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Election 2019: Who’s in, who’s out and the impact on telecom, tech

Keep in mind that these roles may change in the future

The federal election is over, and the country has voted Liberal leader Justin Trudeau as Canada’s next Prime Minister.

As determined by analysts and pollsters, the Liberal party will hold a minority government. Results are still trickling in, but as of last night, the Liberals won 156 seats in the House of Commons — 14 seats short of the 170 required for a majority.

The Conservatives won 121 seats, the Bloc Québécois won 32 seats, while the New Democrat Party won 24 seats. The Green Party won three seats, and former Liberal Justice Minister Jody Wilson Raybould, who ran as an Independent, won her seat.

Keep in mind, a new cabinet is yet to be formed, which means the Parliamentarians that held positions before may not have the same role again. That said, here are the notable results from last night’s election that are directly related to telecom and tech.

Navdeep Bains

Incumbent Liberal Innovation, Science and Economic Development Minister Navdeep Bains was re-elected. Bains is one of the few cabinet ministers in Trudeau’s government that was not shuffled out of his role in the last four years. There is no guarantee that he will be the Innovation Minister again, but he held key files on telecom and tech policies.

During his time, Bains created a policy directive that required the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to consider affordability and fairness for Canadians when making decisions. He also has been involved in the decision regarding whether Huawei should be banned from participating in 5G network development in Canada.

Bains more recently also introduced the Digital Charter, a 10 point principled plan that would guide policymakers on future legislation of digital platforms. The Digital Charter does not have any concrete forms of regulations.

Ralph Goodale

Trudeau lost a key member of his former cabinet, incumbent Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale. The former minister has been a Parliamentarian for 30 years and was the only MP to hold a seat in Saskatchewan.

Goodale was very involved in the decision regarding Huawei and announced that a decision regarding the Chinese telecom giant won’t be made until after the election is over.

Yves-François Blanchet, Matthew Dubé

For the first time, Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet won in his riding and pushed incumbent NDP MP Matthew Dubé from the seat. Dubé was the public safety critic and was very outspoken about the future of Huawei in Canada.

Throughout his election campaign, Blanchet was also vocal about taxing big tech giants.

David Lametti

Incumbent Justice Minister David Lametti has been re-elected, but it’s important to note that he may not hold the same title again. Lametti was only recently appointed as Justice Minister.

In the role he could eventually have had the final say concerning the extradition case of Huawei’s global Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou. Before taking on the position, he was the Parliamentary Secretary to Bains and was heavily involved in technology policy creation.

Bernadette Jordan

Bernadette Jordan, the first female cabinet minister to represent Nova Scotia, has been re-elected. Jordan was recently appointed as the Rural Economic Development Minister by Trudeau. Shortly before the election was called, Jordan announced the ‘Connectivity Strategy,’ which detailed how the Liberal government would connect 100 percent of Canadians to high-speed internet by 2030.

Pablo Rodriguez

Incumbent Liberal Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez has also been re-elected. Rodriguez has been in charge of several issues related to Canadian content and streaming services.

Charlie Angus, Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, Bob Zimmer

NDP MP Charlie Angus has also been re-elected. He was consistently vocal on many topics relating to tech ethics. Notably, Angus was outspoken about Google’s sister company Sidewalk Labs building a futuristic, smart city in downtown Toronto.

Angus has also emphasized the need to regulate big digital giants like Google, Facebook, and Twitter. Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith and Conservative MP Bob Zimmer have been re-elected.

Zimmer, the chair, Angus and Erskine-Smith (co-chairs), were all members of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics.

The three spearheaded the global committee on disinformation, which invited Parliamentarians from other countries to discuss how big tech giants should be regulated.

Karina Gould

Incumbent Liberal Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Gould also won her seat. Gould was in charge of amending Bill C-76, the act to amend the Elections Act.

Shortly before the election, Gould said she was confident the bill would protect Canadians from any disinformation or foreign actors meddling in the election.

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