Manitoba's One Federal Cabinet Minister 2025

Mark Carney's cabinet is Canada's version of trimmed down. It is 28 full ministers and 10 junior ministers plus the prime minister. The only minister from Manitoba will be Rebecca Chartrand, newly elected in Churchill - Keewatinook Aski. She will be attending her first full cabinet on Sunday.

Most previous cabinets have numbered up to 40 full ministers. The previous Carney government had Terry Duguid as Minister of Environment and Climate. He was dropped from cabinet altogether and Winnipeg has no cabinet representation at the table.  It might be the first time the city has had absolutely no cabinet spot in a government.

In fairness, Chartrand has lived in Winnipeg and will know the city well. However, her cabinet remit of Arctic and Northern Affairs. The western economic development minister is located in Alberta. It means important decisions for Manitoba that the Feds are involved with will be at the behest of a Calgary minister.

There are six elected Liberals in Manitoba. The Carney government has members of parliament in every province so this is reflected in the cabinet. Saskatchewan's solely elected Liberal MP has a junior cabinet spot as Secretary of State for rural development.  Alberta has one full minister. That is three for the entire prairie region. It means Winnipeg, Edmonton, Regina and Saskatoon will have no representation at the cabinet table. 

In a smaller cabinet, not every city, region or territory will have a seat at the inner cabinet. And if the cabinet numbers 40 people, as it has in the past, does being there give the cabinet member a budget or responsibility to do the job? One effective way to get Manitoba's message across is for the six MPs to meet regularly as a caucus to argue for important matters to Winnipeg and the province.

It is important to remember that while the Liberals MPs are there to represent their riding that they should remember to advocate for the province as a whole. Likewise, is good to work with the province and the municipalities to push through policies and projects important across the board. The competing interests in Canada among the MPs will be tough. 

The new prime minister has said that projects of national unity are critical. It will be important to identify how Manitoba can be part of those projects. It could be that the focus on Churchill and the north could be a boon for the province and Winnipeg itself. Hydro connections to Nunavut, port improvements for imports and exports. Could Churchill be and LNG port? For Winnipeg, it could be moving the CP and BNSF rail lines to Centreport as part of improvements to rail transport. It would open huge areas to housing in parts of the city.

It will be interesting to see what priorities Carney has out the gate and how our one cabinet minister will handle their portfolio. His focus on the economy is a good one as this is where most Canadians seem to worried about the most.