Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will shuffle his cabinet on Friday, just days after the shock resignation of Chrystia Freeland as finance minister, Global News has learned.
Trudeau will gather his new cabinet appointees at Rideau Hall Friday morning to be sworn into their new positions, two sources say.
Freeland’s resignation, which threw Trudeau’s government into chaos on Monday, came after a number of other cabinet ministers have either stepped down from their positions this year or announced they don’t plan to run in the next election.
Among the positions that are expected to be shifted to another Liberal MP is public safety minister, after Dominic LeBlanc was named by Trudeau to take on Freeland’s role as finance minister. He also holds the intergovernmental affairs portfolio and chairs the revived U.S.-Canada relations cabinet committee.
Sean Fraser, who announced he would be stepping down from cabinet moments before Freeland’s announcement, is also expected to be replaced as housing minister.
Currently, several ministers are doubled up, running multiple departments on their own after previous ministers left or were shuffled out of cabinet.
Trudeau also faces regional representation challenges at the cabinet table. The lone members from Nova Scotia, Manitoba and Alberta — Fraser, Dan Vandal and Randy Boissonnault, respectively — are all gone.
Although Trudeau has options to replace Fraser and Vandal from their provinces, the only other Liberal MP in Alberta, George Chahal, voiced support in October for a secret Liberal caucus vote on whether Trudeau should stay on as leader or resign.
His comments came at a time when dozens of Liberal MPs privately called on Trudeau to leave amid persistently low support in opinion polls. Several of those same MPs made their feelings public this week after Freeland’s resignation.
New ministers, including whoever will get the crucial public safety role now held by LeBlanc, will have to get up to speed quickly: Jan. 20 is when U.S. president-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated, and the House of Commons returns on Jan. 27.
Trump has threatened imposing a 25 per cent tariff on all Canadian imports, which had seized cabinet before the departure of Freeland, the co-chair of the U.S. relations committee with LeBlanc and a prominent contact with premiers and U.S. officials.
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Freeland’s resignation has put Trudeau on shaky political ground, with a growing number of Liberal MPs saying the prime minister should resign and opposition parties calling for an early election.
Asked during a press conference in Dorchester, N.B., on Thursday if Trudeau has the confidence of his current cabinet, LeBlanc simply responded, “Yes.” He also refused to entertain the possibility of replacing the prime minister as leader of the Liberal Party, should Trudeau step down.
“If the prime minister has the full support of his cabinet, then why would we contemplate what happens after he decides to leave?” LeBlanc asked.
Mounting resignations
Trudeau has been forced to make several smaller “mini-shuffles” to his cabinet this year to fill vacancies.
Boissonnault left his position as employment minister in November after months of controversy surrounding his former medical supply business and shifting claims of Indigenous ancestry.
Vandal, who served as northern affairs minister, was among four cabinet members who informed Trudeau in October that they would not be running for re-election. The others were Filomena Tassi, who was minister of economic development for southern Ontario; Marie-Claude Bibeau, who headed national revenue; and Carla Qualtrough, who left as sports minister.
Pablo Rodriguez, who served multiple positions in cabinet under Trudeau — most recently as transport minister — said in September he would be stepping down to run for the leadership of the Quebec Liberals.
Another longtime cabinet member, Seamus O’Regan, announced his resignation as labour minister in July.
Seven more Liberal caucus members have left Parliament entirely, including past cabinet ministers Carolyn Bennett, David Lametti and Marc Garneau.
The departures of Bennett and Lametti led to byelections for their respective Toronto and Montreal-area ridings that the Liberals lost after holding them for decades — further darkening the Liberals’ prospects for the next election.
The Liberals lost another seat on Tuesday in a byelection in Metro Vancouver, with the Conservatives easily winning back the seat they narrowly lost in 2021.
—With files from Global’s David Akin and the Canadian Press
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