Prime Minister Mark Carney smiles as he takes his seat at his first news conference since winning the federal election, in Ottawa, on May 2.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
Prime Minister Mark Carney has several new faces to choose from as he prepares to unveil his updated cabinet next week.
It is expected to be slightly larger than the pared-down version he announced just before the federal election campaign.
Mr. Carney has promised to run a leaner, more businesslike government, which will likely mean disappointing some high-profile MPs with expectations of either joining or staying in his cabinet.
On March 14, he revealed a cabinet with only 23 members, in addition to himself. That was considerably smaller than former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet, which peaked at 40 members last year.
During his first postelection news conference Friday, Mr. Carney suggested he’s aiming for a relatively small cabinet with an equal number of men and women.
Marci Surkes, who was a senior adviser to Mr. Trudeau until 2022, said Mr. Carney is clearly signalling that he wants to run the government with a business mindset, which will likely mean a smaller-than-average cabinet.
“I’m very intrigued by the possibility of keeping this lean,” she said.
Mr. Carney’s campaign platform pledged to cut back on internal government spending in order to spend more on what he described as nation-building projects that would boost the economy. Ms. Surkes said a small cabinet would be consistent with that, even if it means leaving some high-profile individuals on the backbenches.
“That is, unfortunately, what comes with leadership. There are going to be disappointed people,” said Ms. Surkes, now chief strategy officer and managing director at public-affairs firm Compass Rose.
One obvious gap to fill will be adding representation from the Prairies. The current cabinet has no members from Alberta or Saskatchewan.
The election results leave Mr. Carney with three options: lawyer Eleanor Olszewski in Edmonton; Corey Hogan in Calgary, who was a deputy minister under former Alberta NDP premier Rachel Notley; and Buckley Belanger in Northern Saskatchewan. Mr. Belanger is a former Saskatchewan cabinet minister.
In British Columbia, Mr. Carney often showcased former Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson during the election campaign. Mr. Robertson was elected in the riding of Vancouver Fraserview-South Burnaby.
“I don’t know exactly what role I’d put Gregor in, but I just think that he would definitely be in cabinet,” said Mark Marissen, a Vancouver-based public-affairs strategist who has previously worked for the federal Liberals in various roles.
Mr. Carney also made a point of prioritizing gains on Vancouver Island, where the Liberals captured two seats.
Lawyer Stephanie McLean won a seat for the Liberals in Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke. A former member of the Alberta legislature, she was minister for the status of women and Service Alberta in the Notley NDP government.
Mr. Marissen said he could also see Ms. McLean and the new Liberal MP for Delta, Jill McKnight, receiving cabinet consideration.
There are also several new Liberal MPs with significant business backgrounds who will likely be under consideration for cabinet. They include Tim Hodgson, who was an adviser to Mr. Carney at the Bank of Canada, formerly led Goldman Sachs’s Canadian operations and was the Hydro One board chair until he took a leave of absence to run in Markham-Thornhill.
The Liberals made significant gains in Quebec, including the election of former Quebec finance minister Carlos Leitão, former IBM Canada president Claude Guay and former Bromont mayor Louis Villeneuve.
Other high-profile new Liberal MPs from Quebec include gun-control advocate Nathalie Provost and Mandy Gull-Masty, the former grand chief of the Grand Council of the Crees.
Finding space in cabinet for new Quebec members might be a challenge, however, as Mr. Carney has relied heavily on several current Quebec ministers who are likely to remain in place, such as Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly – who accompanied the Prime Minister to the White House this week – and Canadian Culture Minister Steven Guilbeault, who was his political adviser for Quebec.
“It’s a great problem to have,” said John O’Leary, who held senior roles with Liberal governments federally and in Ontario and is now a vice-president of Crestview Strategy.
He said Mr. Carney will also need to find a balance of fresh faces versus experience, which could be an argument for elevating some veteran MPs who have not been in cabinet before.
“I think that the Prime Minister will need to carefully consider bringing new faces to the cabinet table and then making sure that they’ve got the tools, team and responsibilities to really succeed in their role,” he said.