Justin Trudeau set to shuffle cabinet (AI image)
Canadian Prime Minister has more than 2 years before the next Federal election but his party may be growing uneasy as polls show the Conservatives making headway.
That has prompted a cabinet re-shuffling to be announced today.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland is probably safe but the Globe and Mail reports that defense minister Anita Anand will likely be put into ‘an economic portfolio’. They also highlight this:
“A second senior government official said the Trudeau government, with its new cabinet, will put a greater emphasis on the economy, especially housing, affordability and green-energy policies.”
Trudeau is taking on water on an ambitions plan to bring in 1 million immigrants a year into a country of 40 million with housing prices and rents sky high. The public service is also struggling to cope at every level, particularly in health care.
One area that could also have an effect on some markets would be a shuffling of environment minister Steven Guilbeaut, who built his career as an anti-nuclear activist, which is certainly going against the latest trends. He’s struggled to implement any kind of CCUS framework and Canada is quickly being surpassed by the provisions in the US IRA.
I wouldn’t expect the Canadian dollar to respond to any cabinet shuffle but there is some long-term upside potential if Canadian officials at all levels can improve the pace of home building and resource extraction.