For the first time in many decades, Prince Edward Island does not have an MP serving in a federal cabinet.
A list of ministers released as Prime Minister Mark Carney was being sworn in did not include any of the province’s four Liberal MPs: Lawrence MacAulay, Sean Casey, Bobby Morrissey and Heath MacDonald.
MacAulay had been in the cabinets of former prime ministers Jean Chrétien and Justin Trudeau, but announced last month that he would not be running again in the Cardigan riding when the next federal election is held.
A campaign is likely to be triggered within weeks, with an election date in late April or early May.
Carney had been highly expected to trim his cabinet from the 37 MPs who were in Trudeau’s cabinet, including the prime minister himself.
Though no MPs elected from Prince Edward Island are in Carney’s 24-member cabinet, there is some Island content.
New Minister of Jobs and Family Steven MacKinnon represents the Quebec riding of Gatineau, but was born in Charlottetown and still has relatives on the Island.
He had most recently been Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour under Trudeau.
Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon was asked why most cabinet ministers are supporting Mark Carney instead of former deputy prime minister and finance minister Chrystia Freeland’s bid for Liberal leadership. MacKinnon said he respects Freeland and her contributions.
MacKinnon was an early supporter of Carney’s Liberal leadership campaign after Trudeau said in January that he was stepping down. Carney won the leadership on March 9 with nearly 86 per cent of the votes cast.
All four Prince Edward Island MPs were Carney supporters as well.
Past cabinet ministers
In Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper’s government, former Egmont MP Gail Shea was the cabinet minister responsible for Prince Edward Island.
Former Malpeque MP Wayne Easter also spent time in cabinet under Chrétien.
Under former prime minister Brian Mulroney, Tom MacMillan, who represented the riding of Hillsborough, was for a time the Prince Edward Island rep in cabinet.
Other 20th-century cabinet ministers from P.E.I. shown on the Parliament of Canada website included Joe McGuire, Daniel J. MacDonald, David MacDonald, W. Bennett Campbell, John Alexander Macdonald, John Angus LacLean, Cyrus Macmillan, James Layton Ralston, John Ewen Sinclair, and John Watson MacNaught.
