PM Mark Carney Appoints Canada’s First Artificial Intelligence Minister

Today Prime Minister Mark Carney was sworn in, along with his new Cabinet. There are some changes to portfolios in regards to digital and telecom.

For starters, Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) is now known as Industry led by Mélanie Joly, while there’s now a new Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation, led by former CBC News anchor Evan Solomon. Former ISED Minister, François-Philippe Champagne, is now Minister of Finance and National Revenue. ISED previously oversaw licensing of wireless spectrum and also telecom policy, as part of its portfolio.

Here’s the new Cabinet appointed by Prime Minister Mark Carney:

• Shafqat Ali, President of the Treasury Board
• Rebecca Alty, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations
• Anita Anand, Minister of Foreign Affairs
• Gary Anandasangaree, Minister of Public Safety
• François-Philippe Champagne, c
• Rebecca Chartrand, Minister of Northern and Arctic Affairs and Minister responsible for the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency
• Julie Dabrusin, Minister of Environment and Climate Change
• Sean Fraser, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
• Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Transport and Internal Trade
• Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture and Minister responsible for Official Languages
• Mandy Gull-Masty, Minister of Indigenous Services
• Patty Hajdu, Minister of Jobs and Families and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario
• Tim Hodgson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources
• Mélanie Joly, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions
• Dominic LeBlanc, President of the King’s Privy Council for Canada and Minister responsible for Canada-U.S. Trade, Intergovernmental Affairs and One Canadian Economy
• Joël Lightbound, Minister of Government Transformation, Public Works and Procurement
• Heath MacDonald, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food
• Steven MacKinnon, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
• David J. McGuinty, Minister of National Defence
• Jill McKnight, Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence
• Lena Metlege Diab, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship
• Marjorie Michel, Minister of Health
• Eleanor Olszewski, Minister of Emergency Management and Community Resilience and Minister responsible for Prairies Economic Development Canada
• Gregor Robertson, Minister of Housing and Infrastructure and Minister responsible for Pacific Economic Development Canada
• Maninder Sidhu, Minister of International Trade
• Evan Solomon, Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario
• Joanne Thompson, Minister of Fisheries
• Rechie Valdez, Minister of Women and Gender Equality and Secretary of State (Small Business and Tourism)

Reaction to the news? Michael Geist, University of Ottawa law professor, said, “Joly (Industry) and Guilbeault (Heritage now called Identity/Culture) don’t exactly signal change on digital files. But Evan Solomon new Minister of AI and Digital Innovation. Will be interesting to see how responsibility for AI, IP and privacy shakes out.”

Previously, it was reported that Carney plans to continue former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s online censorship plan. Meanwhile, the NDP previously urged Carney to block a major investment deal that involved U.S. investment firm Blackstone and Rogers.

There are also new secretaries of State appointed as follows:

• Buckley Belanger, Secretary of State (Rural Development)
• Stephen Fuhr, Secretary of State (Defence Procurement)
• Anna Gainey, Secretary of State (Children and Youth)
• Wayne Long, Secretary of State (Canada Revenue Agency and Financial Institutions)
• Stephanie McLean, Secretary of State (Seniors)
• Nathalie Provost, Secretary of State (Nature)
• Ruby Sahota, Secretary of State (Combatting Crime)
• Randeep Sarai, Secretary of State (International Development)
• Adam van Koeverden, Secretary of State (Sport)
• John Zerucelli, Secretary of State (Labour)

So what’s the deal with this “new” Cabinet? Many are from Trudeau’s era still. Columnist Robyn Urback said, “This new Cabinet seems like a mirage of change. Almost all of the prominent Trudeau names are still there on most of the biggest files: Freeland, Anand, Champagne, Joly, Guilbeault, LeBlanc, Fraser.”