Indian-Canadian politician Anita Anand was on Tuesday appointed the country’s new Defense Minister in a cabinet reshuffle by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Indian-Canadian politician Anita Anand was on Tuesday appointed as the country’s new defense minister in a cabinet reshuffle by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, more than a month after her Liberal party returned to power in snap elections and chief amid calls for military reforms.
Anand, 54, will succeed Indian-origin Harjit Sajjan, long-time defense minister, who has been criticized for his handling of the military sexual misconduct crisis.
Sajjan has been appointed minister of the International Development Agency, a report in the National Post newspaper said.
The new cabinet maintains gender balance and has 38 members, one person ahead of the election, it said.
According to a report in Global News, Anand was seen as a strong contender for weeks among defense industry experts, who said taking him into the role would send a powerful signal to survivors and victims of military sexual misconduct That the government is serious about implementing it. major improvements.
Canada’s military is facing intense public and political pressure to change its culture and create better systems to prevent and handle allegations of sexual misconduct.
The report said that Anand has a deep background as a corporate lawyer and has worked extensively on corporate governance, which specifically refers to laws and regulations for managing the operations of businesses.
There were three Indo-Canadian ministers in the dissolved cabinet, along with Anand, Sajjan and Bardish Chagar, who emerged victorious in parliamentary elections last month.
Anand was declared the winner in Oakville with a vote share of about 46 percent; A significant development for Canada’s Minister of Vaccines.
She was first elected in 2019 as a member of parliament representing Oakville in the province of Ontario and served as procurement minister throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
She quickly became in charge of the country’s efforts to secure COVID-19 vaccines and was often on the campaign trail with Trudeau.
In his role as former Minister of Public Service and Procurement, he played a very public role in the liberal response to the health crisis.
“I’m just happy,” he said after his win, thanking the volunteers who worked hard as a team for five consecutive weeks, he was quoted as saying by the Oakville News.