Prime Minister Trudeau shuffles cabinet; among the changes a new Fisheries Minister

Dominic LeBlanc is shifting out
of the Fisheries portfolio in the
Trudeau cabinet

Prince Rupert's long standing invitation to Dominic LeBlanc to come to town to discuss issues related to the fishery will have to handed over to a new face, with Mr. LeBlanc shuffled to a higher position in the Cabinet of Justin Trudeau today.

The invitation issued back in June of 2016 never did find much traction from the Federal MP,  as a diagnosis of leukemia for the minister in 2017 did see some reductions in place to  his travel obligations over the last few years.

On Wednesday morning, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a number of changes to his cabinet, part of the lead up towards next years Federal election and with the changes, and those on the North Coast looking for more federal engagement on fisheries issues will now have to address their questions to Vancouver MP Johnathon Wilkinson who was named Minister for Fisheries and the Canadian Coast Guard.

Mr. LeBlanc, who served in the position previous now moves to the post of Intergovernmental Affairs, Northern Affairs and Internal Trade.

Johnathon Wilkinson is now the new
Minister of Fisheries and the Coast Guard

In one of his last duties as Minister of Finance, Mr. LeBlanc, introduced a new sustainable fisheries resource advisory council on Tuesday, designed to offer the Ministry advice and recommendations on fisheries issues.

The proposed mandate for the SFRACC will include providing advice and recommendations to resolve complex policy and management issues relating to the sustainability of federally-managed fisheries and the conservation of aquatic resources.

Wednesday's cabinet shuffle introduced four new members to the cabinet, with a number of other cabinet ministers assigned new duties as part of today's announcement.

You can review the full list of changes to the Federal cabinet here.

For more items of note related to fisheries issues in British Columbia see our archive page here.

The latest notes of interest from the House of Commons and their impact on the Northwest can be found on our House of Commons archive.

A wider overview of the federal political scene can be found on our D'Arcy McGee portal.

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