From queerest Parliament to queerest Cabinet?

The confirmation of Liberal MP Pascale St-Onge’s win in her Quebec riding has set a higher bar for the queerest Parliament in Canadian history. Canada now has a second queer woman elected to the House of Commons—a record in and of itself, and the first time that both the Liberals and Conservatives have elected queer women to their caucuses. And if we have the queerest Parliament in our history, could that also translate to Canada’s queerest Cabinet? Quite possibly.

At the very minimum, we will tie for the previous record from late 2017 to early 2019 of two openly gay ministers. That isn’t to say that there haven’t been a number of ministers in Canadian history who simply weren’t out, sometimes more than one at a time; but when it comes to those who are openly LGBTQ2S+, the list is short. Scott Brison used to joke that he was both the first and second openly gay Cabinet minister federally—first as minister of public works and government services under Paul Martin, then nine years later as president of the treasury board when the Liberals returned to power under Justin Trudeau. He was joined in Cabinet by Seamus O’Regan in August 2017, until Brison’s retirement in January 2019. 

O’Regan is likely to remain in Cabinet, both because of the regional significance of his riding in Newfoundland and Labrador and his close friendship with Trudeau; he is often seen as someone who can be sent to difficult files because he has Trudeau’s ear. Whether he remains in his current portfolio of natural resources remains to be seen. But it is certainly possible that he gets shuffled to a portfolio like fisheries, where the ongoing disputes with Indigenous fisheries in Nova Scotia has been a sore point for this government, and cost the outgoing minister, Bernadette Jordan, her seat in the election.

Returning MP Randy Boissonnault is guaranteed a Cabinet post, given that he is one of two Alberta MPs and Trudeau is in desperate need of an Albertan voice around the Cabinet table. (The other Albertan MP, George Chahal, is also under investigation by the Commissioner of Elections for removing a rival’s campaign literature from a mailbox.) It’s hard to pinpoint what kind of portfolio Boissonnault could own. He previously served as parliamentary secretary to the minister of Canadian heritage, as well as being appointed special advisor to the prime minister on LGBTQ2 issues. It is possible that Trudeau may give him a post like the minister and special representative for the Prairies portfolio, currently held by Jim Carr, or a role particularly Alberta-focused like natural resources. Alternatively, he could end up with the diversity and inclusion portfolio, which oversees the LGBTQ2 Secretariat, given his experience as special advisor.

New MP Pascal St-Onge could also find herself in a Cabinet portfolio. Trudeau has a mandate to uphold a gender-balanced Cabinet, and he must replace four women Cabinet ministers following a resignation and three defeats in the election. St-Onge has a background in journalism, and she’s the former president of the Fédération nationale des communications et de la culture in Quebec, a union that works to address the economic challenges facing both media and cultural organizations. She would also be the first openly queer woman Cabinet minister—an opportunity that Trudeau is not likely to pass up, given how much he likes to have these kinds of firsts on his scorecard.

St-Onge’s background as a union president may make it inappropriate for her in the labour portfolio. Instead, her background may make her more likely to get a position like Canadian Heritage—not only because she is from Quebec, but because Trudeau is likely going to need to shuffle Steven Guilbeault from the file given the complete hash he has made of it.

This leaves longtime Toronto MP Rob Oliphant, who may once again be a proverbial bridesmaid and not the bride. While Oliphant was made a parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs shortly before the 2019 election and has remained in that post since, opportunities for a seat at the Cabinet table will be limited. Being a Toronto MP in a Cabinet that is already heavy with Toronto MPs will be a disadvantage to Oliphant, despite his long years of experience in and outside of Parliament, and the fact that the gender balance works against him. It’s a shame, because Oliphant has a lot to offer the Cabinet—he has a background in both commerce and theology, has lived across the country and has one of the most diverse ridings in the country—but there are too many other factors that work against him in the current context.

Having more queer MPs around the Cabinet table will help to provide some needed perspective as this government works toward its goals of inclusive growth, and ensuring that all decisions are made with the Gender-based Analysis-Plus (GBA+) lens. Having people with more diverse lived experiences will be key to better decisions being made—and yes, there is corporate board research to show this to be the case. Budget 2021 had clear research embedded about some of the poorer outcomes, whether it’s around mental health, sexual harassment in the workplace, education or employment rates, and it requires more than just straight white men around the table if the government hopes to change these outcomes. By having a queerer Cabinet making these decisions at the federal level, and by bringing those perspectives and lived experiences of the issues queer and trans communities face and the need for the government to address them, we can hopefully see more action being taken that would have simply been unthinkable for previous governments.