What We’re Watching: PM Carney set to unveil post-election front bench team as recounts get underway in N.L., Ontario – iPolitics

Exactly one week after arriving at the White House for his first in-person tête-à-tête with U.S. President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Mark Carney is poised to cross off another mission-critical item on his post-election to-do list: namely, unveiling his new front-bench lineup when he joins new and returning members of his ministry for his second — and counting — swearing-in ceremony in less than two months.  (Tuesday a.m.)

“Carney has provided some clues as to what his newfangled cabinet will look like,” iPolitics reporter David Legree explains.

“He’s committed to maintaining the policy of gender parity introduced by Justin Trudeau, while also emphasizing the need to keep a leaner cabinet table compared to that of his predecessor,” and although “most pundits expect the total number of ministers to increase from the 23 included in his first cabinet … it’s still likely to feature fewer than the 37 MPs that comprised Trudeau’s final front bench.”

Some of the big questions looming over Tuesday’s reveal, as per Davis: Will Carney leave newly minted Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne in his current role, which will all but guarantee that he’ll be in charge of presenting Carney’s first budget? What about his former leadership rival Chrystia Freeland — does she get to keep her seat at cabinet table? Will he ensure that each and every one of Canada’s thirteen provinces has at least one representative on his team?

Another potentially complicating factor when configuring a cabinet” Finding spots for new arrivals, particularly “star” candidates like “former Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson, Quebec’s former finance minister Carlos Leitão and prominent gun control advocate Nathalie Provost,” the Toronto Star points out.

“Other notable Liberals to watch include Jill McKnight, former head of the Delta Chamber of Commerce in B.C., and Buckley Belanger, the first federal Liberal elected in Saskatchewan since 2019.”

For its part, CBC News suggests that Carney’s new cabinet “could include a tiered structure,” with “a core group of ministers who will meet more frequently and deal with central government issues,” and a “secondary group of ministers of state,” who “may not be given full government departments and could meet less often,” according to their sources.

Expect a steady stream of returning and newly promoted ministers-in-waiting to start rolling — or, in some cases, strolling — up the drive to the vice-regal residence in time to take their seats before the official programme begins at 10:30 a.m., with limited post-ceremony media availabilities with select ministers — and possibly, although not necessarily, Carney himself — to follow.

More judicial recounts on deck this week

Meanwhile, as flagged by iPolitics editor Marco Viglioitti, the Liberals are now one step — or, in this case, seat — closer to clearing the 172-vote threshold required to command a working majority in the House of Commons, courtesy of an automatic recount in the hotly-contested riding of Terrebonne, Que., which was initially called for the Liberals on election night, flipped back to the Bloc Québécois during the preliminary validation process, but is now back in the red column after first-time Liberal candidate Tatiana Auguste ultimately beating Bloc incumbent Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné by a single vote.

As of Sunday morning, that puts the Liberals at 170 seats, but as Marco points out, there are still three more recounts in the queue, any of which could potentially change the math.

First up: Terra Nova—The Peninsulas, N.L., where, as CBC News notes, former CBC broadcaster turned Liberal hopeful Anthony Germain defeated his Conservative opponent, Jonathan Rowe, by just 12 votes in what was then the closest race in the country, and is now on track to begin a judicial recount on Monday.

Another razor-tight Liberal win could potentially be reversed in Milton East–Halton Hills, Ont., where “preliminary results shortly after the April 28 election showed that Conservative candidate and former MPP Parm Gill had won the riding with 32,186 votes, with Liberal candidate Kristina Tesser Derksen coming in second with 31,888 votes,” the Toronto Star reports.

“After a vote validation process on May 2, Elections Canada’s results indicated that Tesser Derksen received 32,130 votes, while Gill received 32,101 votes” — a 29 vote gap, which was small enough to trigger an automatic recount.

There’s also a recount pending in Windsor–Tecumseh–Lakeshore, Ont., which is due to begin next week after incumbent Liberal Irek Kusmierczyk successfully convinced a judge to order a recount in a race that saw him finish just 77 votes behind his Conservative opponent, Kathy Borrelli.

Depending on how those recounts play out, the Liberals could be heading into the new parliamentary session with as many as 171 seats — or, alternatively, as few as 168 if the party comes out on the losing side in both of the recounts on deck this week.

Also on the radar: Nova Scotia Sen. Paul “PJ” Prosper — who, as per the parliamentary website, is a “Mi’kmaq lawyer with more than 25 years of experience in Indigenous legal issues,” former chief of the Paqtnkek (Afton) Mi’kmaw Nation and a “lifelong advocate for the rights of the Mi’kmaq people” — teams up with Assembly of First Nations national chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak, First Nations Finance Authority strategic policy advisor Jonathan Plante, Ta’n Etli-tpi’tmk co-lead negotiator Jim Michaels and other Indigenous leaders and advocacy groups to highlight “First Nations priorities” that, according to the notice, “align with the prime minister’s stated priorities for his government,” and “could be addressed within the first 100-days of Parliament.” (Monday a.m.)

Citing “the unprecedented challenges currently confronting Canada’s prosperity, security, and sovereignty,” the Canadian Ambassadors Alumni Network will host what the advisory notes will be “its first ever foreign policy conference,” which — in conjunction with the Centre for International Policy Studies at the University of Ottawa — “will bring together former Canadian Ambassadors and academic experts” to explore “finding Canada’s place in a disordered world.” (Monday p.m.)