Meet the members of Justin Trudeau’s cabinet
Among them are 15 women, fulfilling Trudeau's pledge to have a cabinet with equal gender representation.

TheStar.com
Nov. 4, 2015

Justin Trudeau’s cabinet, unveiled Wednesday, is marked by new blood and fulfils his pledge of selecting a gender-balanced group. It includes seven picks from the GTA and 15 women among its members, while Trudeau serves as minister of intergovernmental affairs and youth. The cabinet is underpinned by political veterans, including former party leader Stéphane Dion.

Ministers in Trudeau's cabinet:

INNOVATION, SCIENCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Navdeep Singh Bains
Mississauga-Malton (Ont.)
Bains, an accountant and financial analyst and visiting professor at Ryerson University, joins cabinet after a comfortable win in his GTA riding. He was an MP for Mississauga-Brampton South from 2004-2011 and served as parliamentary secretary to the PM and a Liberal critic for various portfolios.

INDIGENOUS AND NORTHERN AFFAIRS
Carolyn Bennett
Toronto-St. Paul's (Ont.)
Bennett, a doctor, is a former junior minister in the Paul Martin government. She was the Liberal critic for aboriginal affairs in the previous Parliament.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Marie-Claude Bibeau
Compton-Stanstead (Que.)
The International Development Minister won in an Eastern Townships riding and will also take care of La Francophonie portfolio. She spent time at the Canadian International Development Agency and has served on local governing boards and museums.

TREASURY BOARD PRESIDENT
Scott Brison
Kings-Hants (N.S.)
He is a former Conservative who was the Liberal finance critic in the last Parliament. Brison, who was an investment banker before politics, held the public works portfolio in the former government of Paul Martin.

NATURAL RESOURCES
James Carr
Winnipeg South Centre (Man.)
Carr, a Winnipeg native, was a musician and journalist before entering politics. His extensive community leadership earned him the Canada 125 Medal, the Diamond Jubilee Medal and the Order of Manitoba.

SMALL BUSINESS
Bardish Chagger
Waterloo (Ont.)
Chagger is a long-time Liberal worker and has volunteered for community organizations for the past two decades. The lifelong Waterloo resident comes from a working-class Sikh family and has a science degree from the University of Waterloo.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Stephane Dion
Saint-Laurent-Cartierville (Que.)
A time-tested political survivor, Dion is the second-longest serving Quebec MP in Parliament. He is credited with helping the 'No' forces win the 1995 Quebec independence referendum, and is a former Liberal Party leader.

FAMILIES, CHILDREN AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
Jean-Yves Duclos
Quebec (Que.)
Duclos is director of the department of economics at Quebec’s Université Laval. A well-published author and conference speaker, he became a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the highest accolade given to Canadian researchers, in 2014.

SCIENCE
Kirsty Duncan
Etobicoke North (Ont.)
Duncan is a medical geographer and author who once led an international scientific expedition to study the Spanish flu. This is her third election win.

PUBLIC SERVICES
Judy Foote
Bonavista-Burin-Trinity (NL)
Foote served as Liberal whip in the last Parliament. Before entering federal politics, she spent 11 years in the House of Assembly in Newfoundland and Labrador. She studied education and journalism.

INTERNATIONAL TRADE
Chrystia Freeland
University-Rosedale (Ont.)
Freeland was elected in the newly created Toronto riding. The Alberta native was the Liberals’ trade critic and was a journalist before entering politics. The author is one of 13 Canadian politicians banned from travel to Russia by President Vladimir Putin.

TRANSPORT
Marc Garneau
Westmount-Ville-Marie (Que.)
Canada’s first astronaut ran for the leadership of the Liberal party in 2013, and accused rival Justin Trudeau of uttering empty rhetoric. They seem to have patched things up. Garneau, who has a school named after him, was first elected in 2008 and served as the Liberal critic for foreign affairs, international trade and La Francophonie in the last Parliament.

PUBLIC SAFETY
Ralph Goodale
Regina-Wascana (Sask.)
Goodale is another long-term survivor, a former federal finance minister who was first elected to Parliament in 1974 at age 24. He has also served as Minister of Agriculture, Minister of Natural Resources, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister of Public Works.

STATUS OF WOMEN
Patricia Hajdu
Thunder Bay-Superior North (Ont.)
Hajdu has lived in the riding of Thunder Bay-Superior North almost exclusively since 1980. For nine years, she worked with the Thunder Bay District Health Unit where she chaired the Drug Awareness Committee of Thunder Bay.

VETERANS AFFAIRS
Kent Hehr
Calgary Centre (Alta.)
Previously, Hehr was a Member of the Legislature of Alberta (MLA) for Calgary-Buffalo. A former junior hockey player, he has been in a wheelchair since a drive-by shooting left him paralyzed. He practised law at Fraser Milner Casgrain, a national firm, before entering politics.

CANADIAN HERITAGE
Melanie Joly
Ahuntsic-Cartierville (Que.)
Joly was an early adopter of the Liberals’ message of “Real Change” — it was her campaign slogan in the 2013 Montreal mayoral race. The Oxford-educated lawyer is a personal friend of the Trudeaus.

GOVERNMENT HOUSE LEADER
Dominic LeBlanc
Beauséjour (N.B.)
LeBlanc won his sixth straight election in his New Brunswick riding and is a former Liberal House leader. He worked as a lawyer after attending Harvard Law School.

REVENUE
Diane Lebouthillier
Gaspésie-Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine (Que.)
A small business owner and former social worker, Lebouthillier served as the warden of a Regional County Municipality in the Gaspé in Quebec.

AGRICULTURE
Lawrence MacAulay
Cardigan (PEI)
MacAulay, a farmer, served as solicitor-general in Jean Chretien’s cabinet and was the Liberal critic for fisheries and oceans in the last Parliament. He has represented Cardigan for the past 25 years.

IMMIGRATION
John McCallum
Markham-Thornhill (Ont.)
McCallum, an economist, served as secretary of state for financial institutions in Jean Chretien's cabinet in 2002. He went on to serve as minister of defence, veterans affairs and national revenue under Chretien and former prime minister Paul Martin.

ENVIRONMENT
Catherine McKenna
Ottawa Centre (Ont.)
A human rights lawyer, McKenna provided legal advice to the UN mission in East Timor on treaty negotiations. She later co-founded the charitable organization Canadian Lawyers Abroad.

EMPLOYMENT
MaryAnn Mihychuk
Kildonan-St. Paul (Man.)
Mihychuk, a geoscientist, was a minister in the Manitoba NDP government of Gary Doer. She has worked in Canada's mineral industry and founded Women in Mining Canada.

DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS
Maryam Monsef
Peterborough-Kawartha (Ont.)
Monsef is the first Afghan-born MP. She fled with her family from Afghanistan 20 years ago and co-founded a campaign that has raised money for women and girls in that country.

FINANCE
Bill Morneau
Toronto Centre (Ont.)
Another political rookie, Morneau is a businessman who has advised the Ontario government on pensions. A corporate high-flier, he is a former chairman of the C.D. Howe Institute. He holds a BA from Western University and an MSc (Econ.) from the London School of Economics.

HEALTH
Jane Philpott
Markham-Stouffville (Ont.)
Jane Philpott has been a family physician at Markham Stouffville Hospital for more than 15 years. She worked in Niger, West Africa from 1989 to 1998. She founded Give a Day to World AIDS in 2004, which has raised more than $4 million.

SPORTS
Carla Qualtrough
Delta (B.C)
Qualtrough, a visually impaired former Paralympic athlete, is a lawyer practicing human rights law. Carla competed nationally and internationally in swimming and won three Paralympic medals.

DEFENCE
Harjit Sajjan
Vancouver South (B.C.)
Sajjan was the first Sikh to command a Canadian army regiment. He fought in Afghanistan and was decorated for UN peacekeeping. He also served with the Vancouver police gang crime unit.

INFRASTRUCTURE
Amarjeet Sohi
Edmonton Mill Woods (Alta.)
Sohi, a former bus driver, was a three-term an Edmonton city councillor. He was wrongfully imprisoned, without charge, as a terrorist in India. He has won various awards for his efforts to promote cooperation among cultural groups, and is a strong supporter of LRTs.

FISHERIES
Hunter Tootoo
Nunavut
Tootoo is a businessman and former Nunavut territorial legislator. He worked in housing services and the finance department. Tootoo was born in Rankin Inlet.

JUSTICE
Jody Wilson-Raybould
Vancouver Granville (B.C.)
Former Crown prosecutor and Assembly of First Nations regional chief Wilson-Raybould handily won in what was expected to be a tough race. Wilson-Raybould figured prominently in the Liberals 2014 convention in Montreal.