OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is set to add multiple new names to his cabinet Friday when he shuffles his team days after Chrystia Freeland rattled the party and the government with her sudden resignation as finance minister.
The Canadian Press has confirmed from a source with knowledge of the appointments that Montreal MP Rachel Bendayan, Winnipeg MP Terry Duguid, Toronto MP Nate Erskine-Smith, Ottawa MP David McGuinty and Nova Scotia MP Darren Fisher will all be named to cabinet in a ceremony at Rideau Hall Friday morning.
This comes at the end of a tumultuous week that erupted Monday morning when Freeland submitted her resignation to Trudeau, launching an avalanche of anger toward the prime minister from within his own caucus.
Before that event, Trudeau had already been preparing a cabinet shuffle to replace five ministers who had told him they won’t be running in the next election.
The five ministers who are not seeking re-election include Housing Minister Sean Fraser, Sport Minister Carla Qualtrough, National Revenue Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau, Northern Affairs Minister Dan Vandal and Southern Ontario Economic Development Minister Filomena Tassi.
It’s common practice for ministers not seeking re-election to be replaced.
There are also several ministers serving multiple roles following the departures of others earlier this year. Anita Anand has been both Treasury Board president and the minister of transport since September when Pablo Rodriguez stepped aside to run for the leadership of the Liberal party in Quebec.
Ginette Petitpas Taylor added employment to her role as minister of official languages after Randy Boissonnault had to step down amid questions about his former business and claims of Indigenous identity that turned out to be false.
Trudeau is also now expected to appoint a new public safety minister with Dominic LeBlanc now balancing that portfolio with the finance role he was given hours after Freeland’s departure.
LeBlanc responded “yes” Thursday when asked if Trudeau has the full support of cabinet to stay on as leader.
Trudeau had been courting Mark Carney to become the next finance minister, but LeBlanc plans to keep the job until the election.
”(Trudeau) told me that I was going to be the finance minister for his government until the next election,” LeBlanc said at a New Brunswick news conference.
“I wasn’t part of any conversations with Mr. Carney, but Mr. Carney isn’t about to become Canada’s finance minister in the short term.”
With a cabinet shuffle coming, Leblanc said that sometimes Trudeau asks for his views on his colleagues, and sometimes he doesn’t.
“Those are private conversations. If a Member of Parliament or Minister talks publicly about those conversations normally you wouldn’t be part of that cabinet for long and I really like the job I have,” LeBlanc said.
McGuinty is the longest serving MP among the names known to be joining cabinet, first elected in Ottawa South in 2004. This will be his first time in cabinet. He has served as the chair of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians since it was created in 2017.
Fisher, who has represented Dartmouth-Cole Harbour in Nova Scotia since 2015, is on that committee.
Bendayan was elected in 2019 in Outremont, the riding previously held by former NDP leader Tom Mulcair. She currently serves as the parliamentary secretary to the minister of finance.
Duguid, a former Winnipeg city councillor, was elected in Winnipeg South in 2015. He is currently the co-chair of the national Liberal campaign committee, and is the parliamentary secretary to the prime minister.
Erskine-Smith, a former lawyer, has represented the Toronto riding of Beaches-East York since 2015. He ran unsuccessfully for the leadership of the Ontario Liberal party in 2023, and announced shortly after that he wouldn’t be seeking re-election federally. However that may have changed, as he is set to join the Trudeau cabinet as the prime minister replaces people who have indicated the won’t be on the ballot.
This all comes as the number of MPs calling for Trudeau to step down keeps growing, and he is said to still be reflecting on his future.
In a social media post Thursday, Toronto MP and foreign affairs parliamentary secretary Rob Oliphant said he called for an “urgent meeting” of his riding association executive Thursday before taking a public stand on the leadership question.
“What’s best for Canada comes first and our party comes second,” Oliphant wrote.
New Brunswick Liberal Wayne Long said earlier this week that 40 to 50 caucus members believe it’s time for Trudeau to go, including five cabinet ministers.
LeBlanc said that concerns are being heard.
“They, in a caucus meeting, expressed those views directly to the prime minister himself. He, in some cases, responded to specific things that were raised and he would reflect carefully on what he’s heard,” LeBlanc said at the New Brunswick news conference.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 19, 2024.
With files from Kyle Duggan, Nojoud Al Mallees and Mia Rabson
