Anita Anand appointed Canada’s Foreign Minister; will pilot reset with India

Ottawa:  Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney has appointed Anita Ananda to the powerful post of Foreign Minister in his new cabinet charged with fulfilling the “mandate for change”.

He also appointed Maninder Sidhu as the international trade minister, and two others of Indian descent as secretaries of state – the equivalent of ministers of state.

One of Anand’s missions will be to pilot the reset of the almost ruptured ties with India that Carney signalled, while managing the delicate relations with President Donald Trump’s America.

Announcing the new cabinet of 28 ministers, he instructed them to “bring new ideas, a clear focus and decisive actions to their work”.

Ruby Sahota, who was the minister of democratic institutions, has been downgraded to a secretary of state and put in charge of combating crime.

Randeep Sarai is another of the ten secretaries of state and will deal with international development.

Anand, who was the transport minister and had earlier held the defence portfolio, said in January that she was leaving politics and returning to academia.

But Carney persuaded her to return to the cabinet and take the foreign affairs portfolio after she was re-elected in last month’s election.

Carney, who inherited former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet, now has a chance to put his mark after having led the Liberal Party to victory, beating the odds in last month’s election.

He cut the number of ministers from 39 in Trudeau’s cabinet to 28, and three politicians of Indian origin in the last cabinet do not find a place now.

What is probably the most important portfolio during the tariff war with the US has been assigned to Dominic LeBlanc, who will be the minister responsible for Canada-US trade.

Chrystia Freeland, who had earlier been the deputy prime minister with the finance portfolio and had challenged Carney for the party leadership, industry portfolio.

Anand replaces Melanie Joly, who has been shunted to the transport and internal trade ministry that she had held.

Joly ratcheted up the tensions with India, expelling six Indian diplomats last year, alleging that they were “persons of interest” in the assassination of Khalistan leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

India has denied any involvement in the murky case where there were signs of gang warfare and expelled Canadian diplomats in retaliation.

Carney, who has called relations with India “incredibly important”, said of the ties with India on the eve of the elections that “there is a path forward to address those with mutual respect and to build out.”

The relations spiralled under former Trudeau, who depended on the New Democratic Party led by Jagmeet Singh, an alleged Khalistan sympathiser, to stay in power.

David McGuinty, who was the public safety minister, takes over defence.

The new cabinet has fewer Canadians of Indian descent.

Harjit Singh Sajjan, who was a former defence minister and held the Emergency preparedness portfolio in the last cabinet, did not seek re-election to the House of Commons and left.

From the last cabinet, Arif Virani, who was the justice minister and attorney-general, and Kamal Khera, who held the diversity and inclusion of persons with disabilities portfolio, have been dropped by Carney.

–IANS