Carney's cabinet brings fresh faces, unique structure to Ottawa
The new Canadian government, after the elections on April 28, was sworn in on Tuesday, with Mark Carney remaining as Prime Minister. The government consists of 38 people in addition to the Prime Minister.
The Canadian government comprises 28 departmental ministers and ten secretaries of state, which is an uncommon division in Canadian governments. The media highlight that this aims to streamline the government's work. Twenty-four people are serving in government roles for the first time, including 13 newly elected parliamentarians.
New Canadian government
The remaining members are from the previous government, although some of them have new roles. For example, Dominic LeBlanc will continue as the minister responsible for Canada-U.S. trade and will additionally assume the role of minister for Canada's unified economy. François Champagne remains the finance minister, while Anita Anand, formerly the defence minister, is the new foreign affairs minister. Mélanie Joly, the previous foreign affairs minister, will now be the industry minister.
Mandy Gull-Masty, Chief of the Cree Indians from northern Quebec, has become the minister for Indigenous services. Rebecca Alty from the Northwest Territories has taken the position of minister of relations between the Crown and Indigenous peoples.
Among the ministers is also well-known journalist Evan Solomon, who became a parliamentarian for the first time and took the position of minister of artificial intelligence and digital development.
Olympic gold medallist and world champion in kayaking, Adam van Koeverden, a parliamentarian since 2019, became the secretary of state for sports.
Canada is a constitutional monarchy, and the head of state is King Charles III. The swearing-in ceremony took place at Rideau Hall, the residence of the Governor General of Canada, representing the British monarch, Mary Simon. The new government members also took an oath of allegiance and loyalty to the King. The ceremony began with an Indigenous prayer and ended with Canada's anthem sung in English, French, and Anishinaabe.
Although the elections took place on April 28, it remains unclear whether Carney's government will be a minority government, holding 170 seats in parliament, where 172 parliamentarians are needed for a majority. A recount is underway in several districts where the vote difference was less than 0.1% or where a recount was requested due to a possible error. For example, in the Terrebonne riding in Quebec, after the recount, it was found that Liberal politician Tatiana Auguste won by one vote. Elections Canada is currently checking if one vote from the mail-in ballots was missed during the recount.
