Marc Miller Named New Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture

Canada has a new Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture.

As part of a cabinet shuffle yesterday (Dec. 1), Marc Miller was appointed to fill a position made vacant on Nov. 27 when Steven Guilbeault resigned from the Mark Carney-led cabinet to protest PM Carney's controversial energy deal with Alberta. Guilbeault was also Minister Responsible for Official Languages and Minister of Nature and Parks Canada, as well as Carney's Lieutenant in Quebec.

The former Justin Trudeau-era minister was sworn in along with two other new ministers during a brief ceremony at Rideau Hall late Monday afternoon.

As Billboard Canada noted last week, the Ministry of Canadian Identity and Culture has a direct impact on the Canadian music industry via its administration of the recently-renewed Canada Music Fund, which supports both FACTOR and Musicaction. These granting bodies provide artists, labels and other organizations with funding for a wide range of activities, including recording, touring, marketing and music video production. Many in the industry, including the Canadian Independent Music Association (CIMA), appealed to Guilbeault to act for the Canadian music industry during a pivotal moment.

Miller takes on his new role after the Heritage/Culture portfolio has seen a rapid turnover in recent years. Mélanie Joly served as Heritage Minister from 2015-2018, followed by Pablo Rodriguez, 2018-2019, Steven Guilbeault, 2019-2021, Rodriguez again, Pascale St-Onge, 2023-2025, Guilbeault for just a few months in 2025 and now Miller.

The Culture and Identity portfolio (formerly Heritage) has been facing significant challenges in recent years. Canadian Press notes that "Under the Trudeau government, the Heritage ministry was focused in large part on taking on U.S. tech giants with legislation to compel them to make financial contributions to Canadian content and news.

"As part of that effort, Guilbeault introduced the Online Streaming Act, which became law under his successor, along with the Online News Act. Guilbeault was brought back to the ministry — now called Canadian identity and culture — after this spring’s federal election. But the ministry’s mandate was less clear as Carney’s government moved away from tech regulation.

"Carney created a separate ministerial portfolio for artificial intelligence, leaving open questions about the division of power in government on issues like copyright and AI. Both the AI minister and the Justice minister are expected to introduce new bills dealing in part with online harms; the Culture minister is also expected to play a role in tackling the issue."

The U.S. has placed heavy pressure on the Canadian government to erase both the Online Streaming Act and Online News Act.

Miller was in former prime minister Trudeau’s cabinet between 2019 and 2025 but was not included in Carney’s cabinet until now. Miller's role as Identity and Culture Minister (a portfolio formerly known as Heritage) will be his fourth cabinet position. A high school friend of Justin Trudeau, the Montreal MP was first elected to Parliament in 2015. He received his first cabinet appointment as Minister of Indigenous Services in 2019; in 2021 he became the minister for Crown-Indigenous Relations, and in 2023, he took over the Immigration portfolio.

In reporting the small cabinet shuffle, The Globe and Mail observed that "Mr. Miller was widely considered one of former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s most capable ministers, but was cut from cabinet by Mr. Carney after he took over as prime minister earlier this year."