Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney unveiled his new cabinet at Rideau Hall in Ottawa on Tuesday, saying that his ministry will have a “primary focus” on the country’s economy after a whirlwind election catalyzed by tariffs and annexation threats from the United States.
“Canadians elected this new government with a strong mandate to define a new economic and security relationship with the United States, to build a stronger economy, to reduce the cost of living, and to keep our communities safe,” Carney’s office said in a statement soon after the cabinet was sworn in.
The group of 28 ministers features a few notable shuffles, including Anita Anand replacing Mélanie Joly as minister of foreign relations. Joly was made minister of industry.
“We have to address and come to a new arrangement with the Americans,” Carney said at a press conference after the swearing-in ceremony. “But our primary focus is on the economy, and our primary focus is on the Canadian economy.”
“We are at the start of an industrial transformation, the transformation of this economy, and Madame Joly, as minister of industry, is going to help lead that, in concert with the other members of the cabinet and myself,” Carney continued.
As for Canada’s changing relationship with the US, Carney said at the press conference that he would “take ultimate responsibility” for all diplomacy with Washington, assisted by five other ministers: foreign affairs, finance, public safety, defense and Canada-US trade.
That last portfolio is now led by Dominic LeBlanc, the former minister of international trade, now minister “for Canada-US trade, intergovernmental affairs, and one Canadian economy.”
During the campaign, Carney spoke often about creating “one economy out of 13 (provinces and territories)” in the face of tariffs from the US and Canada’s own federal levies on interprovincial commerce. Again on Tuesday, Carney pledged that his new cabinet would fast-track legislation “to eliminate all remaining federal barriers to internal trade as our contribution to building one Canadian economy out of 13.”
Some ministers kept their portfolios. Chrystia Freeland, Carney’s former rival for the Liberal Party leadership race, will stay on as minister of transport. François-Philippe Champagne, who was part of the initial Canadian delegation to Washington during the first negotiations on US tariffs, remains minister of finance.
Several of the ministers previously served in the government of former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a fact quickly pointed out by the Liberals’ political rivals.
Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre argued in a press conference Tuesday that the presence of Trudeau-era figures in Carney’s cabinet indicates that the Liberals will only offer “more of the same” for Canadians.
“In all, 14 Trudeau ministers are now in Carney’s cabinet,” said Poilievre. “It’s more of the same when Canada needs real change.”
The Conservative politician, who lost his seat in Parliament in April, offered the same critique after Carney’s first cabinet was unveiled in March.