Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is making longtime MP Lawrence MacAulay his new veterans affairs minister to fill the void left by the resignation of Jody Wilson-Raybould as part of a minor cabinet shuffle this morning.
Two other ministers already in cabinet are taking on new responsibilities: Marie-Claude Bibeau replaces MacAulay as agriculture minister and Gender Equality Minister Maryam Monsef takes on the additional portfolio of international development.
Wilson-Raybould, who was moved from the justice portfolio to veterans affairs in the last federal cabinet shuffle in mid-January, resigned her post Feb. 12.
On Wednesday, Wilson-Raybould testified to the House of Commons justice committee that she was pressured by Trudeau, his senior staff and others to halt a criminal prosecution of Montreal engineering giant SNC-Lavalin.
She said she believed she was shuffled out as attorney general and justice minister because she didn't give in to the political arm-twisting.
Trudeau has denied the SNC-Lavalin affair had anything to do with Wilson-Raybould's move, saying she would still be justice minister had former Treasury Board president Scott Brison not suddenly decided to leave politics.
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