The Liberals swept downtown Toronto in last week’s federal election, giving Prime Minister Mark Carney some potential fresh faces from Canada’s biggest city with which to craft a new-look cabinet.
Alongside stalwarts like Chrystia Freeland and Bill Blair, Carney has a few prominent names to consider if he’s looking to differentiate his team from the former Trudeau government when he unveils his new cabinet on May 12.
Two of the most prominent: former CBC journalist Evan Solomon and business-friendly newcomer Vince Gasparro.
Gasparro held off a surging Conservative candidate, well-regarded former city councillor Karen Stintz, winning by about 900 votes in Eglinton—Lawrence, a riding that is disproportionately Jewish, a community Carney might see a need to shore up support with.
This is the most consequential election of our lifetime. Please get out and vote! #eglaw #cdnpoli #CanadaStrong pic.twitter.com/mzgBlrjuu2
— Vince Gasparro (@vgasparro) April 28, 2025
Gasparro was previously special assistant to then-prime minister Paul Martin and principal secretary to former Toronto mayor John Tory. More recently, he was head of sustainable finance at Roynat Capital and Vancity and served on the boards of the Canada Infrastructure Bank, Postmedia, World Wildlife Fund and Toronto Community Housing Corporation.
Solomon, who easily won one of the country’s safest Liberal seats, Toronto Centre, hosted high-profile political shows on CTV and CBC and was more recently the publisher of GZERO Media and an executive at Eurasia Group.
Thank you, Toronto Centre! It is the honour of my lifetime to have the privilege to serve as your MP in Ottawa. I will fight hard everyday to deliver real solutions for you and your family.
— Evan Solomon (@EvanLSolomon) April 29, 2025
Another downtown newcomer is Leslie Church, a lawyer and former Freeland chief of staff who easily won Toronto—St. Paul’s, another riding with a large Jewish population, after previously losing a hard-fought byelection under the Trudeau banner.
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, the independent-minded Liberal MP for the east end Toronto riding of Beaches—East York, was appointed to Trudeau’s last cabinet — the shuffle made necessary by Freeland’s dramatic exit from cabinet — and kept on by Carney as housing minister before the election.
Blair represents a riding in the old Toronto suburb of Scarborough. Other high-profile suburban GTA Liberals who were re-elected include veteran MP Judy Sgro, a former cabinet minister who represents Humber River—Black Creek, and former Ontario finance minister Charles Sousa in Mississauga—Lakeshore.
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