New Canadian cabinet: Diverse leadership for modern challenges
The new Canadian government, following the elections on 28 April, was sworn in on Tuesday, with Mark Carney remaining as Prime Minister. The government consists of 38 individuals besides the Prime Minister.
The Canadian government comprises 28 departmental ministers and ten ministers of state, which is an uncommon division in Canadian governments. The media highlights that this aims to enhance government efficiency. Twenty-four people are holding government positions for the first time, including 13 newly elected parliamentarians.
The new Canadian government
The other members are from the previous government, although some have new roles. For example, Dominic LeBlanc will continue as the minister responsible for Canada-US trade and will additionally take on the role of minister for Canada’s single market. François Champagne remains the minister of finance, whereas Anita Anand, previously the minister of defence, becomes the new minister of foreign affairs. Mélanie Joly, the former minister of foreign affairs, will now be the minister of industry.
Mandy Gull-Masty, Chief of the Cree Indians from Northern Quebec, became the minister for Indigenous services. Rebecca Alty from the Northwest Territories took up the position of minister for Crown-Indigenous relations.
Among the ministers is also the well-known journalist Evan Solomon, who, for the first time, became a parliamentarian and took the position of minister for artificial intelligence and digital development.
An Olympic gold medallist and world champion in kayaking, Adam van Koeverden, a parliamentarian since 2019, became the minister of state for sport.
Canada is a constitutional monarchy, and the head of state is King Charles III. The government's swearing-in ceremony took place at Rideau Hall, the residence of Canada's Governor-General Mary Simon, representing the British monarch. The new government members also pledged allegiance and loyalty to the King. The ceremony began with an Indigenous prayer and concluded with the Canadian anthem sung in English, French, and Anishinaabe.
Although the elections took place on 28 April, it is still unclear whether Carney's government will be a minority government, having 170 seats in parliament where a majority requires 172 parliamentarians. Vote recounts are underway in several constituencies where the vote difference was less than 0.1% or where a recount was requested due to a possible error. For example, in the constituency of Terrebonne in Quebec, after the vote recount, it turned out that the Liberal politician Tatiana Auguste won by one vote. Currently, Elections Canada is checking whether one mail-in vote was omitted in the recount.
