Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre reacted to Mark Carney becoming the new prime minister by criticizing him for choosing many of the same Liberal MPs as ministers in his cabinet as the previous government’s.
The Tories have been saying that Carney’s government is just a continuation of the Trudeau government, which had been trailing in the polls before Justin Trudeau announced his plan to resign as prime minister.
“He thinks that a little bit of cosmetic surgery will allow the Liberals to disguise who they are and make people forget what they did for 10 years in order to elect them to a fourth Liberal term,” Poilievre said during a press conference in Ottawa on March 14.
“Liberals are trying to trick Canadians into electing them to a fourth term in power with a cabinet that is 87 percent the same as Trudeau’s cabinet.”
Carney was sworn in as Canada’s 24th prime minister at Rideau Hall earlier in the morning, along with his 23 cabinet ministers. Three of his cabinet members are Liberal MPs who have not held cabinet posts before.
Several of Trudeau’s ministers did not make it back into cabinet, such as Immigration Minister Marc Miller, Procurement Minister and Quebec Lieutenant Jean-Yves Duclos, and former House leader and Liberal leadership contender Karina Gould.
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A few notable cabinet changes included former deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland becoming minister of transport and internal trade; Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault becoming Quebec lieutenant and minister of Canadian culture and identity, Parks Canada; and Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree retaining his position as well as becoming the justice minister and attorney general.
Poilievre said the people in Carney’s cabinet had supported Trudeau’s policies around the carbon tax, housing, energy, and deficit spending, which he said led to higher housing costs and longer lineups at food banks. “Giving the Liberals a fourth term will not change any of that,” he said.
The Conservative leader also said Carney has “no mandate” to lead the country, as he had not been elected by Canadians. While Carney won the Liberal leadership race on March 9 with 85.9 percent of the nearly 152,000 votes, he is the first prime minister who has never held public office in the past. Like Carney, John Turner was not a sitting parliamentarian when he became prime minister in 1984, replacing Pierre Trudeau, but he had been a longtime Liberal MP and cabinet minister in the past.
During a press conference at Rideau Hall in Ottawa, Carney was asked about whether he would call an election soon, and he responded Canadians should “expect to go to the polls before November.” The next federal election must be held before Oct. 21, 2025.
“There will be other news in the coming days with respect to ensuring that we have as strong a mandate that is needed for the time,” Carney added.
Carney also criticized Poilievre for not having gotten his security clearance yet, which was “something I managed to do in two weeks.”
After intelligence reports said some parliamentarians had been witting or semi-witting participants in foreign power interference activities in Canada, the Liberal government offered leaders of opposition parties to get a security clearance to be able to read unredacted copies of the reports.
Poilievre has said he will not get one, as he would be prevented from openly criticizing the government on security matters as leader of the Opposition.
