Follow coverage of the federal cabinet shuffle and swearing-in ceremony as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveiled the team of ministers he will lead during another minority Parliament.
Trudeau faced questions on his cabinet decisions, including the appointment of Steven Guilbeault as environment minister, the removal of Jim Carr, Bardish Chagger, and Marc Garneau, and what lies ahead for new Defence Minister Anita Anand as she accepts the portfolio amid the continuing crisis over military sexual misconduct.
Trudeau said Anand’s background in governance will help with the challenge but did not detail additional specific measures to transform military culture.
What is the Cabinet?
Canada’s government is formally headed by the Queen, ruling through the Governor General with “advice and consent” from the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada.
In practice, the government is embodied by the federal cabinet, a committee of the Privy Council composed of the prime minister and their ministers.
(The extended Privy Council hasn’t met since 1981, to formally approve the marriage of Prince Charles, heir to the Canadian crown.)
Choosing the Cabinet
The prime minister is solely responsible for determining his or her cabinet and determining how to achieve geographic, linguistic, gender, and ethnic balance.
Each province is ideally represented, although caucus membership and election results can force alternative arrangements.
The Governor General approves the prime minister's choices and appoints them as ministers of the Crown.
Cabinet Accountability
Responsible government means that members of the executive must be accountable to the House of Commons. Effectively, the party controlling the Commons controls the cabinet.
By custom, ministers are MPs (with the exception of government leader in Senate, a position Trudeau replaced in 2015 with Senate government representative, a non-cabinet role).
Michael Fortier was named public works minister for Stephen Harper’s cabinet in 2006 despite not being an MP or a Senator. Fortier was appointed to the Senate and promised to run for a Commons seat, which he did unsuccessfully in 2008.
Another example: Gen. Andrew McNaughton, who was wartime defence minister in 1944-45 but resigned after two unsuccessful election campaigns.
The Privy Council Chamber on Parliament Hill in the late 1800s. William James Topley / Library and Archives Canada / PA-008388
Seats at the Table
Sir John A. Macdonald’s first cabinet in 1867 had 14 members. That number grew especially during the First World War and from the mid-1960s onward, reaching a high of 40 ministry members.
Jean Chrétien initially pared back the number of full ministers, though the size of cabinet again grew back again in his later years as prime ministers and in subsequent ministries.
Justin Trudeau’s government began in 2015 with 31 ministers, reaching 37 by 2021.
What happens at Rideau Hall?
The prime minister signs an Instrument of Advice recommending a cabinet appointment and presents to the governor general, who must sign the document.
A minister-designate not already a privy councillor is called up in order of preference (date of first election to the House of Commons) to take the Oath of Allegiance, Oath of the Members of the Privy Council, and Oath of Office.
They are then presented to the governor general.
The new minister signs the oath book and becomes a Privy Council member, complete with the title of “Honourable.” (A minister changing portfolios is only required to take the Oath of Office.)
Janice Charette, the interim Clerk of the Privy Council and secretary to the cabinet, is responsible for administering oaths. The clerk has been responsible for oaths to government office holders since 1901. (Current clerk Ian Shugart is away on medical leave.)
Trudeau is not required to take new oaths – he remained prime minister amidst the dissolution of Parliament and subsequent election campaign. The same holds true for continuing cabinet ministers.
Watch the ceremony that followed the 2019 election:
More Facts
- MPs once had to resign and run for re-election before officially assuming cabinet duties and increased pay, to avoid any perceived conflict of interest. The practice was discontinued in 1931 but once applied to prime ministers and their colleagues.
- The original federal departments at the time of Confederation in 1867: Finance, Agriculture, Penitentiary Service (now part of Public Safety), the Post Office (Canada Post is now part of the transport minister’s portfolio), Public Works, the Privy Council Office, and the Secretary of State.
