Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, newly re-elected, announced a slimmed-down 29-member cabinet on Tuesday, outlining an immediate agenda to retool Canada’s troubled relationship with the United States under President Donald Trump.
Carney, who ran on resisting US pressure, kept senior ministers from Justin Trudeau’s government, such as Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne and US trade minister Dominic LeBlanc. He reiterated his government’s resolve to battle US-imposed tariffs on Canadian products and vowed to move quickly on domestic economic reforms.
Our government will implement its mandate for change with urgency and resolve,” Carney said, with Canadian workers and businesses still reeling from what he termed “unfair” American trade practices.
Although Carney had a meeting with Trump in Washington last week, the negotiations produced no breakthrough on suspending tariffs. In reaction, Carney reasserted his plan to divert economic reliance from the US and spend billions on diversifying trade, as well as on eliminating interprovincial trade barriers and reducing public expenditure.
Cabinet revisions saw Anita Anand take over Melanie Joly’s role as Foreign Affairs Minister, with Joly transferring to Industry. Chrystia Freeland, whose resignation as finance minister a year ago helped bring down Trudeau, stayed on as Minister of Transport and Internal Trade. Tim Hodgson, who is a former Goldman Sachs banker, was made Natural Resources Minister.
Carney also announced 10 junior secretaries of state and a plan to end trade barriers between provinces by July 1. His platform calls for C$130 billion in new spending over four years, with an estimated 2025-26 deficit of C$62.3 billion much higher than earlier estimates.
But not everyone reacted favorably. The Labor unions complained about the abolition of the Labour Minister position, and Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre criticized the cabinet as “Trudeau’s old team,” stating Canadians demanded genuine change, not a reused government.
