Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. (Photo: CPAC)
Atlantic Canada has fewer federal cabinet ministers in the Liberal minority government and a Canadian politics professor believes that could be a big gamble for the prime minister.
Mario Levesque, an associate professor at Mount Allison University, says he was surprised when New Brunswick lost Ginette Petitpas Taylor as federal health minister.
“That’s really a huge shock and it’s not a reflection on her work at all. If you just take a look at it in isolation someone could make that claim but you have to look at the big picture,” he notes.
Levesque says Justin Trudeau was trying to create a national balance with four ministers in Atlantic Canada, four in British Columbia and the rest in Ontario and Quebec.
But Levesque believes the move could be risky for Trudeau and the Liberals may not get the same level of support in Atlantic Canada in the next election.
The Liberals won all 32 seats in the region in 2015 but lost six seats in the October election – including four in New Brunswick.
