OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau emerged after a month of meetings to introduce a cabinet makeover that he said would focus on climate change, economic growth for the middle class, and public safety.

But national unity was clearly at the forefront of his plans.

The key cabinet ministers tapped by Trudeau to tackle Post-election divisions over energy pipelines and climate change moved quickly to demonstrate the government will work more collaboratively with its critics.

Toronto MP Chrystia Freeland, Trudeau’s new second-in-charge as deputy prime minister, is his point person on that front. The former journalist who shone as foreign affairs minister becomes intergovernmental affairs minister and now turns her diplomatic skills to challenges here at home.

Freeland, one of 11 Toronto-area MPs at the cabinet table, invoked lessons she said the government learned while renegotiating the new North American Free Trade Agreement — a file she will retain in her new role. She told reporters the election “sent a message from the west to our party and now is a moment when we need to respond to begin with by listening really, really hard and really effectively.”

She said Canada faces big threats globally, including the “existential challenge of climate change,” and must ensure good jobs and a strong social welfare net for Canadians, all of which she said require an “effective relationship between provinces and Ottawa.”

“The real challenge today I think for our country is for our country to understand that we are facing such big issues in the world today that we really have to face them as Team Canada.”

Trudeau signalled his confidence in Freeland, one now tasked with bridging sharp regional divisions.

“We know that as we move forward on challenges that matter right across the country like energy and environment and other large issues, we’re going to have to engage in a strong and positive way with different orders of government,” he said.

Newly named Natural Resources Minister Seamus O’Regan said he spoke with Alberta’s energy minister Sonya Savage within hours of being named and is travelling to meet her Thursday. He stressed that for the Trudeau government, the biggest challenge on energy and the environment is to “get that balance right.”

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In all, Trudeau brought seven newcomers to his inner circle of ministerial advisers, pushed two out of cabinet into parliamentary roles, shifted 22 veteran ministers to different files and left only 10 in their previous roles, some with added duties, as he readies to meet a minority parliament next month. Only then will the Liberal government test whether Trudeau has the confidence of the Commons.

O’Regan will work with Freeland, the new Environment minister Jonathan Wilkinson, and with Trudeau’s special representative for the prairies Jim Carr as part of a team dedicated to bridging regional tensions after Alberta and Saskatchewan voters shut out the Liberals leaving none elected in those two provinces, and Quebec elected dozens of anti-pipeline Bloc Quebecois members.

That work appeared to begin immediately as minister after minister addressed the east-west fault lines over energy and climate change and one other key player — rookie Quebecer Steven Guilbeault, the fierce climate change activist who was given the heritage department, not environment (to the dismay of some environmentalist groups) — held his tongue and promised to be part of “consensus” decision-making at the cabinet table.

Wilkinson, a second-term Vancouver MP who worked in the green tech sector for 20 years, replaces Catherine McKenna as environment minister as she moves to infrastructure, where she will continue to bring an environmental focus to green energy projects and transit expansion.

Outside Rideau Hall on Wednesday, Wilkinson emphasized he grew up and studied in Saskatchewan — one of the bastions of opposition to the carbon price. He said the Liberals need to provide a “thoughtful” response to the anger brewing in the west.

“Reaching out and having conversations with stakeholders in (Saskatchewan) and in Alberta is something that I see as an important part of the role in making sure ... that climate change is being addressed in substantive ways, but that ... doing so ... meets the concerns and aspirations of all regions of this country,” Wilkinson said.

“It is not a western issue … The issue is one that relates very much to the hydrocarbon producing regions of this country and how we address climate change in a way that addresses their legitimate economic concerns,” he said.

“We have started the process of addressing climate change in substantive ways, we’ve started the process of trying to think through the economics of how we actually move through this energy transition, but obviously we need to do more,” Wilkinson said.

Trudeau stressed he will lean on Manitoba’s Carr to be “a strong voice for this government in the west and a strong voice to this government from the west.”

Carr, the former international trade minister currently undergoing cancer treatment, doesn’t hold a cabinet position but remains a privy councillor and will be called in to brief cabinet, Trudeau made clear.

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, who is demanding that Ottawa do more to support his province, congratulated the cabinet appointees and said in particular that he looks forward to working with Carr, Freeland and O’Regan.

“The Government of Alberta hopes to find common ground with the federal government to create jobs & growth, in part through responsible resource development, and to ensure fairness in the Canadian federation,” Kenney said on Twitter.

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Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, who left a meeting with Trudeau last week voicing disappointment, was more muted in his comments.

“With the appointment of a new federal cabinet today, it’s not about who is at the cabinet table that matters. It’s about the decisions that are made at that table,” Moe said in a tweet. “Our government will continue to work to strengthen Saskatchewan regardless of those decisions.”

Trudeau’s new cabinet, along with changes to the way the most powerful government cabinet committees will work, were revealed Wednesday afternoon as the ministers were sworn in one-by-one during a Rideau Hall ceremony with Gov. General Julie Payette.

Trudeau chose to keep some of his high-profile players in key jobs. Bill Morneau remains finance minister, David Lametti remains in justice, Harjit Sajjan stays at defence and Marc Garneau at transport.

But there were many more with new jobs. Former Toronto police chief Bill Blair was named to public safety minister.

Two other Toronto MPs got big promotions — Oakville’s Anita Anand, a new MP, was vaulted into a front line services portfolio at public services and procurement, and second-term MP Marco Mendocino (Eglinton-Lawrence) enters cabinet to become minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship.

Toronto’s Ahmed Hussen leaves immigration to take over the department of families, children and social development.

Deb Schulte, the MP for King — Vaughan and former regional councillor in York Region, was named minister of seniors.

Quebecers also get a boost in this revamped Trudeau team, with 11 named to cabinet, including Pablo Rodriguez who has a crucial job as government House leader and Trudeau’s Quebec political lieutenant, vital to the minority government’s ability to navigate Parliament, and to its re-election hopes.

François-Philippe Champagne, who was an international trade lawyer, takes over at foreign affairs. He said he would press his Chinese counterpart in the coming days at a G-20 foreign ministers meeting on the cases of the two Canadian men the government says are arbitrarily detained in China. Canadian officials visited Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor in detention this week, as they have almost monthly since they were detained by Beijing last year.

Trudeau appointed Montreal-area MP Marc Miller to Indigenous services. Miller, an old school friend of Trudeau’s, is a former corporate lawyer who toiled on committees and learned enough Mohawk to be the first to speak it in the House of Commons.

Melanie Joly, who had been demoted in the last mandate, has been promoted in this one. She takes on a new economic role as minister of economic development — in charge of six regional economic development agencies — and retains the official languages file. In the coming weeks, six parliamentary secretaries will be assigned regional responsibilities to work alongside her.

Affordability is the other priority for Trudeau and it gets a dedicated cabinet post. Mona Fortier becomes the minister of middle class prosperity and associate minister of finance.

Trudeau said Wednesday that the cabinet moves were a response to the results of the October election, when voters sent a message to “pull together the country, to focus on issues of economic growth for the middle class, to fight climate change and to keep Canadians and their communities safe.”

“That is our focus and this is the team to do that,” he said outside Rideau Hall, after the ceremony to swear in the new cabinet.

It’s a bigger cabinet, with 37 members, including Trudeau, up from 35. Several cabinet posts have been refashioned and one, democratic reform, was eliminated altogether.

Bruce Campion-Smith is an Ottawa-based reporter covering national politics. Follow him on Twitter: @yowflier -with files from Alex Boutilier and Alex Ballingall, Ottawa bureau

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