Trudeau appoints Canadian of Syrian descent to Cabinet for first time
Omar Alghabra became Canada’s first minister of Syrian descent after he was appointed to the Cabinet by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau this week.
Mr Alghabra is also the first minister of Arab descent in the Cabinet since Pierre De Bane in the late 1970s, when Mr Trudeau’s father Pierre was prime minister.
Previously parliamentary secretary to the prime minister, Mr Alghabra was first elected as the member of parliament for Mississauga Centre in 2015 and served as the member for Mississauga- Erindale from 2006 to 2008.
He takes over the Transport Ministry in a Cabinet reshuffle as urgent decisions are needed on a possible bailout of Canada’s struggling airlines and on when to allow the Boeing 737 Max to fly again in the country’s airspace.
Mr Alghabra “brings extensive experience to the Cabinet table”, the prime minister’s office said, noting his past work in the NGO and energy sectors and his background in engineering and business.
Mr Alghabra has been published in the Toronto Star and on HuffPost.
Mr Trudeau also replaced his foreign minister on Tuesday.
Former astronaut Marc Garneau left his Transport Ministry responsibilities to take over as the country’s Foreign Minister from Francois-Philippe Champagne, who became Industry Minister.
The inauguration ceremony lasted minutes and was held on Zoom because of Covid-19 restrictions.
Departing science and industry minister Navdeep Bains’s decision not to run in the next election for family reasons sparked the moves.
Mr Garneau brings to the foreign affairs portfolio extensive knowledge of the US, Canada’s top trading partner, as president-elect Joe Biden prepares to move into the White House.
Mr Alghabra offers strong international diplomatic experience from handling Canada’s response to Iran shooting down a jetliner a year ago. Dozens of Canadian citizens and permanent residents died in the incident.
“Whether on Earth or in space, Marc has always represented Canada well,” Mr Trudeau said.
In recent months Mr Trudeau, who lost his majority in Parliament in the 2019 election, repeatedly told Canadians that a new ballot could be around the corner. But he insisted again on Tuesday that managing the pandemic was his government’s top priority.
He denied reports that Liberal MPs were told to prepare for an election in the spring.
“As I’ve been consistently saying, we don’t want an election,” Mr Trudeau said.
“We need to continue to focus on Canadians, on delivering support, on keeping Canadians safe, on continuing to deliver our strong plan that is going to bring the economy roaring back and make sure that Canadians get through this the right way.”