Canada: Indian-origin leader Anita Anand named Foreign Minister
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Newly-elected Prime Minister Mark Carney has nominated Indian-origin Liberal leader Anita Anand as his Foreign Minister, potentially improving relations with India, the media reported on Wednesday.
Carney, who replaced Justin Trudeau earlier this year and won snap parliamentary election in April, named Anand, a former defense minister, in place of Melanie Joly, who will be the new Minister of Industry.
The new PM returned to power 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.
Canadians elected this new government with a strong mandate to define a new economic and security relationship with the United States and to build a stronger economy for all Canadians, Carney said.
King Charles III will deliver a speech outlining the Canadian government’s priorities on May 27, when Parliament resumes. Charles is the Head of State in Canada, which is a member of the British Commonwealth of former colonies.
Carney emphasised Canada’s founding nations, the United Kingdom and France, and has said the old relationship with the U.S. based on steadily increasing integration is over.
More than 10 people were dropped from the new Cabinet, including former defense minister Bill Blair. David McGuinty goes from public safety to defense.
Carney named former Goldman Sachs Canada CEO Tim Hodgson as natural resources minister. The PM, who earlier worked for 14 years at Goldman Sachs, said he wants to build Canada into an energy superpower and prioritize big, nation building projects.
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 the new Cabinet is built to deliver the change Canadians want and need. The Liberal government is in its fourth term.
