MP Monsef adds rural economic development to cabinet duties
Trudeau unveils new team a month after minority election win
Peterborough-Kawartha MP Maryam Monsef has new duties in cabinet as minister of rural economic development.
She’ll also hold on to her role as minister for women and gender equality.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s new cabinet was introduced during a ceremony Wednesday afternoon at Rideau Hall in Ottawa, held a month after the Liberals won a minority government.
Monsef, 35, served as minister of democratic reforms when she was first elected to Parliament in 2015. She was later named minister for women and gender equality (originally minister for status of women) and then was later given added responsibilities as minister of international development.
Monsef was re-elected to a second term in October.
South Shore-St. Margarets
MP Bernadette Jordan from Nova Scotia had previously held the rural economic development portfolio. Trudeau bumped Jordan up to minister of fisheries, oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard in Wednesday’s cabinet shuffle.
Burlington MP Karina Gould,
who replaced Monsef as minister for democratic institutions, takes over the international development portfolio from Monsef now.
The democratic institutions portfolio was not included in Trudeau’s new expanded cabinet. It was created with the intention of exploring electoral reform.
Monsef was sworn into her cabinet post Wednesday while wearing a designed-in-Peterborough and made-in-Canada Peterborough Northern Originals T-shirt under her blazer.
She was among the first to arrive for the cabinet announcement, walking in with her fiancé, former Fredericton Liberal MP Matt DeCourcey, and one of her sisters, Mehrangiz. She was earlier sworn in as MP on Tuesday on Parliament Hill attended by family and friends.
Monsef was unavailable for comment on Wednesday.
“Peterborough has been my home since I was 11 years old. It is an honour to represent this community and bring its voice to Ottawa,” Monsef earlier stated on her Facebook page after Tuesday’s swearing-in.
“I am incredibly grateful to have this opportunity and to be able to share today with so many of the remarkable people who have worked hard to get me back in office because they believe in my vision for this community.
“Together, we will continue to move forward because we all want the best Canada possible for ourselves, for our neighbours, and for our kids and grandkids.”