Longtime cabinet minister Melanie Joly says Prime Minister Mark Carney shuffling her out of foreign affairs is a move she’s been asking for, for years.
In Tuesday’s cabinet shuffle — which Carney framed as blending two dozen new faces with several more experienced ministers — Joly was replaced with Anita Anand in the top diplomatic post, then sworn-in as the minister of industry, with a secondary responsibility for Quebec economic development.
“I don’t think any economic portfolio is something that is not top of mind for Canadians,” Joly said, when asked whether the move out of a role former prime minister Justin Trudeau placed her in, was a demotion.
“As foreign minister, what I’ve seen across the world, the economy is the biggest issue,” Joly told CTV News’ Senior Political Correspondent Mike Le Couteur outside of Rideau Hall.
Joly, who was foreign affairs minister for more than three-and-a-half years, told Le Couteur she is “super happy,” and “very excited” about being moved to industry.
She said she considers it a shift from the diplomatic to the economic front of the ongoing trade war with the United States.
“This is a role that I’ve been asking for, actually (for) a couple of years, and I’m happy to have it now,” she said.
“I love foreign affairs, and it will always have a special place in my heart,” she added. “But it was time to move on, and I’m happy to have an economic role with a prime minister that is (one of) the most economic prime ministers in decades, where the economy will be the major focus of our government.”
Asked to compare the Carney government to his predecessor’s, considering she’s served as a cabinet minister for nearly a decade, Joly said the two leaders are “completely different, with two different personalities.”
“And I respect them both,” she said.
On Tuesday, Carney was also asked about the decision to move Joly specifically, from foreign affairs to industry, and whether it was because she is not the right person to deal with the White House and U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration.
“Joly and all the members of the cabinet, particularly the most experienced members of the cabinet, have many talents and very much experience, and can play many roles … including the relations with the Americans where she has played a very important role,” Carney said in his post-cabinet-shuffle press conference outside of Rideau Hall.
“The relationship you asked specifically about, (with) the White House, of course, is the prime minister with the president,” Carney added. “And I’m the prime minister, so I play that role.”
Carney also said his government will work to chart a new path and “come to a new arrangement” with the U.S., but that the focus above all is the Canadian economy.
