Former Housing Minister Nate Erskine-Smith says it’s “impossible not to feel disrespected” after Prime Minister Mark Carney chose to exclude him from cabinet.
Erskine-Smith was one of the 10 people Carney dropped from a newly announced cabinet that included several veteran ministers in new positions alongside 24 newcomers.
Erskine-Smith announced in January 2024 that he would not seek re-election in 2025 after nearly a decade of representing Beaches-East York, but changed his mind in December after being appointed as the minister of housing by then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Erskine-Smith took to social media on May 13 to express his disappointment over not retaining his housing portfolio as well as being excluded from cabinet altogether.
“I ran again because of the opportunity to make an even bigger difference around the cabinet table and to help fix the housing crisis,” he said in a series of posts May 13 on the X platform.
“It’s impossible not to feel disrespected and the way it played out doesn’t sit right. But I’m mostly disappointed that my team and I won’t have the chance to build on all we accomplished with only a short runway.”
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Erskine-Smith wished rookie MP Gregor Robertson luck in his new role as housing minister and expressed his hope that he would move quickly to address several issues Canada is facing.
“Our ambitious housing plan is bigger than one person, of course,” he wrote. “I wish the new minister well and hope we’ll see fast action to unleash the market, double down on building community housing, address chronic homelessness, and treat housing as a home first (and investment 2nd).”
For now, Erskine-Smith said he plans to work hard for his constituents, restart his podcast, and return to Parliament with “a renewed sense of freedom.”
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Erskine-Smith held the housing portfolio for less than six months after replacing Sean Fraser, who had resigned from cabinet last December, citing a desire to spend more time with his family.
Fraser reversed course after Carney was named Liberal leader. He was re-elected for a fourth term in his Nova Scotia riding and was named minister of justice and attorney general in Carney’s new cabinet.
Erskine-Smith’s replacement for the housing portfolio, Gregor Robertson, served as the mayor of Vancouver for a decade. He was elected in 2008 on a pledge to eradicate homelessness but was unable to complete that goal during his tenure. In March 2018 the homeless population stood at 2,181, the highest recorded since 2005.
Also excluded from cabinet were former Defence Minister Bill Blair, former Energy Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, former Treasury Board President Ginette Petitpas Taylor, and former Environment Minister Terry Duguid.
Jonathan Wilkinson described serving the country in cabinet as “one of the greatest honours” of his life in a letter posted to social media.
Wilkinson served as MP for North Vancouver-Capilano since 2015 and held three major cabinet positions over the years, previously serving as minister of fisheries, oceans, and the Canadian Coast Guard from 2018 to 2019, minister of environment and climate change from 2019 to 2021, and minister of energy and natural resources from 2021 to 2025.
“I know with certainty that my work has left a lasting mark on this country and contributed to shaping a better world,” Wilkinson wrote. “The opportunity to serve Canadians in this way is nothing short of an honour.”
Petitpas Taylor congratulated the members of Carney’s cabinet in a post on X, saying she was proud to serve Moncton-Dieppe and support the government in building “a better Canada for all.”
Petitpas Taylor has served as an MP for New Brunswick since 2015 and has held the health, employment, and veteran affairs portfolios.
Duguid also posted a letter to X, offering congratulations to the new cabinet.
Like Erskine-Smith, Duguid’s tenure in cabinet was brief. He was minister of sport from December 2024 to March 2025, and environment minister from March to May 2025. He has served as the MP for Winnipeg South for the past 10 years.
He described his brief time in cabinet as “an honour” and said he looked forward to the future under Carney’s leadership.
