Indian Canadian Anita Anand gets key economic role in Canada Cabinet reshuffle

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a major Cabinet shuffle on Wednesday, promoted Indo-Canadian Anita Anand to treasury board president from the defence minister portfolio. Anand, who told reporters that she is extremely excited about her new role after the reshuffle, is part of what is being seen as a stronger economic policy team of the Canadian government. A lawyer and MP from Oakville, Ontario, since the 2019 federal election; Anand was the procurement minister in PM Trudeau’s last government and worked closely him to procure COVID19 vaccines for Canada.

In fact, in one of the most significant changes to his team since he first became Prime Minister in 2015; Trudeau dropped seven ministers and reassigned most of the important Cabinet portfolios.
Besides Anand, another high profile Indian Canadian Harjit Sajjan, who was minister of international development, has become the King’s Privy Council president and the minister of emergency preparedness, where “his past military experience will be tapped into as Canada continues to evolve its natural disaster response plans and respond to a devastating wildfire season”. He also becomes the minister responsible for the Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada. Born in Punjab, India; Sajjan is an MP from Vancouver, British Columbia. He had served as the minister of national defence from 2015 to 2021 and was also the first Sikh Canadian to command a Canadian Army reserve regiment.

Following the reshuffle, the portfolio of diversity, inclusion, and persons with disabilities has been given to Indian Canadian Kamal Khera, who had been the minister of seniors since October 2021. A registered nurse, Khera became the youngest Liberal MP in the Canadian government, when she was first elected in 2015 from Brampton West.
According to Trudeau’s announcement on Wednesday, Ruby Sahota, daughter of Indian immigrant parents, who was elected as a member of Parliament in Canada to represent the riding Brampton North during the 2015 federal election and is currently deputy government whip; will take over as chief government whip from Steven MacKinnon when he becomes House leader in winter this year. This is because Karina Gould, the new leader of the Canadian government in the House of Commons, is expecting her second child and will be on parental leave.
Canadian MP from Ontario, Arif Virani, a lawyer who was first elected in 2015, was assigned a Cabinet role for the first time as Canada’s minister of justice and attorney general. Virani’s family is Ismaili Muslim with roots in Gujarat and moved to Canada from Uganda in 1972.