HARPER’S

NEW TEAM

iPolitics.ca’s guide to the new faces of cabinet.

By Kathleen Harris, Devon Black, and Jessie Willms.

Photos by Kyle Hamilton, and The Canadian Press.
 Will be in charge of the government’s day-to-day
business in the House of Commons and speak
with other parties about the procedure of bills
and debates. The role is key in a minority govern-
ment when negotiations are critical; less impor-
tant in a majority government setting when the
ruling Conservatives have more control over
their agenda.

House Leader
Peter van Loan

His first order of business is to retable and pass

a tweaked federal budget. His longer-term task
is to slay the deficit – a balancing act the prime
minister pledged to accelerate by one year to 2014
during the election campaign.

Finance
Jim Flaherty

Will oversee all files related to Canadian busi-

ness in this powerful and multi-faceted economic
portfolio. Lots of hot issues to deal with, includ-
ing digital policy, copyright reform, and foreign
ownership rules.

Industry
Christian Paradis

The coveted foreign affairs file comes with much

travel, hospitality, and hob-knobbing with dip-
lomats around the world. But the workload is
heavy and serious: overseeing the transformation
of Canada’s role in Afghanistan, the intervention
in Libya, positioning Canada’s in the fast-chang-
ing democratic uprisings in North Africa and the
Middle East are all on the agenda. After losing a
bid for a seat on the powerful UN Security Coun-
Foreign Affairs cil, the minister is expected to advance Canada’s
John Baird position on the international stage.
 Government money trickles and flows through
the Treasury Board, and the president holds the
purse strings. With a massive deficit-reduction
in story, Clement will have to stickhandle a plan
to trim about $4 billion from government spend-
ing each year without declaring war on the civil
service.

Treasury Board
Tony Clement

The Conservatives have put great emphasis on

the defence file. On the front burner: the chang-
ing mission in Afghanistan from combat to
training, determining the future of Canada’s op-
erations in Libya, pursuing military procurement
such as the F-35 stealth fighter jets and defend-
ing Arctic sovereignty. The defence minister also
serves as a morale-booster for the troops.

Defence
Peter MacKay

Will oversee important and often contentious

legislation and giant caseload involving newcom-
ers to Canada who arrive as refugees or immi-
grants. Kenney was also handed the powerful
position as chair of cabinet’s operations commit-
tee, a publicly low-key position that yields tre-
mendous influence on the government’s strategy
and agenda.

Immigration
Jason Kenney

Charged with a wide area of issues from tackling

climate change to expanding national parks,
the environment minister must strike a delicate
balance between promoting green policy with-
out punishing the wealth-generating oil and gas
sector. The portfolio also involves representing
Canada at important international meetings.

Environment
Peter Kent
 This department directs policy that affects all
modes of federal transportation in Canada,
including airlines and airports, trains and ships.
The portfolio also takes in Infrastructure, which
means a lot of time spent negotiating with prov-
inces and municipalities over funding for crum-
bling infrastructure.

Transport
Denis Lebel

Always a busy file, the first priority for the justice

minister is to table an omnibus crime bill that
takes in leftover pieces of legislation that didn’t
pass before the election. During the campaign,
the prime minister promised to pass the sweep-
ing package within 100 sitting days of Parlia-
ment.

Justice and Attorney General

Rob Nicholson

Along with helping push Canada’s maternal

health priority globally, Aglukkaq will play a
pivotal role at home in crafting a renewed health
care funding arrangement with the provinces
and territories that will kick in after the current
health accord expires in 2014.

Health
Leona Aglukkaq

More than 70 per cent of Canada’s trade is with

the U.S., but the Conservatives have launched a
robust diversification agenda to find and negoti-
ate with new partners. One of the big pacts in the
works is with the European Union. Other deals
with some 50 countries are being pursued as
Canada tries to capitalize on emerging markets
such as China, India, and Brazil.

International Trade
Ed Fast
 Historically a department that catered mostly
to administering pensions and commemorat-
ing world war veterans, the conflict in Afghani-
stan has changed the veteran population and
the department’s mandate dramatically. The
once sleepy file has become recently embroiled
in controversy as modern-day veterans fight for
improved benefits, including compensation for
permanent disabilities caused by war.
Veterans Affairs
Steven Blaney

The department is getting a name change, but

the mandate will remain the same: to promote
health, safety, and prosperity in First Nations,
Inuit, Metis, and northern communities.

Aboriginal Affairs
John Duncan

Oversees farming and agri-food policy in Cana-

da, the minister is also on the front lines of crises
such as the listeriosis and mad cow scares. Food
safety policy and reforming the Wheat Board
will be among the minister’s top priorities.

Agriculture
Gerry Ritz

A liaison portfolio that wheels and deals with

provincial and territorial governments, as well as
municipalities.

Intergovernmental Affairs
Peter Penashue
 Serves as the go-between for MPs in the House
of Commons and Senators in the red chamber.
Rallies Senators to ensure government legislation
gets approved in the upper chamber — though
this is a less important role now that the Con-
servatives hold a majority in the Senate as well as
the House.

Leader in the Senate

Marjory LeBreton

A key economic and scientific research portfolio,

the natural resources file often comes becomes
mired in controversy. Natural Resources regu-
lates everything from the oil sands to nuclear
plants, and plays a critical role in mapping out
Canada’s claims to continental shelf boundaries
in the Arctic.

Natural Resources
Joe Oliver

Oversees federal labour legislation in Canada,

from workplace health and safety, industrial rela-
tions, and employment standards. She is also the
voice for international issues such as eliminating
forced or child labour and negotiates agreements
at world organizations.

Labour
Lisa Raitt

This department funds and oversees projects

that help impoverished or disaster-struck nations
around the world.

International Co-operation
Bev Oda
 Pushes policies related to fishing and maritime
hunting, from determining quotas that ensure
plentiful stocks to protecting Canada’s aborigi-
nal interests on the seal hunt and international
policy-making that protect the health of ocean
ecosystems.

Fisheries and Oceans

Keith Ashfield

Oversees all government buying and selling,

from office furniture to buildings. In the status of
women portfolio, the minister is tasked with pro-
moting policies that empower women, especially
in the workplace.

Status of Women, Public Works

Rona Ambrose

Pushes policy and programs related to arts and

culture, historical commemoration, official
languages, and national identity. Also oversees
the CBC. Usually a feel-good file, but occasion-
ally handles hot potatoes like controversies over
the national anthem or funding for far-out arts
groups.

Heritage
James Moore

Oversees programs that keep help Canadians

with job skills and retraining – an important
file in a time of economic uncertainty and with
an aging workforce. Also administers grants for
projects such as homelessness to disabled and ap-
prentice programs.

Natural Resources
Diane Finley
 Always a busy department for the Conserva-
tives with a high priority on law and order, this
mammoth ministry oversees RCMP, CSIS, Cor-
rections Canada, and the National Parole Board.
It also plays a leading role in emergency prepar-
edness. A hot file will be prison expansion to
accommodate an expected rise in inmates from
tougher crime legislation.

Public Safety
Vic Toews

This is the domain of the Canada Revenue Agen-

cy that collects individual and business taxes and
polices charitable organizations. It also sets and
enforces tax policy.

National Revenue
Gail Shea

This is a new portfolio that last existed in 2004.

The primary focus will be to oversee military
procurement, though Defence Minister Peter
MacKay said he will have final say on big equip-
ment purchases.

Associate Minister of National Defence

Julian Fantino