(top) Anita Anand (bottom L-R) Maninder Sidhu and Ruby Sahota. / Reuters, X

South Asian members of the 45th House of Commons gained a number of Cabinet and Secretaries of State berths in Mark Carney’s new Council of Ministers that was sworn in on May 13.

Prime Minister Carney has also tried to maintain gender equity by naming 14 men and an equal number of women in his Cabinet, excluding himself. Six of his Secretaries of State are men, and the remaining four are women.

Anita Anand was named as Minister of Foreign Affairs, replacing Melanie Joly, who has now been named as Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for the Quebec regions, and Registrar General.

Other than Anita Anand, Carney named five other South Asians, including Gary Anandasangaree,  Shafqat Ali, Maninder Sidhu, Ruby Sahota and Randeep Serai in his new Council of Ministers. Maninder Sidhu, upon elevation as Cabinet Minister, becomes Minister of International Trade.

Ruby Sahota will be Secretary of State for combating crime, and Randeep Serai has been named Secretary of State for International Development.

Shafqat Amanat Ali was born into a Punjabi Muslim family in Lahore, to noted classical singer, Ustad Amanat Ali Khan and his wife Almas Amanat Ali Khan, on 26 February 1965, making him the seventh generation of the Patiala Gharana, which was founded in the mid-late 19th century by his great-grandfather. He made a name in the Real Estate.

Anita Anand, who had earlier earned the distinction of becoming the first woman of South Asian descent to hold the all-important Defence portfolio in the previous Justin Trudeau Government, has been rewarded with another prime portfolio as relations with the U.S. remain tense.

Her appointment also becomes significant as Canada’s relations with India are far from cordial. Both India and Canada have to discard acrimony to restore the bonhomie that the two nations once enjoyed. 

For the immigrant community, the most important portfolio is that of the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship. Carney has named Lena Metlege Diab as the new Minister of immigration, Refugees and Citizenship. The immigrants would be looking forward to new and favourable changes in the immigration policies after several radical changes were made in the last six months of the previous Liberal government.

Adam van Koeverden, the new Secretary of State for Sport, is an Olympic gold medallist as a sprint kayaker. He won an Olympic gold medal in the K-1 500m category in  2004. Besides, he is a two-time world champion in K-1 500 (2007) and K-1 1000 (2011).

Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne, who was among those who joined Carney on his recent trip to Washington, D.C., to meet with President Donald Trump, retains his portfolio, besides getting the additional role of Minister of National Revenue added to his responsibilities.

The other member of that trip, Dominic LeBlanc, remains the intergovernmental affairs minister with additional responsibility as the minister responsible for “One Canadian economy,” looking after Canada-U.S. trade, likely taking a key role in negotiations with the Trump administration. He will also serve as president of the King’s Privy Council for Canada.

Sean Fraser, the former housing minister under former prime minister Justin Trudeau, who quit and said he would not run again before changing his mind, has been brought back to the front bench as Minister of justice and Attorney General of Canada. He comes in place of Arif Virani, who decided not to contest the April 28 polls. Arif Virani has his roots in Gujarat, though his parents migrated from Africa.

Among the other ministers  who were previously in  the interim Carney’s cabinet, and have been re-inducted are:

• Gary Anandasangaree -  Minister of Public Safety
• Chrystia Freeland -  Minister of Transportation and Internal Trade
• Steven Guilbeault - Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture and Minister responsible for Official Languages
• Patty Hajdu - Minister of Jobs and Families and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario
• Steven MacKinnon -  Government House Leader
• David McGuinty – Minister of  Defence
• Joanne Thompson  - Minister of Fisheries
• Rechie Valdez -  Minister of Women and Gender Equality

Other than these 12 ministers, 16 new faces have been named in the new Council of Ministers. They are:

• Shafqat Ali -  President of the Treasury Board
• Rebecca Alty - Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations
• Rebecca Chartrand - Minister of Northern and Arctic Affairs and Minister responsible for the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency
• Julie Dabrusin -  Minister of Environment and Climate Change
• Mandy Gull-Masty -  Minister of Indigenous Services
• Tim Hodgson -  Minister of Energy and Natural Resources
• Joel Lightbound -  Minister of Government Transformation, Public Works and Procurement
• Heath MacDonald - Minister of Agriculture and Agri-food
• Jill McKnight -  Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence
• Lena Metlege Diab - Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship
• Marjorie Michel - Minister of Health
• Eleanor Olszewski - Minister of Emergency Management and Community Resilience and Minister responsible for Prairies Economic Development Canada
• Gregor Robertson – Minister of Housing, also responsible for infrastructure, and becomes Minister responsible for Pacific Economic Development Canada.
• Maninder Sidhu - Minister of International Trade
• Evan Solomon - Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation, and responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency of Southern Ontario

“Canada’s new Ministry is built to deliver the change Canadians want and deserve. Everyone is expected and empowered to show leadership – to bring new ideas, a clear focus, and decisive action to their work,” Carney said in a press statement.

More than half of those entering the cabinet, however, are new MPs – some of whom were elected for the first time this year.

Among the former cabinet ministers who are not returning are Bill Blair, Jonathan Wilkinson and Ginette Petitpas Taylor. A few ministers who were also named to cabinet for the first time by Carney in March were also dropped, including Kody Blois, Arielle Kayabaga and Ali Ehsassi.

“Secretaries of State are sworn to the Privy Council and are members of the Ministry. As such, they are bound by collective responsibility. They are not, however, members of the Cabinet. Secretaries of State are assigned to assist Cabinet Ministers in specific areas within their portfolios,” said a record of the roles when they were last used under former prime minister Jean Chretien.

“Secretaries of State are paid 75 per cent of a Cabinet Minister’s salary. For legal purposes, the Secretaries of State are formally appointed as Ministers of State to Assist.”

The job of a secretary of state in Carney’s cabinet will be to support the cabinet, which will “provide dedicated leadership on key issues and priorities within their minister’s portfolio.”

Ten secretaries of state named by Mark Carney are:

• Buckley Belanger – Rural Development
• Stephen Fuhr – Defence Procurement
• Anna Gainey – Children and Youth
• Wayne Long – Canada Revenue Agency and Financial Institutions
• Stephanie McLean – Seniors
• Nathalie Provost – Nature (Environment or Conservation)
• Ruby Sahota – Combating Crime
• Randeep Sarai – International Development
• Adam van Koeverden – Sport
• John Zerucelli – Labour