Prime Minister Mark Carney has left Alberta out of his newly-appointed cabinet, despite having two Liberal members of Parliament in the province.
Carney was sworn in as Canada’s 24th Prime Minister at a ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa on Friday.
The new cabinet includes 24 ministers, which is a significant reduction from the 39 ministers around former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s last cabinet.
“Cabinets do signal a prime minister’s intentions, and I don’t think Alberta was intentionally snubbed, but I think a lot of people will feel they were snubbed,” said Colin Aitchison, western Canada director at Enterprise Canada and former staffer with the United Conservative Party.
“They’re focused on the GTA, they’re focused on Toronto, they’re focused on Quebec, and that could be the signal he’s sending — intentionally or unintentionally.”
The only cabinet minister west of Winnipeg is energy and national resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, who represents North Vancouver.
Taking questions following the swearing in ceremony, Carney said the lack of Alberta representation around the table is a result of a condensed cabinet.
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“It’s a factor when you reduce things down, but I’m Prime Minister of all of Canada, of course, and I’m from the west,” Carney said.
Alberta has two Liberal MPs in the House of Commons: Edmonton-Centre’s Randy Boissonnault, who previously served in cabinet, and Calgary-Skyview’s George Chahal.
However, both have been “mired in scandal” over the years, which experts believe may have impacted Carney’s decision.
“Randy Boissennault had been in cabinet, was removed from cabinet because of claiming Indigenous status and getting company grants based on that,” said Duane Bratt, a political scientist at Mount-Royal University.
“George Chahal had video surfaced in the election campaign of him pulling flyers of the Conservatives, that hurt him.
“Let’s see what happens after the election if Carney wins.”
Carney defended his cabinet appointments as “meeting the moment,” with a focus on protecting Canadians amid a trade war with the United States.
He also pointed to other cabinet picks’ birthplaces, rather than where their riding is.
“Chrystia Freeland lives in Toronto, Chrystia Freeland is from the west, Chrystia Freeland is from Alberta,” the Prime Minister said.
“But people get classified in a way that limits their breadth of experience. I could give you many examples of the pan-Canadian nature of this cabinet.”
However, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith isn’t buying that argument, and shared concerns Carney’s cabinet includes many ministers responsible for previous Liberal government policies she said are damaging to Alberta’s economy.
Speaking at an unrelated press conference in Calgary on Friday, Smith repeated calls for a general election.
“I haven’t seen any change to be encouraged that we’re going to have a reset on our relationship,” Smith said. “So we need an election and that’s how it needs to get sorted out.”
In a statement sent Friday afternoon, Smith pointed out nine Liberal government policies she wants to see condemned by the new prime minister, after the consumer carbon tax was repealed.
Carney hinted an election call will be coming before November, but many experts predict the writ will be dropped in the coming weeks.
“This is really a caretaker cabinet pending the election outcome,” Bratt said.
“But it’s not a normal caretaker cabinet because we’re in the middle of a trade crisis.”