Brenda O’Farrell
The Advocate

Quebec MP Sophie Chatel has been appointed parliamentary secretary to Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Heath MacDonald.

Chatel, the member of Parliament for the riding of Pontiac–Kitigan Zibi, in the Pontiac region in West Quebec, was named parliamentary secretary on June 5, as Prime Minister Mark Carney unveiled a roster of ministerial assistants for the members of his new cabinet.

“I’ll be a strong voice for farmers in Pontiac–Kitigan Zibi, Quebec, and across the country,” Chatel said in a brief statement posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, on the day of her appointment.

“Canada’s new parliamentary secretary team will deliver on the government’s mandate for change, working collaboratively with all parties in Parliament to build the strongest economy in the G7, advance a new security and economic partnership with the United States and help Canadians get ahead,” Carney said in statement.

Chatel was first elected in 2021 and easily won re-election in the April 28 vote. A chartered accountant by profession, she has worked as a senior adviser with the Canada Revenue Agency prior to entering politics. She also has worked for the federal Department of Finance. In 2017, she was appointed head of the Tax Treaty Unit at the Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, which is overseen by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, commonly known as the OECD, an international organization that works with governments and policy-makers to promote improving economic growth, living standards and addresses social and environmental challenges.

Nova Scotia MP Kody Blois was named parliamentary secretary to the prime minister. Before the April election, and just after Carney won the Liberal leadership and became prime minister, Blois was briefly named agriculture minister.

Twelve of the 39 parliamentary secretaries announced are from Quebec.

Another notable appointment was the naming of rookie Ontario MP Pauline Rochefort as the assistant to Secretary of State for rural development Buckley Belanger. Belanger, who also won his first election in April, is the only Liberal MP from Saskatchewan.