bonavista—Burin—Trinity, Foote is a former MLA of Grand Bank from 1996 to 2007, and served as Minister of Development and Rural Renewal, Minister of Industry, Trade and Technology, Minister of Education, and Minister of Industry, Trade and Rural Development.
The Honourable Chrystia Freeland – Minister of International Trade
MP for University-Rosedale, Freeland is a former writer and journalist and member of the editorial staff on the Financial Times, The Globe and Mail and Reuters.
The Honourable Jane Philpott – Minister of Health
Rookie MP for Markham—Stouffville, Philpott is the former-Chief of the Department of Family Medicine at Markham-Stouffville Hospital from 2008 to 2014, former-Associate Professor in the University of Toronto’s Department of Family and Community Medicine. Advocate for refugees and HIV/AIDS research.
The Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos – Minister of Families, Children and Social Development
MP for the riding of Québec, Duclos is a graduate of the London School of Economics, formerly head of the economics department at Université Laval, president-elect of the Canadian Economics Association, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2014.
The Honourable Marc Garneau – Minister of Transport
MP for Westmount—Ville-Marie since 2006, Garneau was the first Canadian in outer space taking part in three shuttle missions, former president of the Canadian Space Agency, and former Chancellor of Carleton University.
The Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau – Minister of International Development and La Francophonie
MP for Compton—Stanstead, Bibeau is a successful businesswoman, and was posted to Ottawa, Montreal, Morocco and Benin for the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
The Honourable James Gordon Carr – Minister of Natural Resources
MP for Winnipeg South Centre, and a former Manitoba MLA, Carr was also the president and CEO of the Business Council of Manitoba, former board member of the Canada West Foundation and the Winnipeg Airports Authority, former vice-president of the Performing Arts Consortium of Winnipeg, and a former director of the Manitoba Arts Stabilization Fund.
The Honourable Mélanie Joly – Minister of Canadian Heritage
MP for Ahuntsic-Cartierville, Joy is formally a lawyer with two high-profile Montreal law firms, and was runner-up to Denis Coderre for Mayor of Montreal in the 2013 Municipal Election.
The Honourable Diane Lebouthillier – Minister of National Revenue
MP for Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Lebouthillier is a former social worker, managing clients out of the Rocher Percé Health and Social Services Centre in Chandler.
The Honourable Kent Hehr – Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence
The first Liberal to win the seat in Calgary Centre since 1968, Hehr was a former lawyer and former MLA for Calgary-Buffalo. He was rendered quadriplegic after being shot as a bystander in a drive-by shooting in 1991. Hehr’s been a member of numerous community groups and in 2008, he was listed as one of “20 Compelling Calgarians” by the Calgary Herald.
The Honourable Catherine McKenna – Minister of Environment and Climate Change**
MP for Ottawa Centre, McKenna is a human rights and social justice lawyer, co-founder of Canadian Lawyers Abroad, and a former Ottawa city councillor.
**Title has been changed from Minister of Environment.
The Honourable Harjit Singh Sajjan – Minister of National Defence
MP for Vancouver South. Sajjan was an officer for the Vancouver Police Department, and then enlisted in the Canadian Army’s Primary Reserve in 1989. He served four tours overseas – one to Bosnia, and three in Afghanistan- and in 2011, he became the first Sikh to command a Canadian Army regiment when he was named commander of the The British Columbia Regiment (Duke of Connaught’s Own).
The Honourable MaryAnn Mihychuk – Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour
MP from Kildonan-St. Paul, Manitoba, Mihychuk is a Practicing Professional Geoscientist, former Winnipeg School Division Trustee, and a former Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and Trade while serving as a Manitoba MLA.
The Honourable Amarjeet Sohi – Minister of Infrastructure and Communities
MP for Edmonton Mill Woods, Sohi is a former bus driver and member of Edmonton City Council.
The Honourable Maryam Monsef – Minister of Democratic Institutions
MP for Peterborough—Kawartha, Monsef is a community organizer, volunteer and advocate. She emigrated to Canada with her mother and two sisters from Afghanistan in 1996, and at 30 years old is the youngest member of Trudeau’s cabinet.
The Honourable Carla Qualtrough – Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities
MP for British Columbia riding Delta, Qualtrough served as counsel to the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal and the Canadian Human Rights Commission, and was vice-chair of British Columbia’s Workers’ Compensation Appeal Tribunal. She’s also visually impaired and swam competitively in two different Paralympic Games.
The Honourable Hunter Tootoo – Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard
Tootoo is a former businessman, civil servant, MLA and speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut.
The Honourable Kirsty Duncan – Minister of Science***
Before becoming MP of Etobicoke North, Duncan was a medical geographer, adjunct professor at the University of Toronto, and the writer of a book about her 1998 expedition to uncover the cause of the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic.
***Renamed from the Minister of Industry, Science and Technology
The Honourable Patricia A. Hajdu – Minister of Status of Women
MP for Thunder Bay—Superior North, Hajdu spent nine years as the head of the drug awareness committee of the Thunder Bay District Health Unit, and was the head of Shelter House, Thunder Bay’s largest homeless shelter.
The Honourable Bardish Chagger – Minister of Small Business and Tourism
MP of the newly created Waterloo riding, Chagger worked as an executive assistant to former Liberal MP Andrew Telegdi. Also worked at the Kitchener-Waterloo Multicultural Centre, and co-ordinated the Kitchener-Waterloo Multicultural Festival as well as being a part of numerous community groups.
Open Sources Guelph 
One thought on “Your New Cabinet for the Government Is…”