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Treasury Board President Anita Anand is expected to take on the responsibilities of transport minister in a cabinet shuffle today, according to a source who spoke to the Ottawa Citizen on the condition of anonymity.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is set to shuffle his cabinet today, after Pablo Rodriguez, the transport minister and Liberal Quebec lieutenant, announced he was quitting to enter the race to become the leader of the Quebec Liberal Party.
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In addition to her new responsibilities, Anand will keep her current role, said the source. The news of the shuffle, the source said, will be shared on Thursday afternoon.
Jean Yves Duclos, minister of Public Services and Procurement of Canada, will take over as the Liberals’ Quebec lieutenant.
Rodriguez has said he had decided to sit as an independent member of Parliament, representing Honoré-Mercier, until the launch of the leadership campaign next January “to avoid a costly byelection a few weeks or months before a general election.”
Rodriguez’s decision to step down from the Trudeau cabinet comes just days after the government lost a stronghold riding to the Bloc Québécois in LaSalle—Émard—Verdun. Earlier this year, the Liberals faced a blow after losing the riding of Toronto—St. Paul’s to the Conservatives.
The move also comes two months after minister of labour and seniors Seamus O’Regan stepped down from cabinet.
Rodriguez said the official launch of his campaign will take place “in the coming weeks.” First elected in 2004, Rodriguez has served as minister of Canadian heritage and as Leader of the Government in the House of Commons.
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