The federal government cabinet shuffle

International trade, pipelines, illegal migrants and other issues were beginning to mount up against the Canadian government.

Two-thirds into its mandate the federal Liberal government has moved around its cabinet ministers in a move commonly known as a “shuffle”.

This is seen as an effort to remove underperforming ministers out of difficult areas, promote members in geographically strategic regions, and set up ministers for an election campaign to start in about a year’s time.

Jordan Press is a parliamentary reporter for the newswire service, the Canadian Press.

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The “shuffle” comes as several contentious issues are growing. One is the continuing and growing dispute over illegal border migration which has seen thousands of migrants walking across the undefended border with the U.S to claim asylum and the growing costs involved.

Ex-Chief of the Toronto Police, Bill Blair is sworn in as Minister of Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction during a swearing in ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa on Wednesday, July 18, 2018. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)

There has also been a growing dissent over the likelihood of a federal carbon tax, a trade dispute with the U.S., the prime minister’s own troubles with an alleged groping incident with a female reporter many years ago, the pipeline vs environment debate and public funds used to buy the highly contentious Kinder Morgan line, and a number of other issues.

The newly elected government of Ontario is also in strong disagreement with a number of federal policies. The province is a critical concern for the government due to the number of federal seats in the province.

In this shuffle, Trudeau has increased cabinet from 30 to 35 ministers as new positions were created to reduce the load on some other ministers and strategically indicate to certain groups that the Liberals are paying attention to them.

The shuffle comes as Prime Minister Trudeau sets up for the 2019 election and to give the new ministers at least a year to find their way in new functions.

At least one pollster shows Trudeau’s popularity continuing to hover around 40 per cent (41%) and on a slight downward trend with disapproval slightly higher at 48 per cent.