The ins, the outs, the ups and downs
CABINET SHUFFLED WITH EYE ON CHINA AND THE U. S.
• Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made changes Tuesday to key positions in his cabinet with a view to strengthening relationships with China and the U. S., two of Canada’s most important international relationships.
But the shuffle involving nine MPs also gives Trudeau’s government a fresh start on electoral reform, a file that had become a brewing political problem at home.
There are new ministers at foreign affairs, international trade, labour and democratic reform. At immigration, Trudeau has tapped a youthful MP who arrived in Canada from Somalia as a refugee to take over from a long-serving veteran.
The key posts of finance, industry, environment and justice remain unchanged.
Trudeau will bid adieu to two veteran politicians in his cabinet. John McCallum, who has represented a Markham, Ont., riding since 2000, will depart politics for diplomacy. Trudeau named McCallum, 66, as Canada’s next ambassador to China.
Canada normally appoints a career diplomat to Beijing. In naming a political lieutenant to the post, Trudeau is sending an unequivocal message to Beijing of his desire for strengthened relations, particularly on trade and immigration issues.
McCallum had been Trudeau’s immigration minister and distinguished himself on that file by executing, albeit a bit tardily, a campaign promise to bring thousands of Syrian refugees out of harms’s way and into Canada.
Generally speaking, only the top diplomatic postings to Washington, London and Paris have been reserved for political appointees.
Now, add Beijing, a message that will not be lost on the Chinese politburo.
Stéphane Dion, a former Liberal leader who had been Trudeau’s foreign affairs minister, will also depart politics though his new role is unclear.
Trudeau, at a House of Commons press conference after Tuesday’s shuffle, said he has asked Dion to take on a “senior role” and hinted that it will involve some sort of diplomatic post.
For his part, Dion was equally cryptic about his future, saying in statement, “I shall deploy my efforts outside active politics. (P)olitics is not the only way to serve one’s country. Fortunately!”
Stepping in to replace Dion is Toronto Centre MP Chrystia Freeland. Freeland, 48, who lived in both Moscow and New York during a long career as a journalist, will be the key minister to deal with the Trump administration when it takes office next week.
Trudeau’s pick of Freeland is particularly interesting given that Freeland, whose family has roots in Ukraine and who speaks fluent Russian, is persona non grata in Russia.
Russia banned Freeland from visiting in a diplomatic tit- for- tat after Canada banned top Russian officials in the wake of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Crimea.
In Freeland, Trudeau has an avowed opponent of Putin as his foreign minister just as Putin-friendly Donald Trump is about to assume the Oval Office.
Freeland’s old job as trade minister will be filled by François- Philippe Champagne, a 46- year- old rookie MP who represents Jean Chrétien’s old riding in Shawinigan, Que. Champagne has impressed Trudeau and his advisers for his enthusiastic and diligent defence of the government’s fiscal and economic policy while serving as parliament- ary secretary to Finance Minister Bill Morneau.
With the McCallum posting to China and the Freeland and Champagne shuffle, Trudeau is clearly indicating he is interested in a strengthened transactional relationship with both countries.
Trudeau said it’s clear the Trump presidency is likely to focus on jobs and growth.
“So it makes sense for the person who is responsible for foreign relations in the United States to also have the ability and responsibility to engage on issues such as NAFTA and other trade issues that we’ ll be facing with our friends and neighbours south of the border,” Trudeau said.
The immigration portfolio goes to first- time Toronto MP Ahmed Hussen, 30, an immigration and human rights lawyer who arrived in Canada in 1993 from Somalia.
In his work on human rights, Hussen argued strongly, including before the U.S. Congress, that Muslims themselves need to do more to root out extremists in their mosques and in their communities.
As for the electoral reform initiative, Mary am Monsef ,32, will hand off a problematic file to Burlington, Ont., MP Karina Gould, 29, another first- time MP, who becomes Minister of Democratic Institutions.
Trudeau preserves the gender balance with this shuffle but has broadened cabinet’s ethnic diversity. Gould and Hussen are, respectively, the second Jewish and Muslim members of cabinet.
Monsef, the other Muslim member of cabinet, had badly handled the electoral reform file — even some of her caucus colleagues said so — and she becomes the Minister for the Status of Women.
The former status of women minister, Patty Hajdu of Thunder Bay, Ont., is being promoted to the labour portfolio.
Conversely, Winnipeg MP MaryAnn Mihychuk lost her job as labour minister for what is being bruited as a poor performance.