And, oh yeah, that cabinet shuffle Did someone forward you this newsletter? Sign up here to get it delivered weekday mornings. The scoops nailed it. Navdeep Bains is out of cabinet. The money quote in his farewell statement: "I'm the son of a cabinet maker who's had the opportunity to serve as a cabinet minister." Bains says his next focus is on his most important job: "Being a dad." Bains's cabinet colleagues warmly bade him farewell (email us your best captions for that last photo). His reportedly terrible sense of humour was noted more than once. So, the shuffle. François-Philippe Champagne is the new innovation minister. Marc Garneau is the new foreign minister. Omar Alghabra is the new transport minister. And Jim Carr, who underwent cancer treatments shortly after winning reelection in 2019, will return to cabinet. The Manitoba MP and former natural resources minister was appointed special representative for the Prairies—a nod to the distinct lack of Liberal MPs in Saskatchewan and Alberta after the last election—and will now serve that role at the cabinet table. Another tiny perfect cabinet shuffle: In yesterday's edition, we characterized Champagne's new role as "surely" a demotion. But in a world in which money matters, and big spending builds big profile, Paul Wells has a different view of the new innovation minister's trajectory. A demotion for Champagne? I’m not so sure. I know some people who worked for Champagne were hoping he’d get the Industry—sorry, innovation—portfolio a year ago. Industry is a good fit for an ambitious pol: it spends a lot of money, it has stakeholders with clout, it puts you in front of Canadian voters full-time, rather than sending you off jetting around the world to spend time with people who don’t vote here. I doubt Champagne is at all displeased by this turn of events. The calm hand of Marc Garneau: The new foreign minister has a knack for keeping his cool. Garneau served in the Navy, rocketed into space three times, and helped fellow astronauts stay focused when he was their primary contact back on terra firma. Shannon Proudfoot was in the room two years ago, when Garneau explained why his government was grounding Boeing's 737 MAX airliners in Canadian airspace after a pair of deadly crashes overseas. Saying that he was setting aside his politician role for a moment to don his “engineer’s hat” and astronaut identity again, Garneau illustrated this with one hand held out in front of him, angling down and then up, as he explained the battle between faulty sensors and a certainly terrified pilot. The gesture was like a child sailing one hand out the car window on a road trip, juxtaposed against facts that were viscerally horrifying, but as in his onetime role as the voice of Mission Control, he laid them out with calm precision. Omar Alghabra's path to federal cabinet: Marie-Danielle Smith traces the parliamentary career of the new transport minister, a five-term MP from the Greater Toronto Area whose track record includes work on public service reform and consular affairs—including working with the families of Canadians who died in the Flight 752 disaster last year. “Omar has carried some difficult files and worked so hard in his constituency but also for the wider GTA region politically, but never made it to cabinet,” says a former senior Liberal official. “His work ethic, commitment and compassion, not to mention he is whip-smart, a former engineer and passionate about transport, make him ideal for the role. There won’t be anyone you find who isn’t happy for him and excited about what he will bring.” Trudeau also announced yesterday that Canada had secured 20 million additional doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to be delivered "in April or May." Earlier this week, Procurement Minister Anita Anand confirmed the feds declined an additional tranche of Moderna vaccine because they would have arrived too late in 2021. The Liberals are continuing to insist that every Canadian who wants a vaccine will receive one by the end of September, though Anand clarified yesterday that some Canadians won't receive both required doses on that timeline. Champagne's last act as foreign minister sent a strong warning to the Chinese government. "Canada is deeply concerned regarding the mass arbitrary detention and mistreatment of Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities by Chinese authorities," he said as the feds announced "measures to address the risk of forced labour from any country from entering Canadian and global supply chains and to protect Canadian businesses from becoming unknowingly complicit." Ottawa banned imports produced using forced labour, posted a business advisory on Xinjiang-related entities and compels Canadian companies who work in the region to sign an integrity declaration. We handed out the Parliamentarians of the Year awards! Here are this year's winners, as chosen by their fellow MPs: Hardest working: Michelle Rempel Garner (Conservative) Best orator: Sean Fraser (Liberal) Most collegial: Marilyn Gladu (Conservative) Most knowledgeable: Elizabeth May (Green) Best represents constituents: Shannon Stubbs (Conservative) Rising star: Jenica Atwin (Green) Best mentor: Charlie Angus (NDP) Parliamentarian of the Year: Chrystia Freeland (Liberal) Why do we hold these awards every year? Because now more than ever, pausing to recognize the hard work of our elected officials matters. Check out videos of every winner's acceptance speech. You don't want to miss MP Fraser's good luck charm. Shannon Proudfoot profiled Jean Augustine, this year's winner of the Lifetime Achievement award. "Augustine was elected as Canada’s first Black female MP, and in 2002, when she was named secretary of state for multiculturalism and status of women, she became the first Black woman in cabinet," Proudfoot writes. "She was always conscious of that extra mantle and the expectation of carrying the concerns, aspirations and potential of her community with her every time she walked onto the floor of the House of Commons." What's for dinner on a mission to Mars? Everyone's gotta eat, but the brave souls who eventually board a years-long mission to the red planet won't be able to hit up Loblaws when they need to stock up. The Canadian Space Agency has launched the Deep Space Food Challenge, and in three years the best "novel food production technology" that can feed long-duration missions will win a grand prize of $380,000. Full points for the logo. Bragging rights: This newsletter just reached a significant milestone on its total number of subscribers. So we're going to have a little fun. In the spirit of a guess-the-jellybean-count contest, email us your best guess of the milestone. The closest to the correct number will get a chance to write a friendly one-sentence message to every other reader (subject to our approval!), to be printed in tomorrow's edition. —Nick Taylor-Vaisey | 
