Prime Minister Justin Trudea Appoints Canada’s First Gender Equal Cabinet

The new cabinet includes a mix of old-guard Liberal politicians with many newcomers.

It’s come full circle: Justin Trudeau and Dominic LeBlanc’s famous political fathers were close friends and supporters, and now the new Prime Minister has called on Mr. LeBlanc to serve as his de facto deputy prime minister.

Trudeau, 43, follows in the footsteps of his late father, Pierre Trudeau, who held the office for almost 16 years.

Justin Trudeau promised in June that half his cabinet would be female if he was elected Canada’s prime minister.

When asked why he wanted gender parity (fancy word for 50:50 representation) in his cabinet, he merely shrugged and said ‘Because it’s 2015’. Wednesday’s oath-taking swore in 30 men and women who used the word “minister” only.

“Canadians from all across this country sent a message that it is time for real change”, he said in a statement.

“The more diverse your organization, your board, or, in this case, cabinet, the more it reflects the realities of the population we are serving, and that can only be a good thing”, she said.

Harper stepped down as prime minister just ahead of the swearing-in ceremony.

The Star suggests the cabinet will have 10 members from Ontario, six from Quebec, five from Atlantic Canada, three from B.C. and one each from Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan and one representing the three northern territories. Dion leads it, while Freeland, the trade minister, is its vice-chair.

As far as optics went, the swearing in of the new prime minister of Canada and his cabinet couldn’t have gone better if it’d been written by a Hollywood screenwriter.

In his swearing ceremony at the Rideau Hall – Canada’s White House, the younger Trudeau gave the cheering Canadians a glimpse of his government, the building of a plan for the making of a strong middle class and making the plan to happen immediately.

John McCallum (PhD’77) is the new minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship; Jim Carr (BA’79) is the minister of natural resources; and Catherine McKenna (LLB’99) is the minister of environment and climate change. “For the first time since World War II, Britons failed to contribute the largest share of immigrants; they were outnumbered by Italians, 28,564 to 26,622…”

He has already laid out the major planks of his economic plan, including running three years of budget deficits and boosting infrastructure spending in a bid to stimulate Canada’s flagging economy.