Indian-Canadian Politician Anita Anand, who won Canada’s parliamentary elections 2021 from Oakville, was appointed as the country’s Defence Minister in a Cabinet reshuffle by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on October 28 amid calls for major military reforms.
With the reshuffle, the 54-year-old Anand replaced long-time defence minister Indian-origin Harjit Sajjan, who is being criticised for handling the military sexual misconduct crisis.
Sajjan has been elected as Minister of International Development Agency, reported National Post Newspaper.
The new cabinet maintains gender balance and has 38 members.
Global News reported that the Canadian military is facing intense public and political pressure to change its culture and create better systems for stopping and handling sexual misconduct allegations.
As per the report, Anand has been touted as a strong contender for weeks among defence industry experts who felt that moving her into the role would send a powerful signal to survivors and victims of military sexual misconduct that the government is serious about implementing major reforms.
Anand has experience working extensively on corporate governance that refers specifically to the laws and rules in place to manage the operations of businesses.
Anand was among three Indo-Canadian ministers in the dissolved cabinet who emerged victorious in the parliamentary polls on September 21, 2021. With about 46 per cent vote share, she was declared the winner in Oakville as Canada’s vaccine minister.
In 2019, Anand was first elected as a rookie Member of Parliament, represented Oakville in Ontario province, and served as procurement minister throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. She immediately became in charge of the nation’s efforts to secure Covid-19 vaccines and was often on the campaign trail with Trudeau.
As former Minister of Public Services and Procurement, Anand played a public role in the Liberal response to the health crisis.
“I’m just ecstatic,” Anita Anand said after her victory, thanking the volunteers who had worked extremely tough as a team for five weeks straight, she was quoted as stating by the Oakville News.
