Why is Melanie Joly in the Liberal Cabinet?

A picture is worth a thousand words. This article has more than one.

At 43, Melanie Joly is one of the youngest and possibly prettiest women to ever have a seat at the Liberal Cabinet table. Joly is a lawyer with a Liberal pedigree based on her family’s significant role in Liberal Party politics - her father Clement Joly was president of the Liberal Party’s finance committee in Quebec for several year and her stepmother was a member of Parliament from 2000 to 2004.

Ms. Joly made an unsuccessful bid for Mayor of Monteral in 2013, and was appointed to the Liberal cabinet by Justin Trudeau following his election in 2015. Joly served as Minister of Canadian Heritage until 2018 when she was made Minister of Tourism, and in 2019 was moved to become Minister for the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario and Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages. Joly held this dual portfolio for less than 1 year when on October 26, 2021 she was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs. Her role in Cabinet saw her take ministerial responsibility for those diverse portfolios despite limited qualifications or private sector experience, and her success in any of those positions seems devoid of notable accomplishment.

Her most recent role as Minister of Foreign Affairs seems more suitable, but comes with the burden of travel abroad away from second husband Felix Marzell, a one time violin maker. She appears to have a close relationship with Justin Trudeau. Here are some photos of Trudeau and Joly together at various appearances.

In this candid photo of Justin and Melanie they are holding hands, looking more like teenage lovers than Canadian political leaders.

This snap of these two Canadian leaders shows they enjoy each other’s company, perhaps a bit more than most Cabinet colleagues.

The “Twittersphere” is full of sordid comments on the relationship between Trudeau and Joly, like this tweet posted the day of her appointment as Minister of Foreign Affairs.

In her short tenure as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Joly has won international acclaim for announcing to the world that despite lacking a powerful military, Canada was “good at convening” but apparently not good enough to prevent both Trudeau and Joly getting banned from travel to Russia. I wonder if the portfolio of Minister of Foreign Affairs included acting as travel agent and booking hotels and conference rooms? Joly’s participation in Trudeau’s recent trip to Eastern Europe was subject of speculation as to why she was included, with one pundit wondering whether Joly and Trudeau had “separate rooms”. There is no doubt they would make an attractive couple.

Melanie Joly has made it clear her ambition is to become leader of the Liberal Party and she has certainly made her contribution to Liberal propaganda as Minister of Heritage by giving another $675 million to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Competition from Joly to Trudeau’s leadership does not seem to trouble Trudeau. Maybe he can see the day when he loses the Liberal leadership but possibly could become Canada’s “first gentleman”? That might not go over well with Sophie Gregoire or Felix Marzell, but stranger things have happened.