2 MPs from B.C. join Mark Carney’s new cabinet, 3 named secretaries

MPs from British Columbia are among the new faces in Prime Minister Mark Carney’s cabinet.

Five MPs from British Columbia were among the cabinet ministers and secretaries of state sworn in at Rideau Hall Tuesday morning, joining a team that includes several new faces.

Of the 28 cabinet ministers and 10 secretaries chosen by Prime Minister Mark Carney, 24 are first-time appointees, 13 of whom are newly elected.

Former mayor of Vancouver and newcomer to the parliament Gregor Robertson was named Carney’s housing and infrastructure minister. He was recently elected in the Vancouver Fraserview-South Burnaby riding. Robertson was also assigned the economic development role for the Pacific region.

As an experienced politician from “ground zero” of Canada’s housing crisis, Robertson brings valuable first-hand experience dealing with the portfolio to Ottawa, said Stewart Prest, political science lecturer at the University of British Columbia.

“But of course, Mr. Robertson has some baggage on that issue, in that we did see housing really hit the kind of crisis moment during (his former municipal party) Vision Vancouver’s time in office,” he told CTV News. “I think it will lead to some early questions and a lot of scrutiny from the get-go.”

Read more: Carney touts housing credentials of Vancouver ex-mayor Robertson as he joins cabinet

Another new face, Delta MP Jill McKnight, will take over the Veterans Affairs portfolio and was named associate minister of national defence.

Prest said it was an “interesting” choice for Carney to promote a first-time politician to a full cabinet portfolio—though she was not the only one—and McKnight will have a spotlight on her performance as a rookie and one of only two ministers from B.C.

“She is, by all accounts, a hard worker, one who is dedicated to community causes, and so perhaps can bring certain kinds of insights to the position of Veterans Affairs, which really does rely so much on building and maintaining relationships,” he said.

Given B.C.’s population, its battleground status, and the fact it elected 20 Liberal MPs, having just two elevated to full ministers makes the province underrepresented in Carney’s cabinet, Prest argued.

“Representation matters in cabinet as well, and so to have relatively few MPs in cabinet – just four MPs in cabinet from the west of Kenora (Ont.) – it really does leave a significant portion of the country unrepresented,” he said.

Three B.C. representatives were named secretaries, more junior roles in Carney’s tiered cabinet.

Surrey Centre MP Randeep Sarai, who has held the seat since 2015, is now the secretary of state for international development. Stephanie McLean, a former Alberta MLA elected in Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke last month, was named the secretary of state for seniors. And Kelowna’s Stephen Fuhr will serve as secretary for defence procurement.

Longtime minister Jonathan Wilkinson is not part of Carney’s cabinet. The North Vancouver-Capilano representative was head of energy and natural resources under Justin Trudeau, after also serving as minister of fisheries and oceans and environment and climate change minister.

Prest said it’s “mildly surprising” Wilkinson was not included in the cabinet this time around, and that there’s not more representation from battleground regions in B.C. that helped the Liberals clinch a victory.

“We have very little in the way of representation, and so again, it places more pressure on those who are at the cabinet table to speak on behalf of those who can’t speak for themselves,” he said.