Many of the Liberal MPs who played a leading role in prime minister Justin Trudeau’s biggest failures were just awarded key positions by Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Among those given positions in Carney’s cabinet, Chrystia Freeland, Trudeau’s former deputy prime minister and finance minister, and Sean Fraser, who oversaw Canada’s disastrous immigration policy.
After campaigning on the need to “build Canada’s economy” amid rising U.S. protectionism, Carney swore in a 28-member cabinet Tuesday, half of whom played key roles in plunging Canada into a decade of lost economic development and decline.
Carney appointed a cabinet consisting of 28 ministers, and 10 secretaries of state, which will cost taxpayers $11.9 million, according to Franco Terrazzano, the federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
Out of the 28 ministers chosen, 18 had some position under Trudeau, if advisory roles are included.
Francois-Phillipe Champagne, appointed as minister of finance and national revenue, served as Trudeau’s foreign affairs minister from 2019-21 and later as the innovation minister from 2021-24. Champagne was accused of mishandling the Sustainable Development and Technology Canada fund, known as the SDTC scandal and lying to the ethics committee about his knowledge of the mismanaged funds.
The Auditor General of Canada at the time reported that SDTC awarded $59 million to ineligible projects and identified $76 million in funding where conflicts of interest existed. In total, it found $123 million was misallocated under Champagne’s watch.
Champagne also refused to refer to the treatment of Uyghur Muslims in China as genocide and took out two mortgages worth $1.2 million with the Bank of China.
Fraser is now the minister for justice, the attorney general of Canada, and the head of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, but Fraser once ran Canada’s immigration, refugees, and citizenship file under Trudeau.
His tenure saw record mass immigration and fraud via the temporary foreign workers and international student programs. His successor, Marc Miller, had to announce a reversal of his policies as support for immigration plummeted across the country.
Fraser also served as the finance minister in 2019-21 and was rewarded with the title of housing minister from 2023-24 after overseeing mass immigration policies which were widely criticized for creating backlogs in healthcare and contributing to high housing inflation due to the spike in demand.
Anita Anand is Canada’s new foreign affairs minister, though she previously served as public services minister and minister of national defence. Anand later became the president of the treasury board under Trudeau. RCMP whistleblowers named Anand among nine Liberal MPs for failing to uphold Canada’s laws against foreign interference.
Anand oversaw reforms in the military, including loosening uniform rules to permit tattoos and dyed hair. Her time as defence minister also saw the introduction of tampon dispensers in male washrooms at military bases.
Dominic LeBlanc, David McGuinty, Steve MacKinnon, Melanie Joly, and Freeland were also among those awarded with new cabinet positions who were previously named in the RCMP allegations.
Joly was shuffled from the foreign ministry and handed the role of minister of industry and head of Canada Economic Development of Quebec Regions, but Joly was at one point, the foreign affairs minister under Trudeau and also held various positions in Trudeau’s cabinet since he was first elected in 2015.
Joly has faced criticism for her “both sides” approach to the Israel-Hamas war, and her now-famous meeting with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas along with recently deposed York Centre MP Ya’ara Saks. Abbas is a Holocaust denier who created a “martyr fund” to finance the families of Hamas terrorists who died killing Jews in Israel.
MacKinnon was sworn in as the leader of the government in the House of Commons. He served as Trudeau’s chief government whip from 2021-24. By the end of Trudeau’s reign, more and more ministries were added to his portfolio as MPs resigned and shuffles were made before an election was finally called.
One can’t get any further into Trudeau’s inner circle than Freeland, who was Trudeau’s deputy prime minister and finance minister from 2020-24 and held cabinet positions throughout the nine years he was in office. Carney appointed Freeland the minister of transport and internal trade.
Many critics noted Freeland’s apparent joy when she announced the Trudeau government would freeze the bank accounts of peaceful Freedom Convoy supporters who protested against COVID-19 vaccine mandates and lockdowns.
As finance minister, Freeland oversaw year-over-year deficit spending and right up until the end when she was set to deliver the fall economic statement before resigning in a move which likely saved the Liberal party, the federal budget went $22 billion over the $40 billion “guardrail” deficit Freeland set for herself.
LeBlanc will remain the minister of intergovernmental affairs and additionally had Canada-U.S. trade and one Canadian economy added to his portfolio. LeBlanc also held cabinet positions since Trudeau was first elected as prime minister in 2015. And was originally granted the role of intergovernmental affairs minister by Trudeau in 2020.
Steven Guilbeault, who served as Trudeau’s environment minister from 2021-24, retained his role as minister of Canadian identity, culture and official languages. Guilbeault was a staunch defender of the carbon tax in both its forms and was the face of many of Trudeau’s anti-business climate agenda policies.
Patty Hadju was appointed as the minister for jobs and families, as well as the federal economic agency for Northern Ontario. Hadju held cabinet positions since Trudeau was elected in 2015, was the minister of health in 2019-21 and the minister of Indigenous services in 2021-23.
Gary Anandasangaree is the new public safety minister he was Crown-Indigenous relations minister from 2023-24. David McGuinty was appointed as Carney’s national defence minister but was given the public safety file during Trudeau’s last cabinet shuffle.
Marjorie Michel, the minister of health, was a deputy chief of staff under Trudeau but did not serve in his cabinet. Rechie Valdez was appointed as the minister of small business under Trudeau, but will now be Canada’s women and gender equality minister.
Maninder Sidhu became the minister of international trade, he served as parliamentary secretary to the minister of international development from 2021–23. Joanne Thompson maintained her position as the minister of fisheries though she was the veterans affairs minister under Trudeau in 2023–24.
Even newly elected members held advisory positions under Trudeau, on the files they are now in charge of under Carney.
The newly elected Gregor Robertson was sworn in as the minister of housing and infrastructure, and was given the role of special advisor on urban affairs under Trudeau in 2023-24.
Joël Lightbound has entered cabinet for the first time as the minister for government transformation, public works and procurement, though he was the Parliamentary Secretary to the minister of finance from 2017-19, and parliamentary secretary to the minister of public safety and emergency preparedness 2019-21.
Trudeau appointed Evan Solomon, a new MP, as a “special advisor on digital innovation,” seemingly preparing him for the file, and he is now a minister under Carney. Canada’s new natural resources and energy minister, Tim Hodgson, was similarly appointed as an economic advisor before being elected into government.