Canada’s PM chooses cabinet, taps MP from Mississauga as a minister

Mississauga-Streetsville MP Rechie Valdez has worn several ministerial hats in Ottawa in just the past couple of months.

Her latest positions, announced Tuesday morning at Rideau Hall in the nation’s capital, are those of Minister of Women and Gender Equality and Secretary of State (Small Business and Tourism) in Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s new 28-member cabinet (see list below), which was sworn in at the official ceremony.

Carney, elected Prime Minister on April 28, shook up his cabinet on Tuesday as he dropped more than 10 former ministers.

Included among the major changes was the ousting of Mélanie Joly as Foreign Affairs Minister. She’s been replaced in that key position by Oakville MP Anita Anand.

Two months ago, on March 14, Valdez was named Chief Government Whip by Carney shortly after he was sworn in as Canada’s 24th prime minister after taking the reins from Justin Trudeau.

In Trudeau’s cabinet, the Mississauga-Streetsville MP had served as Minister of Small Business.

When Valdez was sworn in as Minister of Small Business on July 26, 2023, she became the first Filipina-Canadian cabinet member in the country’s history.

And when she was first elected to the Mississauga-Streetsville federal seat in September 2021, Valdez became the first-ever Filipina-Canadian to hold an MP post anywhere in the country. She handily defeated her Conservative opponent in the September 2021 federal election as part of a Liberal sweep in Mississauga.

The former corporate banker and entrepreneur, and present-day mother of two, is the second Filipino-Canadian to be in the House of Commons. Rey Pagtakhan represented the Liberals in Winnipeg North from 1988 to 2004. 

Having already made a significant impression both in her own community and in Ottawa, Valdez jumped onto the international stage in fall 2022. She was one of four Canadian women, identified as “trailblazers,” to be named recipients of the prestigious “Most Influential Filipina Woman in the World” Award.

Mississauga-Streetsville MP Rechie Valdez during her swearing-in as Minister of Small Business in 2023.

In selecting his cabinet, Carney said it’s a team he’s confident will produce results.

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

Following are members of the Prime Minister’s new cabinet:

• Shafqat Ali, President of the Treasury Board
• Rebecca Alty, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations
• Anita Anand, Minister of Foreign Affairs
• Gary Anandasangaree, Minister of Public Safety
• François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Finance and National Revenue
• 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
• Sean Fraser, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
• Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Transport and Internal Trade
• Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture and Minister responsible for Official Languages
• Mandy Gull-Masty, Minister of Indigenous Services
• Patty Hajdu, Minister of Jobs and Families and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario
• Tim Hodgson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources
• Mélanie Joly, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions
• Dominic LeBlanc, President of the King’s Privy Council for Canada and Minister responsible for Canada-U.S. Trade, Intergovernmental Affairs and One Canadian Economy
• Joël Lightbound, Minister of Government Transformation, Public Works and Procurement
• Heath MacDonald, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food
• Steven MacKinnon, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
• David J. McGuinty, Minister of National Defence
• 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 and Infrastructure and Minister responsible for Pacific Economic Development Canada
• Maninder Sidhu, Minister of International Trade
• Evan Solomon, Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario
• Joanne Thompson, Minister of Fisheries
• Rechie Valdez, Minister of Women and Gender Equality and Secretary of State (Small Business and Tourism)