Canada PoliticsWith science and climate change, Trudeau makes a statement with Liberal cabinet
If there was any doubt that election night ushered in a new era in Ottawa, Justin Trudeau dispelled it Wednesday when he announced his cabinet — and his new cabinet postings.
The prime minister renamed a half dozen ministries as a subtle — or not so subtle — reproach to his Conservative predecessor, Stephen Harper.
Most notably, the environment ministry is now the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change and economic development is now the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Economic Development.
“We have a CABINET MINISTER of climate change. For that alone, climate hawks everywhere can rest assured this is a sea change from Harper,” Chris Turner, an author and environmental journalist, wrote on Twitter.
Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna is a competition and international trade lawyer who served as a legal advisor to the UN peacekeeping mission in East Timor.
She is co-founder of the group Level [formerly Canadian Lawyers Abroad], a charity that aims to improve the quality of life in developing nations through governance, the rule of law and human rights.
McKenna is also a lecturer at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs, according to her campaign biography, and a board member of the Trudeau Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies.
Greenpeace was also quick to laud the Liberal cabinet.
“Names matter, and we hope that the appointment of a Minister of Environment and Climate Change indicates that Canada’s federal government is at last ready to take real action in the fight against climate change,” Keith Stewart, a campaigner for Greenpeace Canada, said in a statement.
And much to the giddy celebration of environmentalists, there is also a new Science Ministry and the minister is an actual scientist.
Harper’s terms in office were not the best of times for federal scientists, who he was accused of muzzling.
Kirsty Duncan is medical geographer who has taught climatology and climate change at the University of Windsor. Her resume also includes authoring the book, “Environment & Health: Protecting our Common Future,” and she served on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the organization that won the 2007 Nobel Prize with Al Gore.
Trudeau, in fact, doubled-down on science, changing the economic development portfolio to Innovation, Science and Economic Development under the leadership of Navdeep Singh Bains, a professor at Ryerson University’s Ted Rogers School of Management.
The longtime Mississauga MP has previously served as parliamentary secretary to the prime minister and as Liberal critic for public works and government services, treasury board, international trade, natural resources and small business and tourism.
Other notable changes include a stand-alone Status of Women minister, which was lumped in with Labour in Harper’s cabinet.
Immigration and Citizenship is now Immigration, Citizenship and Refugees and International Development has added La francophonie to the portfolio.
Public Works is now Public Services and Procurement, while Human Resources and Skills Development has become Infrastructure and Communities.
If Trudeau was looking to make a statement, he certainly did.
“Fifty per cent women, an openly gay man, visible minorities, refugees, people with disabilities, First Nations. This cabinet represents Canada,” tweeted Kyle Allen, @LiberalCanuck.
“This is the kind of cabinet that makes me proud to be Canadian. Gender parity, regional equality, first-generation immigrants and refugees,” Francesca, @patten, wrote on Twitter.
