In Ottawa, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre announced his new shadow cabinet.
It is a mixture of old and new faces and one big surprise.
Some of the most senior critics were ministers in the Stephen Harper government, like Pierre Poilievre himself.
At foreign affairs, Ontario MP Michael Chong.
At Justice, New Brunswick MP Rob Moore.
Former Conservative House leader Gerard Deltell is the new Environment Critic
Some top-performing critics held on to their portfolios. Raquel Dancho stays on as Public Safety critic.
And two-time leadership contender Leslyn Lewis joins the shadow cabinet as Infrastructure critic.
The big surprise is the new finance critic.
Jasraj Singh Hallan takes centre stage in the fight against the Trudeau LIberals’s tax and spend inflation agenda.
The new finance critic is not some Bay Street banker. Hallan studied accounting at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology. He became a successful home builder in Calgary before going into politics. In 2019, Deepak Obhrai died in office after 22 years as Member of Parliament for Calgary-Forest Lawn.
Hallan took on a tough field of candidates, including a well-known city councillor, for the Conservative nomination, and he came out the winner.
Jasraj Hallen’s mentor was the legendary Alberta lawyer and cabinet minister, Manmeet Bhullar . Manmeet Bhullar was widely respected. The youngest Sikh ever elected and the first Sikh cabinet minister, Bhullar was killed in 2015, trying to help somebody injured in a car crash in a snow storm. Manmeet Bhullar’s spirit lives on in the young man he inspired and coached.
