It appears that Carolyn Bennett, the long-time member for St. Paul’s, has been eased aside in a cabinet shuffle that effectively splits her portfolio on the Indigenous file. The former Health Minister and Trudeau favorite Jane Philpott is now the new minister of Indigenous Services, responsible for providing services for non-self-governing communities, while Ms. Bennett, becomes minister of Crown-Indigenous relations and northern affairs. New Brunswick MP Ginette Petitpas Taylor was elevated as minister of health and backbench MP Seamus O’Regan installed as veterans affairs minister. The recommendation to split those responsibilities comes out of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, which submitted its report in October, 1996.
O’REGAN A FRIEND OF PRIME MINISTER
Kent Hehr shifts from veterans affairs to become minister of sport and persons with disabilities, the portfolio previously held by Carla Qualtrough. Qualtrough, from B.C., will head up the public services and procurement department, which is responsible for addressing problems with the Phoenix payroll system and for managing major military procurements. The CBC reports that O’Regan, a 46-year-old former television host and close personal friend of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, will be Newfoundland and Labrador’s representative at the cabinet table. Just months after he was elected in 2015, O’Regan, who co-hosted CTV’s Canada AM for nearly a decade, announced he had entered into a wellness program to “adopt an alcohol-free lifestyle.”
