OTTAWA -— Three British Columbians will play senior roles in Justin Trudeau’s new Liberal government.
Decorated military veteran Harjit S. Sajjan (Vancouver South) was named defence minister, former Crown prosecutor and aboriginal leader Jody Wilson-Raybould (Vancouver Granville) becomes justice minister, and lawyer-paralympian Carla Qualtrough (Delta), who is legally blind, was appointed minister of sport and persons with disabilities.
Sajjan and Wilson-Raybould will play senior roles in the cabinet committee system, with both being named members of the Trudeau-chaired, 11-person committee on “agenda and results.”
The three British Columbians were sworn in Wednesday morning as they joined a 31-member cabinet made up of 15 women and 16 men. Trudeau chose to take the route of picking fresh but relatively inexperienced young faces while limiting his B.C. representation to MPs in or close to Vancouver.
Sajjan, a turbaned Sikh and former police detective, is celebrated by the Liberals as a war hero after four overseas military deployments as an intelligence officer — including three in Afghanistan.
Trudeau, despite winning 17 of B.C.’s 42 seats, was limited by the heavy concentration of Liberal MPs in Metro Vancouver. Only Steve Fuhr, elected in Kelowna-Lake Country, won a seat in the B.C. Interior. The ruling party was shut out on Vancouver Island.
By denying them cabinet seats, Trudeau risked creating resentment among Liberal caucus veterans across the country, including the only two B.C. Liberals to survive the 2011 election debacle — Hedy Fry (Vancouver Centre) and Joyce Murray (Vancouver Quadra).
Premier Christy Clark said she is pleased at B.C.’s strong representation on the front benches of the new cabinet.
In a statement, Clark said she is confident Sajjan, Wilson-Raybould and Qualtrough will fight for provincial priorities such as a renewed Softwood Lumber Agreement, development of liquefied natural gas and the full inclusion of First Nations in the economy.
Interim University of British Columbia president Martha Piper hailed Trudeau as the first UBC alumnus to be elected as prime minister. (UBC grads John Turner and Kim Campbell both inherited the job and led their parties to electoral defeats.)
— With files from The Canadian Press
