Dominic LeBlanc

Dominic A. LeBlanc (born December 14, 1967) is a Canadian lawyer and politician who serves as President of the King’s Privy Council for Canada, Minister responsible for Canada-U.S. Trade, Intergovernmental Affairs and One Canadian Economy, and Minister of Internal Trade. A member of the Liberal Party, LeBlanc is the member of Parliament (MP) for Beauséjour since 2000. He has held several Cabinet portfolios throughout his tenure in government.

The son of former governor general Roméo LeBlanc, he ran for the leadership of the Liberal Party in 2008 but dropped out of the race to endorse Michael Ignatieff, who was later acclaimed leader.

In the cabinet of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, LeBlanc served as the leader of the Government in the House of Commons from 2015 to 2016. He served as Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard from 2016 to 2018 and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Northern Affairs and Internal Trade from 2018 to 2019. He also served as President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada from 2018 to 2021 and began a second stint as Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs in 2020. After the 2021 federal election, LeBlanc remained as minister of intergovernmental affairs but additionally became minister of infrastructure and communities. In 2023, LeBlanc became Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs, gaining responsibility for public safety and democratic institutions while remaining minister of intergovernmental affairs. In December 2024, following the resignation of Chrystia Freeland, LeBlanc became Minister of Finance and he gave up the responsibility for Public Safety and Democratic Institutions while keeping Intergovernmental Affairs and the border security portfolio.

LeBlanc was born in 1967, of Acadian descent, at the Ottawa Civic Hospital in Ottawa, Ontario, to Joslyn "Lyn" (née Carter) and Roméo LeBlanc, a former MP, senator and 25th governor general of Canada. At the time, his father was press secretary to Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson.

As a child, he baby-sat the children of then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau, including Justin Trudeau. He remained friends with Justin Trudeau and endorsed Trudeau's candidacy for Liberal leader in 2012.

LeBlanc attended Lisgar Collegiate Institute in Ottawa for high school. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from the University of Toronto (Trinity College) and a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of New Brunswick, and then attended Harvard Law School, where he obtained his Master of Laws degree. LeBlanc worked as a barrister and solicitor with Clark Drummie in Shediac and Moncton. From 1993 to 1996, LeBlanc was a Special Advisor to Prime Minister Jean Chrétien.

LeBlanc is member of the Liberal Party of Canada in the House of Commons of Canada, representing the riding of Beauséjour in New Brunswick.

LeBlanc first ran for election in that riding in 1997, losing to New Democratic Party candidate Angela Vautour. During that race there were accusations of political patronage as LeBlanc's father was the sitting viceroy, and there was criticism that the governor general had a series of events planned in New Brunswick during the week that the election writs dropped.