Greater Toronto Area MPs prominent in federal cabinet shakeup, Bill Blair among those dropped

As Prime Minister Mark Carney shakes up his federal cabinet after winning the 2025 Canada election, MPs from the Greater Toronto Area are a major part of the changes being made.

During a swearing-in ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa Tuesday morning, 28 ministers and 10 secretaries of state were sworn in. The number of full cabinet ministers increased by four and all of the secretaries of state, who aren’t an active part of the central governing body, are being reintroduced.

Among those who saw big promotions are Oakville East MP Anita Anand. She became Canada’s foreign affairs minister, which comes at a time when the country prepares to host the G-7 in Alberta next month and when Canada-U.S. relations are front and centre. After first being elected in 2019, Anand served in the defence, treasury board, procurement, transport, internal trade and innovation portfolios.

Scarborough–Guildwood–Rouge Park MP Gary Anandasangaree, who previously served as the ministers of justice and Crown-Indigenous relations, was tapped to be the public safety minister. His new ministry deals with policing and border security.

Evan Solomon, a former journalist with CBC and CTV who was just elected in the riding of Toronto Centre, was named as artificial intelligence and digital innovation minister. He also has responsibility for a federal southern Ontario economic development agency.

Julie Dabrusin, a longtime MP for Toronto-Danforth, joined the cabinet on Tuesday as environment and climate change minister. First elected in 2015, this is the first time Dabrusin was tapped to serve in the cabinet.

John Zerucelli, a former Universal Music executive elected in April as the MP for Etobicoke North, was named the secretary of state for labour.

In terms of new representatives, there’s a notable increase in the number of Brampton MPs sitting around the cabinet table. Peel Region is a key part of the so-called 905 region, which is where the Liberals saw a loss of seats in the election and where former health minister Kamal Khera was defeated.

Brampton—Chinguacousy Park MP Shafqat Ali and Brampton East MP Maninder Singh were sworn in as treasury board president and as international trade minister, respectively. Both MPs previously served as backbench MPs.

Ruby Sahota, the MP for Brampton North-Caledon who previously and briefly served as democratic institutions minister, was named secretary of state for “combatting crime.”

South in Mississauga, Rechie Valdez (who represents the Streetsville area) became the minister of women and gender equality as well as the secretary of state for small business and tourism. She previously served as small business minister and most recently as the chief government whip.

In York region where the Liberals only have two of the nine seats, first-time MP (Markham–Thornhill) and former Hydro One chair Tim Hodgson was named minister of energy and natural resources.

Former Olympian and Burlington North–Milton West MP Adam van Koeverden was named secretary of state for sport. He will serve alongside Anand as a representative for Halton region.

There were no representatives from the Durham, Hamilton, Niagara and Kitchener-Waterloo regions appointed.

3 Toronto MPs dropped from cabinet, Freeland remains in portfolio

Scarborough Southwest MP Bill Blair, the former chief of the Toronto Police Service who served in the defence and public safety portfolios, was dropped as part of an expanded cabinet.

Nate Erskine-Smith, who represents Beaches–East York, was named to the cabinet in January by former prime minister Justin Trudeau as housing and infrastructure minister. He continued that role in Carney’s transitional cabinet which stayed in place throughout the election campaign. Erskine-Smith was set to not run again, but changed his mind when he was named to Trudeau’s cabinet.

In a lengthy thread posted on X Tuesday afternoon, Erskine-Smith was discontented with being left out while also congratulating the new housing minister (and former Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson).

“I ran again because of the opportunity to make an even bigger difference around the cabinet table and to help fix the housing crisis. I’m not back in any role, unfortunately, so it may not surprise you to learn that it’s been a strange day on my end,” he wrote.

“It’s impossible not to feel disrespected and the way it played out doesn’t sit right. But I’m mostly disappointed that my team and I won’t have the chance to build on all we accomplished with only a short runway.”

Erskine-Smith said “you never know what the future holds” and that he’ll go to parliament with a “renewed sense of freedom,” focus on constituency work, and restart a podcast he produced while he was previously a backbench MP.

Ali Ehsassi, the MP for Willowdale who joined that transitional cabinet in March as government transformation, public services and procurement minister, was dropped as well.

Former deputy prime minister and University–Rosedale MP Chrystia Freeland will remain as minister of transport and internal trade.

Meanwhile, Carney still needs to name parliamentary secretaries and there could be additional representatives from the Greater Toronto Area. Parliamentary secretaries aren’t members of the cabinet, but they assist ministers and can act as spokespersons in the House of Commons and parliamentary committees.