19 juillet 2018 – Times & Transcript
LeBlanc shuffled to tougher job with brighter national spotlight
ADAM HURAS PARLIAMENT HILL
Dominic LeBlanc has been named minister of Intergovernmental Affairs. PHOTO: BRUNSWICK NEWS ARCHIVES Cabinet shuffle
Dominic LeBlanc: Becomes minister of Intergovernmental and Northern Affairs and Internal Trade. LeBlanc will also become president of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada
Jim Carr: Current minister of Natural Resources becomes minister of International Trade Diversification 19 juillet 2018 – Times & Transcript
Mélanie Joly: Current minister of Canadian Heritage, becomes Minister of Tourism, Official Languages and La Francophonie
Amarjeet Sohi: Current minister of Infrastructure and Communities, becomes minister of Natural Resources
Carla Qualtrough: Current minister of Public Services and Procurement, becomes minister of Public Services and Procurement and Accessibility
François-Philippe Champagne: Current minister of International Trade, becomes minister of Infrastructure and Communities
Pablo Rodriguez: Current Chief Government Whip, becomes minister of Canadian Heritage and Multiculturalism
Bill Blair: Currently parliamentary secretary to the minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada and to the minister of Health, becomes minister of Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction
Mary Ng: Becomes minister of Small Business and Export Promotion
Filomena Tassi: Becomes minister of Seniors
Jonathan Wilkinson: Current parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, becomes minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coa
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has entrusted New Brunswick’s most senior federal politician with a much tougher portfolio and brighter national spotlight in a wide- sweeping cabinet shuffle that’s likely integral to the success of the federal Liberals in the lead up to the next election.
Dominic LeBlanc has been named the minister of Intergovernmental Affairs.
It’s a position Trudeau held himself, until now.
The challenging file will now task LeBlanc with trying to keep the provinces in step with the federal Liberal government’s increasingly controversial plan for a national price on carbon, as the faces around the premiers’ table change considerably. 19 juillet 2018 – Times & Transcript
“Provincial elections don’t erase the commitments we made to Canadians in our election campaign,” LeBlanc said in an interview with Brunswick News. “We need to work with these provincial governments to find the best way to achieve what I think are common interests.”
The Beauséjour MP will be tasked with pushing back, but also finding common ground with Ontario Premier Doug Ford, while navigating the outcomes of elections on the horizon in Quebec, New Brunswick and Alberta.
Immediately at issue are a few new premiers that stand against some of the federal government’s key policy planks.
Ford and Saskatchewan’s Scott Moe are both unified in their opposition of Ottawa’s carbon tax.
Meanwhile, last week, P.E.I.’s Liberal government confirmed that its climate action plan will not include a price on carbon.
LeBlanc will also manage the divisive immigration file and concerns with a recent flow of asylum seekers into Canada, among other thorny issues involving the provinces.
In doing so, LeBlanc relinquishes his current role as federal Fisheries minister.
“This will give me an opportunity to be very active in every part of the country,” LeBlanc said.“If you’re minister of Fisheries you have more limited dealings with landlocked provinces like say Ontario, as compared to Atlantic Canada and British Columbia.
“This gives me a window into a whole series of issues domestically that cuts across different portfolios.”
In addition to the intergovernmental role, LeBlanc becomes minister of Northern Affairs and Internal Trade - the beer border file and other questions of internal trade barriers now becoming his. Trudeau has also named Le-Blanc the president of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada, know as the central machinery of government. 19 juillet 2018 – Times & Transcript
The LeBlanc move came as Trudeau revealed on Wednesday what amounted to a big shakeup of his inner circle involving 16 Liberals MPs, while also redefining existing ministries and creating two new ones.
LeBlanc was the only New Brunswick-er impacted.
Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe MP Ginette Petitpas Taylor retains the role of federal Health minister, while the province’s other eight MPs remain outside of cabinet.
Trudeau said that LeBlanc will now “focus on implementing national commitments and priorities that depend on strong relationships with other orders of government, creating more jobs, growing the economy, and improving interprovincial trade.”
In addition, LeBlanc will take on a larger role in the region’s Atlantic Growth Strategy.
Still, the shuff le drew immediate criticism from Conservative critic for Atlantic Canada Rob Moore who characterized it as “another hit” to the region.
“Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shuffled his cabinet and made it abundantly clear that he doesn’t care about Atlantic Canada,” Moore said.
Moore, the Harper Conservative government’s minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, said the Liberals failed to right a wrong by leaving Navdeep Bains, a minister from Ontario, to oversee ACOA.
LeBlanc has also been replaced as Fisheries minister by British Columbia MP Jonathan Wilkinson.
“Having a Fisheries minister from the east coast, there is value there in that they know the region and hopefully understand the region,” Moore said. “It’s a major economic driver and another place where we now don’t have ministerial representation.”
Donald Savoie, the Canada Research Chair in Public Administration and Governance at Université de Moncton, has predicted that LeBlanc would be promoted to a file that will give him national reach. 19 juillet 2018 – Times & Transcript
He said that Trudeau needs LeBlanc’s voice behind a bigger podium ahead of the next federal election.
Premier Brian Gallant said that could be helpful to federal-provincial relations.
“I think that’s a great move on behalf of the federal government,” Gallant said in reacting the cabinet shuffle at a meeting between the country’s premiers on Wednesday in Bouctouche.
“Dominic is somebody that has the respect of many of my colleagues, he’s somebody who has been part of this government in a significant way, he is somebody who has been around politics for a long time and understand the country, understands all the regions’ aspirations and challenges.
“I think he will be a great asset for the federal government to be able to help move files forward and he will be a great asset to us.”
Gallant said he understands why Trudeau would give one of his “lieutenants” an important file.
“I can sympathize with the prime minister,” Gallant said. “We have the same type of challenges when it comes to the roles we take on a premiers.
“We want to do the best we can to engage with the people we should be engaging with, but sometimes we don’t have enough time in the day.”
LeBlanc has already changed files twice since the Trudeau government took office in 2015.
He was initially given the prominent role of House leader in an original cabinet, but he then took over the role that once belonged to his father, Roméo Le-Blanc, who was Minister of Fisheries and Oceans under the Pierre Trudeau Liberals.
He has remained in that position since 2016.