Canada has two new Jewish cabinet members in the federal government.
Danforth MP Julie Dabrusin, who served as a parliamentary secretary for several terms, has been named Canada’s new minister of environment and climate change; and Evan Solomon, a former journalist and now rookie MP in Toronto Centre, is the minister of artificial intelligence and digital innovation, and the minister responsible for the federal economic development agency for Southern Ontario.
The news came as part of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s cabinet announcement on May 13.
A notable Jewish omission from cabinet is three-term Outremont MP Rachel Bendayan, whose short-lived cabinet stint—first for official languages and associate public safety in the dying days of Justin Trudeau’s administration, and then as immigration minister for Carney—was historic, in that she was the first Sephardi woman appointed to federal cabinet.
Instead, the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship portfolio goes to Halifax West MP Lena Metlege Diab, who last year chaired the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights that produced reports on antisemitism and Islamophobia. The latter stirred controversy among Jewish and pro-Israel groups over its inclusion of the concept of anti-Palestinian racism, which critics viewed as weaponizing charges of racism against pro-Israel speech. Diab was also an early voice calling for a ceasefire in the weeks following Hamas’s attack that killed 1,200 people in Israel, before the launch of Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza.
Karina Gould, the longtime Burlington MP and former House Leader, who was also a minister of numerous portfolios for years, was shuffled out of cabinet by Carney earlier this year. She ran against Carney for the Liberal leadership, but placed third, winning just three percent of the vote. She now remains out of cabinet.
Also shut out are two-term Winnipeg South Centre MP Ben Carr and four-term Mount Royal MP Anthony Housefather, who was Justin Trudeau’s special advisor on Jewish community relations and antisemitism.
Meanwhile, Carney selected two endorsers of the so-called “Palestine platform” to prominent positions. Canada’s new Treasury Board president is Shafqat Ali, who has held Brampton Centre for the Liberals since 2021; and Olympic gold medallist Adam van Koeverden, who labelled Israel’s actions as “genocide” in an apparent contradiction of Carney’s position, is now secretary of state for sport.
