Alumni named to Trudeau cabinet

By Jason Winders, MES'10

Western alumni William Morneau, BA’86 (Political Science), and Jane Philpott, MD’84, were named today among 31 members of the new Liberal cabinet of recently elected Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Trudeau tapped Morneau as Finance Minister and Philpott as Health Minister at swearing-in ceremonies held today at Rideau Hall.

“This strong, diverse and experienced team will serve all Canadians, and for the first time in our country’s history, there will be an equal number of women and men around the Cabinet table,” Trudeau said at the ceremony. “Canadians expect to see their values and priorities reflected in their government, and we have listened closely to them. Canadians told us what kind of government they want, and we built the plan to make it happen.”

William Francis ‘Bill’ Morneau is an accomplished business leader who has been an active volunteer in Toronto Centre for more than 20 years.

When consulting and outsourcing company Morneau Shepell was founded, it employed 200 people. After Morneau assumed leadership of the family business in 1990, the company expanded to providing meaningful and stable work for over 3,300 families across Canada.

He studied retirement issues as a member of the Government of Ontario’s Pension Advisory Council and, in 2012, was appointed as Pension Investment Advisor to Ontario’s Minister of Finance.

In 2002, he was named one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40. He has co-authored a book, The Real Retirement, and has authored numerous articles on public policy issues.

Jane Philpott is a family physician and was the Chief of the Department of Family Medicine at Markham Stouffville Hospital. She was also an assistant professor at the University of Toronto’s Department of Family and Community Medicine.

Between 1989 -98, Philpott worked in the West African country of Niger, where she practised general medicine and helped to develop a training program for village health workers. In 2004, she founded Give a Day to World AIDS, which has raised over $4 million to help those affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa.

Philpott also served as co-curator of TEDxStouffville, a video and speakers series, and was family medicine lead at the Toronto Addis Ababa Academic Collaboration, where she was instrumental in helping Addis Ababa University develop Ethiopia’s first training program for family medicine.

Philpott has raised four children alongside her husband, CBC Radio journalist Pep Philpott. She is particularly active in her Community Mennonite Church, where she is a song leader for the congregation.