Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is changing the role of some of his ministers, assigning the government House leader role to Bardish Chagger, minister of small business and tourism.

The new role will be a promotion for Chagger, the MP for Ontario's Waterloo riding. She's the first woman to serve as government House leader.

It’s been eight months since Trudeau’s government was sworn in, but his first fisheries minister, Hunter Tootoo, resigned in the spring when he went into treatment for an addiction. Tootoo also left the Liberal caucus.

Government House Leader Dominic LeBlanc has been acting as fisheries minister since then. Friday's change suggests he'll remain fisheries minister now that Chagger is taking over as House leader.

A news release from Trudeau's office suggested LeBlanc will soon have new duties, noting that he'll be solely dedicated to his fisheries role, but "will also assume additional responsibilities in the coming days."

Chagger was first elected last fall, beating incumbent Conservative MP Peter Braid, who had held the former Kitchener-Waterloo seat since 2008. Chagger was named minister of small business and tourism in November.

As government House leader, Chagger will be the point of contact for the Conservative and NDP House leaders on discussions regarding the agenda in the lower chamber. It's a job that can be tricky when tensions run high between the parties, as they did last May when the Liberals tried to quickly push through their assisted dying legislation. The opposition parties blamed LeBlanc for being unco-operative before the Liberals tabled a controversial motion that would have given them full control over the House agenda.

Chagger struggled in her first press conference as government House leader, not answering specific questions about her role in Parliament, including whether she'd use procedural measures to limit debate and whether she would be in charge of shepherding democratic reform files through the Senate.

"This is a tremendous opportunity. I have been involved in the political process basically my whole life... democracy should be engaging with Canadians. That is the leadership of our prime minister," she said when asked what experience she brings to the role.

Chagger looked nervous when a journalist asked her a question in French, and said in French the Liberals would work with others, then switched to English. Pressed on her capacity in the language, she said that she understands it but isn't confident in it and is working on improving her French.

Asked what she would do differently as government House leader, Chagger paused, then said the Liberals would work with all parliamentarians on all sides of the House to deliver the government's mandate.

"Today is just an opportunity to ask questions...we look forward to continuing this conversation," she said.