Prime Minister Mark Carney unveils 38-member cabinet in major shakeup

Prime Minister Mark Carney is giving his cabinet a major shakeup, moving several key players involved in Canada-U.S. relations into new positions and promoting 24 new faces to the front bench.

Carney’s cabinet — 28 full ministers and 10 secretaries of state — retains prominent figures from former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s government, including Dominic LeBlanc, Mélanie Joly, Chrystia Freeland and François-Philippe Champagne.

In one of the biggest moves of the shuffle, Anita Anand becomes Canada’s new foreign affairs minister — taking Joly off the Canada-U.S. relations file as U.S. President Donald Trump threatens to upend the global trading order.

Anand has long been seen as a rising star within the party and a competent manager, although her cabinet profile rose and fell under Trudeau.

Joly, who has been foreign affairs minister since 2021, takes on the complex industry portfolio, while former public safety minister David McGuinty becomes the new defence minister. Former justice minister Gary Anandasangaree takes over from him at public safety.

Champagne is staying put as finance minister and LeBlanc will lead the Canada-U.S. trade file.

Carney is giving LeBlanc a new title, tasking him with managing Canada-U.S. trade and intergovernmental affairs and creating “one Canadian economy.” Carney promised during the election campaign to knock down internal trade barriers.

The prime minister has dropped several cabinet veterans from the Trudeau years, including former natural resources minister Jonathan Wilkinson and former defence minister Bill Blair. 

The ministers:

• Shafqat Ali, President of the Treasury Board
• Rebecca Alty, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations
• Anita Anand, Minister of Foreign Affairs
• Gary Anandasangaree, Minister of Public Safety
• François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Finance and National Revenue
• Rebecca Chartrand, Minister of Northern and Arctic Affairs and Minister responsible for the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency
• Julie Dabrusin, Minister of Environment and Climate Change
• Sean Fraser, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
• Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Transport and Internal Trade
• Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture and Minister responsible for Official Languages
• Mandy Gull-Masty, Minister of Indigenous Services
• Patty Hajdu, Minister of Jobs and Families and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario
• Tim Hodgson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources
• Mélanie Joly, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions
• Dominic LeBlanc, President of the King’s Privy Council for Canada and Minister responsible for Canada-U.S. Trade, Intergovernmental Affairs and One Canadian Economy
• Joël Lightbound, Minister of Government Transformation, Public Works and Procurement
• Heath MacDonald, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food
• Steven MacKinnon, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
• David J. McGuinty, Minister of National Defence
• Jill McKnight, Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence
• Lena Metlege Diab, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship
• Marjorie Michel, Minister of Health
• Eleanor Olszewski, Minister of Emergency Management and Community Resilience and Minister responsible for Prairies Economic Development Canada
• Gregor Robertson, Minister of Housing and Infrastructure and Minister responsible for Pacific Economic Development Canada
• Maninder Sidhu, Minister of International Trade
• Evan Solomon, Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario
• Joanne Thompson, Minister of Fisheries
• Rechie Valdez, Minister of Women and Gender Equality and Secretary of State (Small Business and Tourism)

The secretaries of State:

• Buckley Belanger, Secretary of State (Rural Development)
• Stephen Fuhr, Secretary of State (Defence Procurement)
• Anna Gainey, Secretary of State (Children and Youth)
• Wayne Long, Secretary of State (Canada Revenue Agency and Financial Institutions)
• Stephanie McLean, Secretary of State (Seniors)
• Nathalie Provost, Secretary of State (Nature)
• Ruby Sahota, Secretary of State (Combatting Crime)
• Randeep Sarai, Secretary of State (International Development)
• Adam van Koeverden, Secretary of State (Sport)
• John Zerucelli, Secretary of State (Labour)

Secretaries of state are effectively junior ministers with a lower salary, smaller office budgets, fewer staff and fewer statutory authorities. The current pay scale shows full cabinet ministers make an additional $99,900 on top of their MP salary of $209,800. Secretaries of state are set to earn $74,700 on top of their MP salary.

An official with the Prime Minister’s Office said secretaries of state will be invited to cabinet and cabinet committee meetings, but only those related to their portfolio.

This is Carney’s second cabinet, though it’s his first not under a caretaker government. He initially whittled his team down to 23 from 39 in the final cabinet under Trudeau.

Carney has committed to gender parity in his cabinet — a standard established by Trudeau when he took office in 2015.

Parliament is slated to return May 26 and Carney has announced that King Charles will deliver the speech from the throne the next day.