Governor General Mary Simon swore in a new and much leaner cabinet this morning. Cabinet veterans currently frontline in Canada’s response to the growing trade war with the U.S. remain at the table, though their configuration has been updated. Dominic LeBlanc moves from Finance to International Trade, retaining the role of lead on Canada-U.S. relations. Francois-Philippe Champagne leaves Innovation, Science and Industry to become minister of finance. This is a homecoming of sorts for Champagne. His first role when the Liberals took power in 2015 was as parliamentary secretary to then-Minister of Finance Bill Morneau. Melanie Joly remains minister of foreign affairs. In a surprise move, Chrystia Freeland rejoins cabinet as minister of transport and internal trade.

Many Trudeau-era ministers were left out of cabinet altogether. This includes Marc Miller (previously Immigration), Mark Holland (previously Health), and Jean-Yves Duclos (previously Procurement). Karina Gould, who was part of Trudeau’s cabinet until she stepped down on January 23 to run for the leadership, was not offered a position in the cabinet of her campaign adversary, Carney. Others were shuffled into new roles away from controversial Trudeau policies like the carbon pricing system. Steven Guilbeault, for example, moves out of Environment to return to his old job at Canadian Heritage, though he is styled as minister of Canadian culture and identity, as well as acting as Carney’s Quebec lieutenant, and retaining oversight over Parks Canada.

There are some new faces. Ali Ehsassi, who was first elected in 2015, becomes minister of government transformation, public services and procurement. Kody Blois takes on the agriculture and rural economic development portfolios and Arielle Kayabaga becomes government House leader and minister of democratic institutions.

The 24-minister cabinet signals a departure from the Trudeau era, despite many of the faces being the same.

The smaller cabinet size aims to demonstrate Carney’s government is equipped to efficiently and nimbly stand up against U.S. threats to Canada’s economy and sovereignty. The smaller cabinet will streamline decisions and policymaking at the cabinet and cabinet committee level, though it also means a great deal more work and decision-making for each individual minister.

The new ministry’s cabinet committees have been announced. These powerful committees manage the government’s overall agenda and signal priorities. Carney himself will chair the newly named cabinet committee on Canada-U.S. relations and national security. New trade minister Dominic LeBlanc, who’s leading the Canada-U.S. file in cabinet, is the vice-chair.

Staff changes reflecting the new prime minister and ministry have already begun. Get in touch with your Summa consultant for the inside scoop on how to engage with ministerial offices in Carney’s cabinet.

Carney’s leadership, coupled with a significant polling uptick for the Liberals, has breathed new life into the party and given it a momentum it lacked in recent months. Latest polls show the Liberals closing in on what was once a 20-point Conservative lead. Whether Carney, a campaign novice, can sustain and grow those numbers during a general election is an open question. Canadians won’t have long to wait for an answer because an election is expected to be called in the coming days. 

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The smaller cabinet also suggests an updated Liberal campaign communications strategy, and a possible departure from the Trudeau-era approach of big daily electoral platform announcements. Carney knows the media (legacy and new) will favour stories about threats from the United States, as exhibited in the recent Ontario campaign that saw opposition parties get little traction on their daily policy drops.

Carney may not have a seat in the House of Commons, but he and his cabinet have the power to govern. A central tool of governance is the power to make regulations. Carney could begin using that power immediately to act on elements of his policy platform, like his promise to “immediately eliminate” the consumer carbon pricing system. 

While Carney won’t be able to approve new spending without Parliament sitting, he could reappropriate existing dollars from departments and programs.