Montreal MP David Lametti becomes justice minister as Trudeau shuffles cabinet

David Lametti named justice minister The MP from Montreal has an important post in Ottawa

David Lametti loves the law, he said just after being sworn in as Canada's new justice minister.

"I know it's a cliche to say that, but I do," the 56-year-old said outside Rideau Hall. "I have done my best to teach and to think about the ways in which law has an impact on our daily lives. I'll continue to do that."

Lametti is the child of Italian immigrants. As a boy, he went to construction sites with his father, a carpenter who founded his own construction company. His mother was a caterer in the Niagara region after his father's early death.

His education took him from the University of Toronto to McGill University, to Yale Law School and Oxford University, where he co-captained the Oxford Blues men's hockey team with Mark Carney, who'd become governor of the Bank of Canada.

Ex-teammate Trevor Farrow called Lametti smart, funny and highly organized, a guy who took charge of the team and organized trips and games. Farrow, now associate dean of Osgoode Hall Law School at York University in Toronto, said Lametti always had something nice to say about teammates and never took himself too seriously even when he was focused on the game.

During a 2012 lunchtime seminar at the University of Cambridge -- the video of which is posted online -- Lametti spoke about how he was a bit of a philosophy junkie and sat in on lectures at Oxford, which led to him focus on the intersection of legal and ethical ideas.

Lametti became a law professor and a founding member of the Centre for Intellectual Property Policy at McGill. Pierre-Emmanuel Moyse, the centre's current director, said Lametti's interest is in how the law influences public policy and where both need improvement.

"He's a good scholar, a good academic, but he needs a position where he can make a difference ... and translate what he knows into something concrete," Moyse said, adding it was partly why Lametti go into politics.

Lametti won the riding of LaSalle-Emard-Verdun -- once held by former prime minister Paul Martin -- in 2015 and served as a parliamentary secretary for the last three years.

The father of three was also involved in his community, including as an assistant coach for an under-16 competitive soccer team.

Here's a quick look at the rest of the ministers involved in Monday's cabinet shuffle.

Bernadette Jordan

Seamus O'Regan

Jody Wilson-Raybould

Jane Philpott