Raitt replaces Lunn as Canada’s Natural Resources minister

On the back of his Conservative Party’s Oct. 14 electoral win, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper unveiled his new cabinet today, and it’s characterized by few changes in the top spots.

But one significant change for miners is that newcomer Lisa Raitt, from Halton, Ont., has replaced Saanich-Gulf Islands MP Gary Lunn as natural resources minister.

Raitt, 40, is the former president and CEO of the Toronto Port Authority, and has been touted as one of the new “star women” to join the Harper government during the current election cycle.

She handily defeated Liberal candidate Garth Turner to win the riding of Halton, leaning to some extent on the high profile she has had in Toronto owing to her battles with the city of Toronto over flights by Porter Airlines out of the port authority’s downtown airport.

Raided in Cape Breton with six siblings, Raitt earned a B.Sc. at St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia, a M.Sc. in Chemistry, specializing in environmental biochemical toxicology, from Ontario’s University of Guelph, and an LLB from Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto.

According to her website, her father was first a mine worker, who loaded coal onto ships, and later a union leader and elected town councillor, while her mother was a small businesswoman.

Raitt is married, with two young sons. Her husband Dave is described as an award-winning writer and comedian, and an alumnus of the Second City comedy troupe.

B.C. MP Lunn, first elected to federal parliament in 1997, has been demoted to Junior Minister of State (Sport). On the upside, he’ll be taking on some fun programs that include the Winter Olympics, which are being held in Vancouver in 2010.