Prime Minister Selects New Federal Cabinet

By: Darryl Wolk

May 2025

Photo credit: Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images

Prime Minister Carney revealed his Cabinet after winning the 2025 Canadian Federal Election. He has signaled the top priorities of his Cabinet will be to reduce inter-provincial trade barriers and introduce a middle-class tax cut ahead of Canada Day. 

Tariffs and the trade war with the United States were also considered by the Prime Minister when forming his Cabinet. The Cabinet contains 28 Ministers and 10 Secretaries of State. This is a smaller Cabinet than the ones formed by former Prime Ministers Justin Trudeau and Stephen Harper.

OMSSA looks forward to working with the Federal Government on the National Housing Strategy and the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) program.

The new Minister of Housing and Infrastructure, Gregor Robertson, has municipal experience as a former Mayor of Vancouver, and that experience will be helpful as the Prime Minister and his Cabinet launch a new strategy to address housing affordability, a top issue for Canadians. 

Karina Gould was the Minister who implemented and led the CWELCC file under Prime Minister Trudeau. Hopefully this does not signal a reduced focus on the national child care program as an increase in investment is required to address expansion and workforce issues in early years and child care. 

The smaller Cabinet is also meant to show a focus on efficiency and on the economy. It will be important to frame OMSSA's issues within this economic context while not losing sight of the impact any economic downturn would have on the people OMSSA Members support. The Association is looking to enhance federal advocacy and build new relationships in Ottawa to ensure Ontario's unique Service System Management model is considered during program design. 

OMSSA is also looking forward to a post-election update from CMHC to better understand the new government's plans to address housing and homelessness following an election where the housing crisis was top of mind for voters.

OMSSA congratulates the Ministers and Secretaries of State who were selected into Cabinet and looks forward to increasing our partnership with the Government of Canada under the leadership of Prime Minister Carney.

Resources

For more insights, visit the following resource links:

• Prime Minister announces new Ministry

About the Author

Darryl Wolk is Manager of Policy Development and Public Affairs for the Ontario Municipal Social Services Association.  Darryl started with OMSSA in 2017. He has over ten years of government relations experience and graduated with an MBA from the University of Windsor in 2004. Darryl appreciates the opportunity to advocate and consult with Ontario’s municipal service managers, province and federal government to advance priority issues in the health and human services sectors.