Trudeau to shuffle ministers as Navdeep Bains leaves cabinet

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is planning a cabinet shuffle involving a handful of ministers, CBC News has learned.

Navdeep Bains, minister of innovation, science and industry, has decided not to run in the next election and is leaving cabinet, precipitating the move, said sources with knowledge of the shuffle who spoke to CBC News on condition of confidentiality.

Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne will replace Bains, and Transport Minister Marc Garneau will move to Foreign Affairs, the sources said. Omar Alghabra will be promoted to cabinet to take over Transport.

Bains will stay on as the MP for the Ontario riding of Mississauga—Malton for now, a source told CBC News.

The sources said the shuffle will occur Tuesday around 9 a.m. ET and, due to COVID-19, is expected to be the first virtual cabinet shuffle.

The move comes just ahead of a virtual cabinet retreat scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.

Trudeau last shuffled his cabinet in August after the departure of former finance minister Bill Morneau, who stepped down from his position amid the WE Charity controversy to run for a job as the next secretary general for the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Morneau was being investigated by Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion after revealing that he had to repay WE Charity $41,366 in travel expenses covered for him by the organization. Dion dropped his investigation in October. 

Morneau was replaced by then deputy prime minister and intergovernmental affairs minister Chrystia Freeland who handed her responsibilities for relations between the provinces to Dominic LeBlanc while retaining the position of deputy prime minister in her new post.