Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has given senior cabinet positions to two rookie Vancouver Liberal MPs.
Former Crown prosecutor Jody Wilson-Raybould (Vancouver-Granville) is Canada’s new justice minister and attorney general. Former cop and decorated soldier Harjit Sajjan (Vancouver-South) is in charge of national defence.
Both MPs were sworn in Wednesday in Ottawa.
Wilson-Raybould, who was elected by a margin of more than 9,000 votes, is a former treaty commissioner and B.C. Assembly of First Nations regional chief, serving 10 years as an elected official.
In an interview a few days after her victory, Wilson-Raybould told the Courier her career experience prepared her well for her new job as MP. Speculation was she would be given the aboriginal affairs portfolio before Wednesday’s announcement.
“I’ve had to work in complex environments and deal with issues,” Wilson-Raybould said. “And the approach I’ve taken, and have been known for, is being a bridge builder and working with many diverse interests and approaches and seeking to try to forge consensus.”
Sajjan served 11 years as a Vancouver police officer and served overseas with the Canadian military. He is a veteran of three tours in Afghanistan and one in Bosnia. He defeated incumbent Conservative MP Wai Young to become MP of a riding in which he grew up, after immigrating with his family from India. Police Chief Adam Palmer congratulated Sajjan on Twitter, noting he worked as a gang squad officer before retiring in 2010.
“I realized my experience could be really put to use in this environment,” he told the Courier last month when asked about entering politics. “I thought if I don’t use my experience now, then what good is all my work in the past.”
Mayor Gregor Robertson's office issued a statement Wednesday in which the mayor welcomed the appointment of the two Vancouver MPs. Robertson said it was "good news" for the city "after a decade of Vancouver's issues being ignored" by the Conservative government of former prime minister Stephen Harper.
"On priority issues like affordable housing, transit and climate change, Vancouver will have a strong voice in Ottawa at the cabinet table," said Robertson, adding that he looks forward to working with the Trudeau government "to secure major transit investments in Vancouver and throughout the country." During the Liberals' campaign, Trudeau promised to work with the city and provincial government to get rapid transit built along the Broadway corridor.
Wilson-Raybould’s riding includes the Vancouver Police Department’s Cambie Street headquarters. When Jim Chu was police chief, he had strong relationships with justice ministers, occasionally taking them on tours of the Downtown Eastside.
Some of B.C.'s First Nations leaders also welcomed Trudeau's new cabinet and support the appointment of Carolyn Bennett as Minister of Aboriginal and Northern Affairs and Wilson-Raybould as the new government's point person on justice issues.
"It is an incredible day," said Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, in a news release issued Wednesday. He said having Bennett and Wilson-Raybould in government will "serve us all well." Phillip and other First Nations leaders will hold the Trudeau government to its promise to immediately launch a national public inquiry into missing and murdered girls and women in Canada.
Delta MP Carla Qualtrough will join Wilson-Raybould and Sajjan in cabinet, having been appointed as Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities. Re-elected Liberal MPs Joyce Murrary (Vancouver-Quadra) and Hedy Fry (Vancouver-Centre), who were B.C.'s only Liberal MPs for the past four years, were not given cabinet posts. Vancouver's two other MPs are Don Davies (Vancouver-Kingsway) and Jenny Kwan (Vancouver-East), both of the NDP.
Note: This story has been updated since first posted Wednesday a.m.
@Howellings
