One-quarter of Carney’s new cabinet is from Quebec
Posted May 13, 2025 6:22 pm.
Seven of 28 cabinet ministers sworn in Tuesday are from Quebec. So are two out of 10 secretaries of state.
Prime Minister Mark Carney unveiled his new cabinet picks, bringing in several new faces to the cabinet, including first-time MPs.
After the swearing-in ceremony, while speaking to reporters, Carney said the new cabinet reflected Canadians’ vote for change.
“Canadians elected us with a mandate for change, so there is a great deal of change in this cabinet by necessity,” Carney said.
With nine ministers and secretaries, Quebec gets a slightly increased representation in the current cabinet compared to the Liberal government cabinet under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, reflecting the Liberals’ strong electoral performance last month.
There were some notable exceptions to the list, however, with former ministers Rachel Bendayan, Élisabeth Brière and Marc Miller, as well as other prominent MPs like Anthony Housefather, left out.
Here’s the Quebec contingent in the new federal cabinet:
Mélanie Joly, Minister of Industry and Minister of Economic Development for Quebec
Four-time Ahuntsic—Cartierville MP Joly, who served as the foreign minister, will be stepping into a more economy-focused role as she returns to cabinet.
She was the second minister to be sworn in Tuesday, just after Dominic LeBlanc, signalling her continued seniority and prominence in the cabinet.
With the ongoing trade war with the U.S., Joly had become a prominent face on both sides of the border, making a case against President Trump’s tariffs. As the minister of industry, Joly could have a big role to play in renegotiation.
François-Phillipe Champagne, Minister of Finance and National Revenue
Last week, in response to a reporter’s question on whether Champagne will be named in the cabinet, Prime Minister Carney joked “Did he ask you to ask that?” as he dodged the question.
If Champagne had been on tenterhooks, he can sigh in relief as he not only got to keep his job as minister of finance, but also got the additional responsibility of the ministry of national revenue, which oversees tax agencies like the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).
Marjorie Michel, Minister of Health
A new face on the cabinet will be Michel who replaced former Prime Minister Trudeau as the MP in the Montreal riding of Papineau after serving as his deputy chief of staff since 2021. She had worked as a Liberal Party of Canada operative during many federal and provincial election cycles.
The only time Trudeau was seen on the campaign trail was when he did door knocking in Papineau in support of Michel.
Michel is the daughter of former Prime Minister of Haiti Smarck Michel, who was in office from 1994 to 1995.
Mandy Gull-Masty, Minister of Indigenous Services
Gull-Masty is a Cree leader and an MP from Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou riding.
She will be the first Indigenous person to head the ministry responsible for providing services to Indigenous peoples.
Previously, Gull-Masty had become the first female grand chief of the Grand Council of the Crees. She left that position to run in last month’s federal election.
Steven Guilbeault, Minister for Canadian Identity and Culture and Official Languages
Guilbeault will remain in the role he took on in the previous cabinet reshuffle in March. Although he had held the ministry between 2019 and 2021 when it was called the ministry of Canadian heritage, Guilbeault was most prominent and perhaps more controversial as the environment minister, a post he held from after his re-election in 2021 until March.
As minister for environment and climate change, the Laurier—Sainte-Marie MP succeeded in committing Canada to a net-zero emissions goal by 2050 with targets along the way by passing the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act in 2021.
However, he was repeatedly attacked by opposition leaders like Pierre Poilievre and Alberta politicians, including using epithets like “crazy carbon tax minister Steven Guilbeault” ahead of the election.
His continued removal from the environment ministry is notable as Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has pushed for loosening restrictions and regulations on the energy and natural resources industry. His former chief of staff Julie Dabrusin will be at the helm of the ministry of environment and climate change.
Steven Mackinnon, Leader of the House of Commons
After short stints as labour minister under Trudeau and as jobs and families minister under Carney’s short-lived pre-election cabinet, the Gatineau MP was sworn in as the government’s leader in the House.
He had served in that capacity on an interim basis twice and was appointed as chief government whip by Trudeau in 2021.
Those experiences might come in handy as he steers the Liberal minority government’s legislative agenda in the house.
Joël Lightbound, Minister of Government Transformation, Public Services and Procurement
Four-time MP from Louis-Hébert, Lightbound was first elected in 2015 at the age of 27. He will lead the ministry in charge of assisting other government departments with purchasing and other administrative functions like payroll processing, digital services.
On the campaign trail, Carney had repeatedly promised capping government’s operational costs through productivity improvements and adoption of technology.
The millennial minister will have the task cut out for him if the Liberals are to keep the promise of efficiency in the way government functions.
In addition to the cabinet ministers, two secretaries of state out of a total of 10 appointed were from Quebec.
Nathalie Provost, Secretary of state – Nature
Polytechnique massacre survivor, engineer and prominent guns control advocate Provost flipped the Châteauguay—Les Jardins-de-Napierville riding for the Liberals and now is being rewarded for it.
She will have a cabinet-level position work on the issues related to nature.
Anna Gainey, Secretary of state for Children and Youth
Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount MP and former Liberal Party president will be serving in a cabinet-level role tackling matters pertaining to children and youth.
