Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will shuffle his cabinet Friday, multiple sources have told CBC News.
He’s got big gaps to fill on his front bench after a series of resignations in recent months, including Chrystia Freeland’s bombshell departure earlier this week.
While Trudeau is facing pressure to resign from some caucus members who accuse him of mismanaging his relationship with Freeland, his former right hand, he still has to deal with the immediate task before him: governing the country.
Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc is pulling triple-duty because he also holds the public safety and intergovernmental affairs portfolios, an enormous workload for one minister.
Anita Anand is serving as both president of the Treasury Board and transport minister. Ginette Petitpas Taylor is the employment minister, the minister for official languages and the Veterans Affairs minister.
This shuffle will be a “consequential one,” sources said, and will involve at least 10 people.
The people who are not running again in the next election will be out of cabinet and others will be brought in to relieve those ministers who have been doing double-duty, sources said.
One senior government source said the timing and size of the shuffle should not be taken as a signal that the prime minister has made up his mind about his future, adding Trudeau is still “reflecting” on his position.
The purpose of the shuffle is to make sure the cabinet is complete so the government can function properly, the source said.
One person who won’t be part of that cabinet shuffle is former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney, according to LeBlanc.
The New Brunswick MP told Brunswick News that “Carney is not an option” and “that discussion has concluded.”
LeBlanc later told Radio-Canada that Trudeau assured him the finance portfolio belongs to him.
“He told me that Mr. Carney will not be the minister of finance,” he said.
Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc says he was told by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that he’s going to keep the portfolio ‘until the next election.’ LeBlanc says Trudeau instructed him to get ready for a budget in the spring of 2025.
Two sources told CBC News and Radio-Canada that Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne took himself out of the running for the finance portfolio before LeBlanc was offered the position.
Trudeau has been working the phones in the days since Freeland’s resignation seeking advice on what he should do about his future, sources familiar with those calls told CBC News.
One of those calls was to former Liberal cabinet minister and long-time friend and ally Navdeep Bains, who now has a senior role at Rogers, sources said.
After Freeland’s abrupt departure, Trudeau told MPs he would take time to reflect on the criticisms of his leadership.
But MPs have since said that Trudeau wasn’t clear on when he’d report back about his plans.
Trudeau is facing growing calls to resign from members of his own caucus — about 15 sitting MPs have so far said he should go — and from party grandees like Eddie Goldenberg, a former senior adviser and chief of staff to former prime minister Jean Chrétien.
“My own view is that the faster he announces his resignation, the better,” Goldenberg told CBC News. “In a democracy, ten years is a long time and Canadians have decided they want a new prime minister — not necessarily a new party, but definitely a new prime minister.”
Goldenberg said a new leader should be chosen “very quickly” to deal with U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s tariff threats. A drawn-out Liberal leadership election, he said, isn’t the right cure for party turmoil.
Goldenberg said that, given Trump’s persistent mocking of Canada and Trudeau, the current prime minister isn’t up to the job of getting the best trade deal for Canada.
“He doesn’t have the credibility anymore,” he said.
Justice Minister Arif Virani was non-committal about Trudeau’s future when asked by reporters Thursday at a press conference on another matter.
Justice Minister and Canada’s Attorney General Arif Virani faced multiple questions Thursday about whether Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should resign. ‘I have absolute confidence in the prime minister in terms of what he’s asked me to do,’ Virani said when asked whether he would continue to support Trudeau.
“In respect to what’s been transpiring over the last few days in Ottawa, it’s ultimately … decisions will be taken by parties that are involved,” he said.
Pressed again to say whether Trudeau should quit, Virani said, “I think it’s really important that decisions will be made in Ottawa by the actors that are involved.”
But he signalled he’s not willing to follow Freeland and resign. “I have absolute confidence in the prime minister in terms of what he’s asked me to do, and that is to serve as the minister of justice.”
