Anita Anand is Canada’s new Foreign Minister

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday announced a major Cabinet shakeup, including a new Foreign Minister, as he shapes a newly re-elected Liberal government.

Carney, who replaced Justin Trudeau earlier this year and won the election last month, named Anita Anand Foreign Minister, replacing Melanie Joly, who becomes the Minister of Industry. Anand previously served in roles including Defence Minister.

Anand’s elevation was the major change in the Cabinet. She was a law professor at the University of Toronto before she was recruited to run in the 2019 federal election.

She had initially announced that she was opting out of the 2025 federal election and she re-entered the race after Prime Minister Mark Carney reached out to her and emerged among his confidants.

Anand, also the first woman of Hindu heritage to be elected a member of the House of Commons, was appointed Minister of Public Services and Procurement in November 2019, and that turned out to be crucial portfolio months later with the arrival of the Covid pandemic and the requirement for purchasing vaccine supplies for the country.

In 2021, she was made Minister of National Defence, and later became President of the Treasury Board. Last year, she was given the additional responsibility of the Transport Department. On December 20, she was made Minister of Transport and Internal Trade.

François-Philippe Champagne retains his job as Finance Minister, while Dominic LeBlanc remains Minister of US trade and intergovernmental trade at a time of trade war between Canada and the United States.

Carney won the job of Prime Minister by promising to confront the aggression toward Canada shown by US President Donald Trump, while preserving the calm demeanour of an economist who has led the central banks of both Canada and the United Kingdom.

More than 10 people were dropped from the new Cabinet, including former Defence Minister Bill Blair. David McGuinty goes from public safety to defence.

Former journalist Evan Solomon is among the new ministers, serving in the new post of Minister of Artificial Intelligence.

Women make up half of the Cabinet, as they did in Trudeau’s Cabinet.

Carney said in a statement the new Cabinet is built to deliver the change Canadians want and need. The Liberal government is in its fourth term.