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This article was published 22/8/2016 (1491 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — One of Manitoba's two federal cabinet ministers had her duties reduced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Monday as he made some tweaks to his cabinet and its committees at the end of a retreat in Sudbury, Ont.

In an interview with the Free Press, MaryAnn Mihychuk said having the employment insurance file removed from her portfolio was a relief because she has "the largest number of projects" of any minister. However Liberal sources say Trudeau made the move in a warning to Mihychuk to shape up after several missteps and complaints about her in the last 10 months.

In a press release Monday, Trudeau announced he was transferring the employment insurance reforms promised by the Liberals during the election to Families, Children and Social Development Minister Jean-Yves Duclos, along with other changes to the makeup and names of several cabinet committees.

"In order to deliver on an ambitious (Employment and Social Development Canada) portfolio agenda, the mandate responsibilities of Minister Jean-Yves Duclos and Minister MaryAnn Mihychuk will be rebalanced," the release says.

Mihychuk (Kildonan-St. Paul) said she the EI file was "taking up a lot of time" and she will now be free to focus more on workforce development for indigenous Canadians and youth, as well as the labour file and issues such as pay equity, mental health and workplace harassment.

"It will give me much more time to focus on the many other issues," she said.

But several sources within the Liberal party say this change has less to do with "rebalancing" and more to do with Trudeau trying to tame a minister who is speaking out of turn too often.

One source said Mihychuk has developed a reputation for being rude and difficult behind closed doors, and has been very pushy about trying to get Trudeau to name regional ministers. She wants to be the senior minister from Manitoba. Trudeau decided not to name regional ministers and has not changed his mind on that front, his spokeswoman told the Free Press recently.

Another source said a July visit to Atlantic Canada resulted in numerous complaints to Trudeau from area MPs and local organizations about how Mihychuk conducted herself in meetings.

Mihychuk was also accused of speaking out of turn last month about the Port of Churchill closing and making a funding promise to the Manitoba government for aerospace training without having the proper authority.

The funding promise nearly kept the government from being able to get bill C-10 through the Senate, when Conservative Sen. Don Plett threatened to hold up a vote on the bill until the money Mihychuk had pledged came through. The bill removes the legal requirement for Air Canada to keep heavy maintenance jobs in Winnipeg.

Initially Transport Minister Marc Garneau appeared to have no idea what Mihychuk had promised, and one provincial source wondered aloud if Mihychuk had promised something she had no authority to do. Thus far only $10 million has been specifically promised by Garneau, and that pledge came with few details. An additional $10 million, spoken of the day the bill passed, has not been mentioned since.

Mihychuk denied her responsibilities were altered because of her performance and said Trudeau had not spoken to her about any concerns he had when he informed her of the change on Sunday.

"He said only he was looking forward to working with me on the youth strategy," she said.

Trudeau's spokeswoman didn't respond to a request for comment.

mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca