Indian-origin Anita Anand is new foreign minister of Canada, as PM Carney shakes up Cabinet

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced a major Cabinet shakeup, including naming Indian-origin Anita Anand as the new foreign minister, on Tuesday, as he shapes a newly re-elected Liberal government.

An Associated Press report via Press Trust of India said that Carney, who replaced Justin Trudeau earlier this year and won the election last month, named Anand foreign minister, replacing Mélanie Joly, who now becomes the minister of industry. Anand had previously served in Cabinet roles, including defence minister.

François-Philippe Champagne retains his job as finance minister, while Dominic LeBlanc remains minister of US trade at a time of a trade war between Canada and the United States.

Carney won the job of prime minister by promising to confront the aggression towards 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,” said the prime minister.

Carney noted that 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.

The new prime minister has emphasised upon Canada’s founding nations, the United Kingdom and France, and has said that the old relationship with the US, based on steadily increasing integration, is over.

More than 10 people were dropped from the new Cabinet, including former defence minister Bill Blair. David McGuinty goes from public safety to defence.

Carney named former Goldman Sachs Canada CEO Tim Hodgson as natural resources minister. The prime minister, who had worked for 14 years at Goldman Sachs, has said he wants to build Canada into an energy “superpower” and prioritise 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 new Carney Cabinet, as they did in the Trudeau Cabinet.