The new Prime Minister of Canada faces the growing criticisms of annoying defense groups that the ministers only dedicated to their problems are no longer around the cabinet table.
Mark Carney announced his list of 23 ministers on Friday, which he described as a much smaller cabinet focused on protecting workers during a commercial war and building the economy during a moment of crisis.
Rabies Khedr, National Director of Disability without Poverty, says she believes that Carney put her electoral strategy first by dropping a series of titles of her cabinet.
“I think it is a political strategy. It is a strategic decision to get rid of anything that has to do with equity, diversity and inclusion to the avant -garde,” Khedr said.
After having sworn, Carney said that his cabinet is thinner because he is “focused on the problems that are more important for Canadians, knowing the moment; the moment is a moment of crisis.”
The women’s titles, gender equality, youth, official languages, diversity, inclusion, people with disabilities and older people, all included in the Trudeau cabinet, are missing in their ministers.
Those wallets have not gone, but they have established themselves under the responsibilities of other ministers.
Carney gave Steven Guilbeault an expanded cabinet role called “Canadian culture and identity, Parks Canada and Quebec Lieutenant.” The Prime Minister’s office says that his portfolio includes the equality of women and gender together with official languages.
The Minister of Jobs and Families, the Steven Mackinnon portfolio, includes older people and people with disabilities, said Carney’s office.
Mackinnon defended the roles of the cabinet consolidated on Friday, saying that his government has spent nine years fighting gender equity and will not hesitate in that front. He pointed out the recent employment insurance updates that, according to him, facilitates the lives of Canadian women.
“And for my part, whether older people or disabled people or perhaps especially in this country, I take all the constituent groups that trust my department extremely seriously,” Mackinnon said at a press conference.
Small Ministry messaging
Khedr said Mackinnon should begin in his role in knowing that the government’s language under the accessible Canada Law is “people with disabilities, people with disabilities or even people with disabilities.”
She is among those who ask Carney to immediately restore the ministerial position dedicated by fears that are losing a champion around the cabinet table. More than 200 defense groups and organizations have joined forces to demand that the new prime minister bring a minister completely focused on women and gender equality.
Anuradha Dugal, executive director of Women’s Shelters Canada, says that for more than 60 years there have been a status of women’s minister and bend the portfolio under the responsibilities of another minister, decades of work are delayed.
Facing the criticisms of the defense groups that the new cabinet of Prime Minister Mark Carney is smaller and no longer includes several ministers with titles such as ‘Women and Gender Equality and Youth,’, the Minister of Families and Families, Steve Mackinnon, defended the decision by saying that the liberal government takes the archives seriously.
“Including us in a ministry called Canadian identity, I think it also undermines the responsibility of fulfilling the full rights of women and diverse gender people at a time when they are under threat worldwide,” Dugal told CBC News.
The Native Women’s Association of Ontario says that this cabinet sends the message that indigenous women and girls face “unacceptable levels of violence” are not a priority.
Other defense groups care if the ministers are dealing with multiple wallets, they will have to classify priorities and their files will fall on the way.
“I think there could be a lack of coordination on certain issues and a lack of urgency to address the problems of the elderly,” said Graham Webb, executive director of the Defense Center for the elderly.
Gonzalo Peralta, executive director of Languages Canada, says he understands that Canada faces an economic crisis and threats as never before, but wants the official language minister to be restored after the elections. He said the paper is key to the Canadian unit.
“We need to know that the cornerstone of Canadian identity is still relevant,” Peralta said. “Is this Canada or not? That is the fundamental question.”
The prime minister’s office said in a statement to CBC News that, although the ministers responsible for these files have changed, their work continues to “support Canadians of all ages, promote diversity and gender equality and protect our two official languages.”
Look at the budgets to see priorities, says the former advisor
The former liberal national campaign director, Michele Cadario, says she does not want to reduce what the defense groups say, but says that when you try to restructure a government with a smaller cabinet, consolidating roles is a byproduct. Since the compressed deadline, Carney, had to put a cabinet along with the aim of keeping it smaller, “he has done his best.”
She said that consolidating the portfolios does not mean that these problems have less importance under the Carney government or that their financing has been reduced in some way.
Cadario provided tips to former Prime Minister Paul Martin and former BC Prime Minister Christy Clark about the formation of his cabinets. He learned that whatever happens, you’re going to bother more people than you make happy to build a cabinet, he said.
“For me, telltals are always in budgets and that is where people should see if priorities have really changed,” said Cadario, CEO of Vanguard Strategy. “It’s not about the names that feel around the table necessarily or how many of them.”
She said she could be “more powerful” to have a more senior minister talking about a problem at a smaller cabinet table, than a minister focused on a wallet. A more senior minister can be invited to other meetings and cabinet committees to talk about the file too, he said.
