Tuesday August 18, 2020 | OTTAWA, ON
by Mary P Brooke, Editor | Island Social Trends
Canada’s new Finance Minister is Chrystia Freeland and new Intergovernmental Affairs Minister is Dominic LeBlanc, sworn in this morning in Ottawa.
Very few people were in attendance for the brief Tuesday afternoon ceremony at Rideau Hall (at 11 am Pacific Time), due to physical distancing public health requirements of the COVID-19 pandemic. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Governor General Julie Payette sat at the front of the room, masks on.
Yesterday former Finance Minister Bill Morneau resigned, and today Deputy Minister Chrystia Freeland filled his shoes.
Freeland has worked her way up:
Freeland has proven her political might in having dealt calmly and successfully (as Deputy Premier and now former Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs) in negotiations with the US administration over the renewed NAFTA agreement, and heavy-hitter Canadian premiers Ontario Premier Doug Ford, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe all of whom remarked on her fairness and ability to get things done.
Freeland is Canada’s first woman to hold the position of federal finance minister. For women in politics and women in Canada, this is a significant moment in civic history.
As Finance Minister, Freeland is now on the frontlines of wrestling the economic challenges of getting Canadians through to the other side of the COVID-19 pandemic. As Finance Minister she is now essentially ‘negotiator in chief’.
Freeland’s career background includes many years as a journalist for The Financial Times and The Economist.
During media questions today, Freeland encouraged women in Canada to “keep breaking those glass ceilings”, as in continuing to achieve positions of power in Canadian society.
LeBlanc is a lifelong comrad to Trudeau:
Dominic LeBlanc has returned this year to more active politics after dealing with cancer in recent years. He is a lifelong friend of Trudeau (his father was Governor General Romeo LeBlanc during Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau’s time in government). Dominic LeBlanc previously held the role of Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs in 2018-2019. He also now carries the role of President of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada
LeBlanc was first elected in 2000 and re-elected six times since, representing the riding of Beauséjour for more than 18 years.
He has served as Minister of Intergovernmental and Northern Affairs and Internal Trade, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, and Leader of the Government in the House of Commons. He previously served as Senior Advisor to former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, Deputy Government Whip, and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence.
Resignation follows COVID impact and We Charity controversy:
It was the combined pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic on politics, economy and life across Canada (peppered on top with the We Charity political scandal) that ultimately produced this shuffle. Canada is changing and how things are handled must change along with it.
A businessman at heart, Morneau was never entirely comfortable with politics. He and his family made financial sacrifices to serve Canadians under the Trudeau government since the start of the current Liberal government in 2015 (first a majority, and more recently a minority as of October 2019).
The shuffle ‘doesn’t change anything’:
Pierre Poilievre on behalf of the Conservative Opposition, earlier today said this cabinet shuffle is coming amidst “the biggest economic collapse since the Great Depression”.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said in Vancouver this morning that former Finance Minister Morneau had five years to get things done for the Canadian economy.