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The 10-year MP, who had previously said he would not run again in this election and came second to Bonnie Crombie in the 2023 Ontario Liberal leadership race, was promoted to cabinet in December in one of Justin Trudeau’s final moves as prime minister. When Carney became Liberal leader and prime minister in March, he kept Erskine-Smith in cabinet.

But on Tuesday, Erskine-Smith was one of three º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøMPs removed from Carney’s front-bench in a major overhaul that introduced many new faces but maintained the tradition of having a significant GTA representation in the federal cabinet.

Overall, Carney’s first cabinet since the election includes nine ministers from º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøand the GTA, with five new faces, including former broadcaster and friend of Carney Evan Solomon, the rookie º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøCentre MP who is now Canada’s first ever minister of artificial intelligence.

Reached by the Star, Erskine-Smith would not comment further. But in his social media posts, the MP long known as an outspoken parliamentarian on the more progressive side of the Liberal party, said “you never know what the future holds.”

“But for now, I’ll be working hard for my neighbours here in Beaches—East York, restarting the , and returning to Parliament with a renewed sense of freedom,” he said.

Bill Blair, the MP for Scarborough West who was the chief of the º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøPolice Service for 10 years before entering federal politics in 2015, and Willowdale’s Ali Ehsassi, who was a minister for a brief stint since March, were also removed from Carney’s cabinet Tuesday.

Blair has held several ministerial roles since 2018, including public safety and national defence. And the Liberals spent thousands of dollars on ads narrated by Blair in the final weeks of the election highlighting their gun-control agenda and their approach to tackling rising crime.

Carney has named public safety, long a Conservative attacking point, as one of the Liberals’ key priorities next to the Canada-U.S. relationship and addressing the cost of living, and even appointed Brampton North—Caledon’s Ruby Sahota as a secretary of state focused on combating crime on Tuesday. 

The issue has been a significant concern in suburban ridings in the º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøarea and Liberal minister Kamal Khera lost her Brampton West seat in an election campaign where her opponent, Conservative Amarjeet Gill focused heavily on crime.

Three of the 10 secretaries of state appointed Tuesday are also from º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøand the GTA.

Here are the ministers from the GTA: 

• Shafqat Ali (Brampton—Chinguacousy Park), president of the Treasury Board

• Anita Anand (Oakville East), minister of foreign affairs

• Gary Anandasangaree (Scarborough—Guildwood–Rouge Park), minister of public safety

• Julie Dabrusin (Toronto—Danforth), minister of environment and climate change

• Chrystia Freeland (University—Rosedale), minister of transport and internal trade

• Tim Hodgson (Markham—Thornhill), minister of energy and natural resources

• Maninder Sidhu (Brampton East), minister of international trade

• Evan Solomon (º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøCentre), minister of artificial intelligence and digital innovation and minister responsible for the federal economic development agency for southern Ontario

• Rechie Valdez (Mississauga—Streetsville), minister of women and gender equality and secretary of state for small business and tourism

Here are the secretaries of state from the GTA:

• Ruby Sahota (Brampton North—Caledon), combating crime

• Adam van Koeverden (Burlington North—Milton West), sport

• John Zerucelli (Etobicoke North), labour