Anita Anand is sworn in as Minister of Transport during a cabinet swearing-in ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa in Ottawa, on Sept. 19.Justin Tang/The Canadian Press
Treasury Board President Anita Anand got promoted to dual roles in the Prime Minister’s cabinet on Thursday, as Justin Trudeau adjusted to the loss of yet another senior minister with at most a year before the next federal election.
The cabinet shuffle was forced by the resignation of Mr. Trudeau’s long-time friend and ally Pablo Rodriguez, who quit as Transport Minister and the government’s Quebec political lieutenant earlier in the day to run for the provincial Liberal Party’s leadership.
He is the second high-profile minister to leave the Prime Minister’s cabinet in just three months. Former Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan quit his post in July, citing family commitments.
Rather than adding a new face to his cabinet, Mr. Trudeau chose to shift assignments among his existing ministers. Replacing Mr. Rodriguez as Quebec Lieutenant is Public Services and Procurement Minister Jean-Yves Duclos, who represents a Quebec City riding. Ms. Anand will keep her role at Treasury Board and also serve as Transport Minister.
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While he leaves the government, Mr. Rodriguez is saving the Liberals from yet another difficult by-election by staying on as MP for the Montreal riding of Honoré-Mercier.
Mr. Rodriguez told reporters at his Gatineau, Que., press conference that he would sit as an independent to ensure he can set his own priorities as a leadership candidate – which may run counter to federal Liberal priorities.
Voters in the Honoré-Mercier area have reliably elected federal Liberals since the late 1990s, only switching parties once during the 2011 NDP Orange Wave.
On Monday, the Liberals lost a similar Montreal stronghold, when the Bloc Québécois won in LaSalle-Émard-Verdun. The defeat came just three months after the Liberals also lost a safe seat in Toronto-St. Paul’s. Even without a second Montreal by-election, Mr. Trudeau’s party already has to call two more by-elections because of Liberal MP resignations in Halifax and Cloverdale-Langley City, in B.C.
Ms. Anand previously served as procurement minister and then in the defence portfolio. She was demoted to the lower-profile Treasury Board last summer, a move that was seen partly as a repercussion for being too public in her leadership ambitions.
She was sworn into her new dual roles by the Clerk of the Privy Council John Hannaford and Governor-General Mary Simon. Mr. Trudeau was not present for the ceremony.
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In a press conference following her swearing-in, Ms. Anand denied that she had leadership ambitions in a comment in French.
“My view is that we are a team, and we are a team that has to keep delivering for our country,” she added in English.
“In terms of my long-term aspirations, I am a mother of four and two dogs, I now have two portfolios, and I’m also the member of Parliament for Oakville. I’m extremely committed to my family and constituents, as well as the government of Canada’s mission and those are the items that I’m going to be working on now and into the future.”
She avoided an earlier question about what the exit of a senior minister, like Mr. Rodriguez, means about her government. Instead she thanked him for his contributions and lengthy service to the federal Liberal Party.
Mr. Duclos did not need to be sworn in for his additional role. In a brief press release, the Prime Minister’s Office described the minister as a “steadfast advocate for Quebec and Quebeckers.”
Pablo Rodriguez walks to a news conference in Gatineau with his wife Roxane Hardy and daughter Beatrice, on Sept. 19.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
Mr. Rodriguez’s exit had been expected since August but he only made it official on Thursday.
During his press conference, he said he would stay on as an MP “in order to avoid a costly by-election a few weeks or months before a general election.”
He told reporters his decision to sit as an independent was not about turning his back on the federal Liberals and would instead ensure that he can chart his own course.
“I have the opportunity to set my own priorities. I was defending the priorities of the government, and I did it in a very loyal way,” Mr. Rodriguez said.
“Now it’s more about my vision, the vision of the team that I’m building – that’s what I’m going to put forward for Quebeckers.”
He said he would still support Mr. Trudeau’s government on confidence votes.
Former provincial Quebec Liberal cabinet minister David Heurtel said Mr. Rodriguez’s decision to sit as an independent gives the Prime Minister and his outgoing minister “mutually assured protection.”
He said it gives both some distance as they stake out different policies that at times might come into conflict; for example, on health care where Ottawa tends to be more interventionist than is welcome by Quebec.
The Quebec Liberal Party is not affiliated to the federal Liberal Party. It is a coalition of federalists that has included members of all major federal parties. For example, former Quebec Liberal premier Jean Charest ran federally for the Conservative Leader’s post and former federal NDP Leader Tom Mulcair was previously a provincial Quebec Liberal cabinet minister.
Also running to lead the Quebec Liberals is former federal Liberal minister Denis Coderre; member of the Quebec National Assembly, Frédéric Beauchemin; Charles Milliard, past president of the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec; and Marc Bélanger, a tax lawyer.