Trudeau appoints 2 rookies to key economic portfolios

Newly minted members of Parliament Bill Morneau and Diane Lebouthillier have been appointed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to two key economic portfolios.

Morneau is Canada’s new finance minister, and Lebouthillier is minister of National Revenue.

Read: Who will benefit from Liberal tax policies?

Other key appointments include Chrystia Freeland as minister of International Trade and Scott Brison at Treasury Board, which holds the purse strings for government departments.

Former Liberal Party leader Stéphane Dion is Foreign Affairs minister, the Public Safety minister is veteran MP Ralph Goodale, Transport minister is former astronaut Marc Garneau, and former National Revenue minister and economist John McCallum is Minister of Immigration.

Carolyn Bennett is Canada’s new minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs. Rookie Harjit Sajjan is minister of Defence. Minister of Justice is Jody Wilson-Raybould.

Read: The Liberals have won. Should you worry about the TFSA?

Trudeau and his new cabinet were sworn in by Governor General David Johnston at Rideau Hall this morning. The new Liberal prime minister and cabinet are scheduled to hold their first meeting later today.

They are widely expected to take immediate action on their campaign promise to cut taxes for the middle class while raising them for people making more than $200,000.

“We’ll also be getting straight to work at home: The first bill introduced by our government will be a tax cut for the middle class so we can get started right away growing our economy, strengthening our middle class and helping those working hard to join it,” Trudeau said in an email to supporters on Tuesday.

In the email, he also suggested he’ll recall Parliament soon — likely early next month, after attending a whirlwind series of international leaders’ summits — to deliver quickly on the central plank of the Liberal election platform.

Read: Liberals would reform CRA

The Liberals also plan to reinstate the long-form census as part of a broader commitment to return to “evidence-based” decision making by his government.

And his new ministers will also emerge from their first meeting to face questions from the media, another departure from the style of former prime minister Stephen Harper.

Under Harper, reporters were banned from waiting in the hallway outside the cabinet room, where ministers had scrummed for decades — indeed, the media wasn’t even notified when cabinet meetings were taking place.

The composition of Trudeau’s cabinet has been a closely guarded secret, but it’s evident that it, too, is aimed at reflecting not just a new government but a new generation at the helm of the Liberal party.