New government’s first goal: income-tax changes
When a new session of Parliament begins Dec. 3, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government will try to quickly pass its planned income-tax changes, as the new cabinet grapples with a range of complex challenges.
The announcement came Wednesday, immediately after Trudeau’s freshly minted cabinet held its first meeting on Parliament Hill.
It’s the first federal Liberal cabinet in nearly decade and virtually everything about its composition spoke of the kind of change Trudeau had pledged in the election campaign.
Of the 30 ministers appointed, 15 are women. Eighteen of the 30 ministers are first-time MPs. The diversity of the group is also evident. There are two aboriginals, four Sikhs, and two disabled Canadians.
It is, said Trudeau, a cabinet “that looks like Canada.”
“We have an awful lot of work to do in the coming weeks, months and years, but I know that Canadians expected us to come together and put forward a team that is going to be able to deliver on the change, on the ambitious plan for this country that the Liberal party ran on,” Trudeau said outside Rideau Hall, as members of the public cheered.
Trudeau turned to some political veterans for cabinet stability: Ralph Goodale (Public Safety), Stéphane Dion (Foreign Affairs), Scott Brison (Treasury Board), John McCallum (Citizenship and Immigration) and Judy Foote (Public Works).
But he also trusted some major portfolios to rookies: Bill Morneau (Finance), Harjit Singh Sajjan (Defence), Ottawa’s Catherine McKenna (Environment), Jody Wilson-Raybould (Justice) and Jane Philpott (Health).
In a signal that change was afoot, even some of the ministers’ titles were altered from what they had been under Stephen Harper’s Conservatives.
There is no longer an aboriginal affairs minister. Now, the portfolio is run by a minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs.
The job is held by a woman, Carolyn Bennett, in a government that plans to appoint a public inquiry into murdered and missing indigenous women — something Harper had refused to do.
As well, the Liberals have signalled their intention to make climate change a priority. McKenna, a rookie who defeated the NDP’s Paul Dewar in Ottawa Centre, was appointed to cabinet with the title minister of Environment and Climate Change.
Trudeau’s Liberals were elected with a strong majority of 184 MPs after running on a platform chock full of promises.
Among the more urgent issues they must contend with are: making good on a promise to bring 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada by the end of the year; crafting a legislative response to the Supreme Court decision on physician-assisted suicide; re-launching the long-form census for 2016 after it was cancelled several years ago; and appointing the inquiring into missing indigenous women and girls.
The Liberals will waste no time trying to move forward their agenda. House Leader Dominic LeBlanc said that MPs will be in the House of Commons Dec. 3 to elect a Speaker.
The next day, the government’s throne speech will be read in the Senate by Gov. Gen. David Johnston. It’s unclear how long MPs will remain in Ottawa, although under the parliamentary calendar the Commons is only supposed to sit until Dec. 11 before the Christmas break.
LeBlanc said the government’s priority in the Commons is making good on the Liberals’ campaign promise to restructure income taxes. Under that pledge, taxes would be lowered for the middle class and be hiked for those earning more than $200,000 annually.
Asked if the government can get a bill through Parliament quickly to make those changes, LeBlanc responded: “We’ll see the will of Parliament.” He said he will discuss the matter with the opposition parties.
“But the prime minister has made it very clear to us that it is his hope and his intention that the tax measures will be in place for Jan. 1. And that’s frankly one of the reasons why we are asking Parliament to come back in the first week of December.”
After a decade on the opposition benches, Trudeau’s Liberals tried to signal a new era of more open government.
The public was invited to attend the swearing-in at Rideau Hall, watching it on large TV screens outside. About 3,500 people showed up and were treated to the sight of Trudeau, his wife Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau and the cabinet ministers, walking up a long laneway to the Governor General’s official residence.
After the cabinet was sworn in, once again walked down the laneway — this time, stopping repeatedly to pose for selfies and sign books for those who lined the laneway.
Trudeau had promised a slimmed-down cabinet. In forming his team, he had to balance new faces with experienced hands, geographic and minority representation, and an equal number of men and women.
He also had no choice but to leave some extremely experienced and qualified Liberal MPs out of cabinet. As a result, some surprises — and bruised egos — were expected.
Among the notable stars who didn’t make it to cabinet are: Orléans MP Andrew Leslie, a former lieutenant-general in the Canadian military; Bill Blair, Toronto’s former police chief; former Toronto city councillor Adam Vaughan; and B.C. MP Joyce Murray, who came second to Trudeau in the 2013 Liberal leadership race.
“There are an awful lot of extraordinary Canadians who are not in this cabinet behind me who are also going to be strong voices for their community and their country because one of the things that I am committed to is ensuring that all parliamentarians — all 307 of them who aren’t here with us today — are able to be strong voices for their communities,” said Trudeau.