SHUFFLING THE DECK
New roles for Philpott, Wilson-Raybould, O’Regan as PM shuffles portfolios
Cabinet moves come as Liberals plot election-year strategy. Coverage,
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will huddle with his cabinet this week — refreshed in a Monday shuffle — to plot strategy and priorities for the months leading up to a fall election.
The two-day strategy session in Sherbrooke, Que., will be the first gathering for the new cabinet that now has Toronto-area MP Jane Philpott in a key role to oversee government operations, and new ministers in charge of veterans affairs, Indigenous services and justice.
Trudeau called Philpott a “natural choice” for the role of President of the Treasury Board and Minister of Digital Government, the third cabinet spot held by the MP for Markham— Stouffville following stints in health and Indigenous services.
But as the shuffle confirmed Philpott’s rising star, Trudeau sought to dispel speculation that Jody Wilson-Raybould — moved to veterans affairs from justice in the shuffle — had been demoted. He called the veterans affairs post a “deep and awesome responsibility” and that Wilson-Raybould was well suited to the task.
“She is extraordinarily capable of delivering on this file that is one of the core delivery mandates that the federal government has,” Trudeau said.
Wilson-Raybould told reporters she was “honoured” to take up her new post, not disappointed. “I would say there is no world in which I would consider working for our veterans of Canada a demotion.”
She later took the unusual step of releasing a statement defending her record as justice minister, a role she took on after the Liberals’ election in 2015. It was a response, she said, to the “many questions and inquiries” about why she was no longer justice minister.
“There is very little, if anything, in my mandate letter we have not done or is not well under way to completing, and we have also achieved much beyond it,” Wilson-Raybould said in her statement.
In Monday’s other moves, David Lametti, an Oxford, Yale and McGill grad and former law professor at McGill University, took on justice, Seamus O’Regan moved to Indigenous services from veterans affairs, and Bernadette Jordan was named minister of rural economic development, a new portfolio.
Philpott, a physician first elected in 2015, was vice-chair of the central agency and was seen as best able to take over the post left vacant by Scott Brison, who announced last week that he would step down from cabinet and not run again in the October election.
Penny Collenette, an adjunct law professor at the University of Ottawa who worked in the Prime Minister’s Office under Jean Chrétien, praised Philpott’s appointment.
“She’s known to be highly competent and respected. It’s very unusual to have, in one mandate, one minister with three portfolios. That is a very high load. That demonstrates her flexibility,” Collenette said.
The shuffle ticks some political boxes. Lametti’s role as justice minister gives a Quebec MP a high-profile post. Jordan’s appointment puts a cabinet focus on rural issues for the Liberals. She will be tasked with developing a national strategy for rural development, as well as plans to extend broadband internet to rural areas.
Trudeau said her appointment shows his government is taking a “new approach” to rural issues.
“That’s smart politics. It sends a very clear message to (Conservative Leader) Andrew Scheer that the Liberal party is prepared to battle hard in the rural ridings,” Collenette said.
Naming Jordan, a Nova Scotia MP, also ensures the province continues to have a voice in cabinet by filling the vacancy left by Brison’s departure.
And Monday’s changes give the cabinet parity-plus — 18 women versus 17 men, plus the prime minister.