Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has chosen a new Treasury Board president for the sixth time in the past eight years..According to Blacklock’s Reporter, MP Anita Anand (Oakville, ON) is Trudeau’s latest appointee to this portfolio. When speaking to reporters, she expressed confidence in her abilities and stated she was “very well placed.”.“I am very well placed at this moment to join a fantastic economic team and continue to execute on our government’s messages,” said Anand. .It was “important for the Treasury Board to continue delivering on our policies.”.Previous Liberal appointees to the key cabinet portfolio were MPs Mona Fortier (Ottawa-Vanier, ON), Jean-Yves Duclos (Quebec City, QC), Joyce Murray (Vancouver Quadra, BC), Jane Philpott (Markham-Stouffville, ON) and Scott Brison (Kings-Hants, NS)..“We have to be cautious — and I will be working with an excellent team — in order to make sure we can deliver for Canadians while at the same time remaining cautious in our fiscal approach,” said Anand..Trudeau, in an original 2015 Ministerial Mandate letter, said the Treasury Board must “strengthen the oversight of taxpayer dollars,” eliminate “wasteful spending” and “conduct a review of tax expenditures and other spending to reduce poorly targeted and inefficient measures.” .Trudeau is the first prime minister, since Kim Campbell, who has not been able to balance the federal budget..“I have experience and background in the capital markets and in corporate governance,” said Anand. .“I was a professor for 25 years in these topics, in these areas, and undertook not only teaching but the practice of law as well as writing opinions in the area of economic policy.”.Anand used to teach law at the University of Toronto and was the research director at the Capital Markets Research Institute at the Rotman School of Management..“So I am very well placed,” said Anand..Two other cabinet portfolios have seen high turnover since the Liberals won office in 2015. .On Wednesday, MP Jean-Yves Duclos (Quebec City, QC) was named the sixth Public Works minister in eight years. .MP Ginette Petitpas Taylor (Moncton-Riverview, NB) was appointed the sixth Veterans Affairs minister in eight years. One of the six was a veteran..“I won’t say with finality that every single minister of defence or veterans affairs must have military experience, but it sure does help,” now-Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre said following a 2019 cabinet shuffle. .“I think those who have donned a uniform have a special kind of knowledge that the rest of us can never match when it comes to the treatment of our veterans and administration of our armed forces.”
