Cabinet shuffle sends Champagne to Innovation, Garneau to Foreign Affairs – iPolitics
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shuffled his cabinet on Tuesday morning after Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains announced plans to leave federal cabinet and not run in the next federal election.
François-Phillippe Champagne, minister of foreign affairs, replaces Bains as minister of innovation, science and industry. Marc Garneau, minister of transport, replaces Champagne at Global Affairs. Backbench MP Omar Alghabra, parliamentary secretary to the prime minister, replaces Garneau as minister of Transport.
Jim Carr is rejoining cabinet as minister without a portfolio, while continuing to serve as special representative for the Prairies. He has held the special representative role since 2019 which is not a cabinet position.
The four were sworn into their new roles in a brief ceremony, the first ever to be held virtually, on Tuesday morning.
Bains, who has been minister of innovation since 2015, released a video statement on Tuesday morning, saying he wants to spend more time with his family.
“After six elections, I’ve decided that the 2019 campaign is my last. I’ve also made the decision to step away as a cabinet minister,” he said.
“As many of you know, family is the most important thing in my life. They have sacrificed so much over the last 17 years. This last year has been hard on families. My daughters who are in Grade 5 and Grade 8 have needed me more in the last year, and I’ve needed them too. It’s time to put my family first and I couldn’t be happier about it.”
Bains, 43, was first elected in the 2004 federal election at the age of 26 as the youngest Liberal MP in Parliament, representing the riding of Mississauga—Brampton South. He was re-elected in 2006 and 2008 before losing his seat to Conservative Eve Adams in 2011. Bains returned to Parliament in 2015 as MP for the newly-formed riding of Mississauga—Malton.
As innovation minister, Bains has overseen the reinstatement of the national census, the creation of a new intellectual property strategy and a suite of new spending programs including the Innovation Superclusters Initiative. He also introduced Bill C-11 in the House of Commons last November, which would give Canadians more autonomy over their online data.
Bains is a close supporter of Trudeau, and backed his bid to become leader of the Liberal Party in 2013.
Champagne has been minister of foreign affairs since November 2019 and was previously minister of infrastructure and communities and minister of international trade. Garneau has been minister of Transport since 2015.
Alghabra was first elected in 2006, returning to Parliament in 2015, after which he became parliamentary secretary to the minister of foreign affairs, handling consular issues, and parliamentary secretary to the minister of international trade diversification.
Carr was previously minister of Natural Resources and minister of international trade diversification.
More to come…