Prime Minister Mark Carney will unveil his new cabinet in a swearing in ceremony on Tuesday, Rideau Hall confirmed Friday.
In a ceremony presided over by Gov. Gen. Mary Simon, the newly elected prime minister will present to Canadians who he has picked to deliver on his series of campaign commitments, and lead on key files at a pivotal time for the nation.
Carney has promised to uphold gender parity with his new front bench, but whether he intends to expand it beyond his pre-election selection, remains to be seen.
The ceremony will begin at 10:30 a.m. EDT inside the Rideau Hall ballroom, just a walk away from Carney’s new Rideau Cottage residence.
With plans now in place, speculation is swirling around which Liberal rookies or high-profile Carney recruits could be in line for cabinet posts, as well as if some Justin Trudeau-era ministers may be shuffled out.
“You’ve got to balance a bunch of things,” said CTV News political analyst Scott Reid. “You have to balance gender, region, you have to balance old and new… You don’t want a cabinet of complete green rookies, but on the other hand, you definitely want to signal change and have some fresh blood.”
Among the fresh Liberal faces to keep an eye on are: Former Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson, Calgary’s Corey Hogan, former Saskatchewan minister Buckley Belanger, former broadcaster Evan Solomon, and engineer and survivor of the École Polytechnique mass shooting Nathalie Provost.
There’s also speculation swirling about these new recruits: former IBM Canada CEO Claude Guay, Trois-Rivieres’ economist Caroline Desrochers, former Quebec finance minister Carlos Leitão, and Tim Hodgson, who is a former Goldman Sachs CEO and an ex-advisor to Carney at the Bank of Canada.
Plus, there is some curiosity around whether the prime minister intends to keep the core group he brought with him to meet U.S. President Donald Trump and his team in their current portfolios.
Among the veterans to watch are: International Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly, Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne, Industry Minister Anita Anand, Transport and Internal Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland, and Canadian Culture Minister Steven Guilbeault.
“Mark Carney should consider this a war cabinet, because the reality is, we’re in a tariff war with the United States,” said CTV News pollster Nik Nanos. “That’s making sure that the right people are in the right positions.”
Nanos said Carney also needs a “unity cabinet,” with strong regional representation across Canada. With seats in all provinces and two of the three territories, that task has been made easier for the prime minister, though it may require an expansion to his front bench.
“I committed to an efficient cabinet, a focused cabinet,” Carney told reporters in Ottawa this time last week.
With Parliament coming back in two weeks, Canada hosting the G7 in June, and the Liberals promising to break down interprovincial trade barriers by July 1, Carney’s promise of efficiency will soon be put to the test.
Correction
This article has been updated to correct that Buckley Belanger was a minister in Saskatchewan, not Manitoba.
