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Former Liberal cabinet minister Bill Blair has been appointed Canada’s next high commissioner to the U.K. and is expected to resign as an MP.
Blair’s appointment was announced in a news release from the Prime Minister’s Office on Monday.
“Blair brings four decades of experience serving Canadians and protecting their security,” the release said.
It also announced that Nathalie Drouin, a former deputy clerk of the Privy Council, has been appointed Canada’s next ambassador to France. Both appointments will take effect “this spring,” the release said.
“As Canada forges new partnerships with the United Kingdom and France across trade, investment and defence, we will work together to strengthen the multilateral system and create greater certainty, stability, security and prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic,” the release said.
Blair, a former Toronto police chief, was first elected as an MP in 2015 and held a number of cabinet positions — most notably as defence minister — under former prime minister Justin Trudeau.
The Toronto MP held onto the defence portfolio after Prime Minister Mark Carney was sworn in, but was shuffled to the back benches after April’s election.
