Waterloo MP Bardish Chagger no longer has a seat at the table, as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a new cabinet on Tuesday.
Chagger returns to a role as a backbencher after having held the role of minister of diversity and inclusion and youth since 2019.
She moved into that position after having previously served as minister for small business and tourism.
Chagger will be replaced by Ahmed Hussen, a Liberal MP from Mississauga who has previously served as minister of families, children and social development and minister of immigration, citizenship and refugees.
Overall, Trudeau’s cabinet expanded to 39, with a dozen of those coming from the Greater Toronto Area.
The move leaves Waterloo Region and Guelph without a seat at the cabinet table despite the fact that five of the seven ridings in the area went red in this fall’s federal election.
Chagger was not alone in losing a post as Marc Garneau was replaced as foreign affairs minister by Melanie Joly, while Jim Carr will no longer serve as Trudeau’s special representative for the Prairies after being diagnosed with cancer.
Only 10 ministers in Trudeau’s last cabinet are staying put, including Justice Minister David Lametti and Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough.
—with files from The Canadian Press
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