Treasury Board President Anita Anand was appointed Transport Minister on Thursday, following the resignation of longtime Liberal MP Pablo Rodriguez.

CTV reports there are also plans for a bigger shuffle in the next few months.

Anand has led some key initiatives at the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) since her appointment in July 2023 — from revitalizing the Canada-United States Regulatory Partnership to leading the development of an AI policy for the public service. Anand also focused heavily on department-wide cuts to post-pandemic spending. She will lead both portfolios.

First elected in 2019, Anand has faced, and met, some extraordinary and unexpected challenges throughout her different portfolios for the Trudeau government.

She previously served as Defence Minister and procurement minister for Canada’s response to COVID-19 that included securing life-saving personal protective equipment (PPE) and vaccines.

Anand, a Fulbright scholar, is a former law professor, specializing in corporate governance and shareholder rights. She previously taught at the University of Toronto, Yale and Western University.

At a press conference, Rodriguez said he will remain an MP until January 2025 to avoid a byelection in the Honore-Mercier riding months before an expected general election. He said he would sit as an Independent MP so that he could focus on his own priorities while running for the leadership of the Quebec Liberal Party.

“My priorities can no longer be those of a government that I have always served as a good team player,” Rodriguez said, adding he wants to advance a vision for a “fairer, more humane, more united Quebec.”

Meanwhile, Public Services and Procurement Minister Jean-Yves Duclos, who represents Québec, Que., will take over as the Quebec Lieutenant.