Some Trudeau cabinet ministers out as Carney prepares to reveal a shorter bench

“I think the signals have been coming forward that it will be a smaller cabinet,” said Susan Smith, a Liberal commentator and the co-founder of Bluesky Strategy Group.

Trudeau’s last cabinet had 37 members, including Trudeau himself.

Michael Wernick, the former clerk of the privy council, said in a recent interview that he expects several ministers will be “double-hatting,” or carrying more than one portfolio, for the time being.

Some portfolios could be combined to reflect their departments.

The Heritage Department, for example, is home to five ministers responsible for heritage, sport, official languages, women and gender equality, and diversity, inclusion and persons with disabilities. Employment and Social Development Canada has six ministers.

Smith said the decisions Carney makes public on Friday will send a signal about where he wants to take the country.

“I think in this case it will be possible to signal both stability and a change in economic direction,” she said.

The ministers now playing key roles in Canada’s response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war are expected to be part of Carney’s cabinet, and Smith said it would make sense to keep them in their current roles.

Those key ministers include Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly, Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne, Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Public Safety Minister David McGuinty.

Carney also needs to decide whether to give ministerial roles to his leadership rivals, former ministers Chrystia Freeland and Karina Gould.

During the leadership race, Freeland said she would offer Carney the position of finance minister in her government if she won. Carney hasn’t made any such promises publicly.

“Both women acquitted themselves as ministers very effectively. Karina Gould is extremely well-liked, was very good as a House leader,” Smith said.

Gould was invited to join Carney at an event with steelworkers in Hamilton on Wednesday, leading to speculation that she will have a cabinet seat.

A report from Radio-Canada on Thursday said Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault would be removed from his portfolio. He refused to confirm that report for reporters at a news conference in Montreal on Thursday.

“It remains the prime minister’s prerogative to decide who will or will not serve in his cabinet,” Guilbeault said.

Guilbeault cited his track record, saying he thinks the government made historic progress on nature conservation and the fight against plastic pollution.

“I think we’ve truly changed the conversation in Canada on these issues in recent years,” he said.

Guilbeault and the Trudeau government’s environment policies were deeply unpopular in parts of Western Canada. Smith said moving him out of the environment portfolio would send “a huge message to the country, in particular to the energy sector — both the renewable energy and the traditional energy sector — that Mr. Carney’s going to take a different approach, I think a more proactive and a more business approach.”

Eight ministers from Trudeau’s cabinet have said they won’t run in the next election, and are unlikely to be on Carney’s team.

They include Health Minister Mark Holland — who announced his plans not to run again late Thursday — Justice Minister Arif Virani, Women and Gender Equality and Youth Minister Marci Ien, Rural Economic Development Minister Gudie Hutchings, Trade Minister Mary Ng, Emergency Preparedness Minister Harjit Sajjan, Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge and Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay.

Agriculture has gained prominence lately as Trump takes aim at Canada’s supply management system in the trade war.

Smith said MacAulay’s departure creates an opening to add a minister from Alberta — something that also would send a signal that Carney’s approach will be different.

This cabinet is almost certainly an interim cabinet that will be replaced after the spring election. Carney said during the leadership race that he will likely call an election before March 24, the date Parliament is set to resume.

When the election campaign begins, the federal government will go into what’s known as caretaker mode. Cabinet ministers and the prime minister will retain their posts throughout the campaign.

If the Liberals win the election, Carney will be sworn in again. If they lose, he will resign and the winner will be invited to form a government.

The convention ensures the core functions of government keep operating during an election campaign.

Cabinet can make decisions about responding to the U.S. tariffs during the campaign, for example. It can also spend money under existing laws.

The guidelines published by the Privy Council Office before the 2021 election state that a government in caretaker mode should, to the extent possible, restrict itself to matters that are “routine, or non-controversial, or urgent and in the public interest, or reversible by a new government without undue cost or disruption, or agreed to by opposition parties.”

The caretaker convention means that “it is incumbent upon a government to act with restraint during an election period.”

Cabinet ministers must also take care to distinguish between their government work and partisan activities on the campaign trail, the PCO guidance says.

— With files from Sébastien Auger in Montreal

by Canadian Press

Some Trudeau cabinet ministers out as Carney prepares to reveal a shorter bench

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