A TOUGH NEW JOB
Sohi lands Natural Resources
Alberta now has a local voice for the oil and gas sector at the federal cabinet table.
Edmonton Mill Woods MP Amarjeet Sohi was appointed natural resources minister Wednesday as part of a cabinet shuffle by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Sohi takes the contentious pipeline file from Jim Carr, who has been moved to international trade in a bid to diversify Canada’s trade interests beyond the United States.
Carr’s job will be to kick-start Canada’s stalled efforts toward a trade agreement with China, promoting the Canada-EU free trade agreement among European countries that have yet to ratify it and continuing to push for deeper economic integration into Latin America.
Sohi’s former infrastructure portfolio has been handed to Francois-Philippe Champagne.
Premier Rachel Notley is pleased with the switch, pointing to the already “strong relationship” between Sohi and her government.
“We’re very pleased to have a representative from Alberta who will be sitting at the cabinet table representing the interests of the energy industry,” she told media at the premiers conference in New Brunswick Wednesday morning.
“We think ultimately it’s good news.”
Notley said her government will continue to advocate for the energy industry “in a multiplicity of forums,” and expects Sohi to be an ally in that work.
Sohi remains the lone federal cabinet minister from Alberta, but Notley doesn’t expect that to affect provincial pull in Ottawa. She said she has been pleased with the access her government has had to federal cabinet ministers and the prime minister.
“On every issue that matters, they will hear directly from me or my ministers, and we’ll make sure that the interests of Albertans are well heard in Ottawa,” she said.
OTHER SHUFFLE CHANGES
Trudeau’s pre-election cabinet shuffle saw six ministers move to new portfolios and five other MPs promoted to his front benches in a bid to boost the profile of his team.
Longtime MP Dominic LeBlanc moves from fisheries to take on intergovernmental affairs, and Montreal’s Melanie Joly, who has wrestled with the heritage portfolio, moves to tourism, official languages and la Francophonie.
Veteran Montreal Liberal MP Pablo Rodriguez, the chief government whip, will take over from Joly as heritage minister.
Among the new appointments are Bill Blair, who takes on the new portfolio of border security and organized-crime reduction, and Mary Ng to minister for small business and export promotion.
Filomena Tassi takes on the new cabinet file for seniors, and Jonathan Wilkinson becomes fisheries, oceans and Coast Guard minister.