Image Credit: Global News

By Amanda Connolly / Global News

Cabinet Shuffle

Chrystia Freeland replaces Bill Morneau to become first female finance minister

Aug 18, 2020 | 12:13 PM

OTTAWA — Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland has taken on a major new role: finance minister.

In a physically distant ceremony at Rideau Hall on Tuesday, Freeland removed her face mask briefly to take the oath of office and become the country’s new minister of finance before replacing the mask to bump elbows with both Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Gov. General Julie Payette, also masked.

Veteran Liberal Dominic LeBlanc was also sworn in to take over the intergovernmental affairs portfolio.

The mini-cabinet shuffle follows the resignation Monday night of Bill Morneau after reports of a rift between him and Trudeau over the best course forward on the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

Trudeau is expected to face questions about Morneau’s resignation, the shuffle and suggestions that he is considering proroguing Parliament in a press conference scheduled for 3:30 p.m.

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Morneau had been under fire over his role in the WE Charity scandal, particularly his failure to recuse himself from cabinet discussions on the group given his family financial ties.

Both Morneau and Trudeau are now under investigation by the ethics commissioner over accusations of conflict of interest in that controversy, which emerged after the government granted to WE Charity the administration of what was originally billed as a $912-million student service grant program.

The office of the ethics commissioner said on Tuesday that its investigation will continue despite Morneau’s resignation.

Several House of Commons committees are also conducting studies into the allegations of conflict of interest but proroguing Parliament would short circuit that work.

Prorogation is the process of terminating a parliamentary session, meaning all business on the agenda dies. That includes bills, motions and committee work as well.

Trudeau previously criticized former prime minister Stephen Harper for using prorogation as a means to avoid political accountability, and the 2015 Liberal platform vowed not to do the same.

“We will not resort to legislative tricks to avoid scrutiny,” that platform vowed. “Stephen Harper has used prorogation to avoid difficult political circumstances. We will not.”

Following a prorogation, Trudeau would face a confidence vote with a new Speech from the Throne.

Trudeau is expected to face questions about those rumours and about his decision to move around his cabinet when he speaks with reporters later in the afternoon.

Freeland has risen over the last five years from minister of international trade to minister of foreign affairs, minister of intergovernmental affairs and deputy prime minister, making her one of the most powerful and trusted members of Trudeau’s team.

This new role places her yet again at the very centre of a high-profile, high-pressure national conversation around the best way to move forward as the country continues to grapple with the social and economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic and a deficit currently pegged at $343 billion.

LeBlanc had previously held the post as intergovernmental affairs minister before stepping back in early 2019 to seek treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

He received stem cell treatment last fall and was sworn in as president of the Queen’s Privy Council at Rideau Hall in December 2019, a role that put him in charge of overseeing the Privy Council Office.

That’s the branch of bureaucracy tasked with supporting the operations of the Prime Minister’s Office.