Mélanie Joly | |
|---|---|
 Joly in 2025 | |
| Minister of Industry Registrar General of Canada | |
| Assumed office May 13, 2025 | |
| Prime Minister | Mark Carney |
| Preceded by | Anita Anand |
| Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions | |
| Assumed office May 13, 2025 | |
| Prime Minister | Mark Carney |
| Preceded by | Pascale St-Onge |
| Minister of Foreign Affairs[a] | |
| In office October 26, 2021 – May 13, 2025 | |
| Prime Minister | Justin Trudeau Mark Carney |
| Preceded by | Marc Garneau |
| Succeeded by | Anita Anand |
| Minister of International Development[a] | |
| In office March 14, 2025 – May 13, 2025 | |
| Prime Minister | Mark Carney |
| Preceded by | Ahmed Hussen |
| Succeeded by | Randeep Sarai |
| Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages | |
| In office November 20, 2019 – October 26, 2021 | |
| Prime Minister | Justin Trudeau |
| Preceded by | Navdeep Bains (Economic Development) Herself (Official Languages) |
| Succeeded by | Mary Ng (Economic Development) Ginette Petitpas Taylor (Official Languages) |
| Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario | |
| In office November 20, 2019 – October 26, 2021 | |
| Prime Minister | Justin Trudeau |
| Preceded by | Navdeep Bains |
| Succeeded by | Patty Hajdu |
| Minister of Tourism, Official Languages and La Francophonie | |
| In office July 18, 2018 – November 20, 2019 | |
| Prime Minister | Justin Trudeau |
| Preceded by |
|
| Succeeded by | Herself (asMinister for Official Languages) |
| Minister of Canadian Heritage | |
| In office November 4, 2015 – July 18, 2018 | |
| Prime Minister | Justin Trudeau |
| Preceded by | Shelly Glover |
| Succeeded by | Pablo Rodríguez |
| Member of theCanadian Parliament forAhuntsic-Cartierville | |
| Assumed office October 19, 2015 | |
| Preceded by | Maria Mourani (Ahuntsic) |
| Leader ofVrai changement pour Montréal | |
| In office September 4, 2013 – September 5, 2014 | |
| Preceded by | Party established |
| Succeeded by | Lorraine Pagé[1] |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1979-01-16)January 16, 1979 (age 46) Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Political party | Liberal |
| Other political affiliations | Vrai changement pour Montréal (municipal) |
| Spouse | Félix Marzell |
| Relatives | Carole-Marie Allard (stepmother),Jean-Sébastien Joly (brother) |
| Residence(s) | Le Plateau,Montreal, Quebec[2] |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupation |
|
| Awards | Chevening Scholarship |
Mélanie Joly (French pronunciation:[melaniʒɔli]; born January 16, 1979) is a Canadian politician and lawyer who has been serving as theMinister of Industry,Registrar General of Canada, andMinister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions since May 2025. A member of theLiberal Party, Joly represents theMontreal-areariding ofAhuntsic-Cartierville in theHouse of Commons, taking office as amember of Parliament (MP) following the2015 federal election. She has held a number of portfolios includingCanadian heritage, tourism, foreign affairs, andLa Francophonie. Joly ran for mayor of Montreal in the2013 Montreal municipal election, placing second behind eventual winnerDenis Coderre.
Born inMontreal, Quebec, Joly graduated fromUniversité de Montréal andBrasenose College, Oxford.
Born on January 16, 1979,[3] Joly grew up in Montreal's northern neighbourhood ofAhuntsic.[4] She is the daughter of Laurette Racine and Clément Joly, an accountant who was president of the Liberal Party's finance committee in Quebec and board member of theCanadian Air Transport Security Authority from 2002 to 2007.[5] Her late stepmother,Carole-Marie Allard, was a lawyer and journalist, who served as an MP representingLaval—East from 2000 to 2004.
Joly is married to Felix Marzell, an artist and entrepreneur.[6][7]
After completing herBachelor of Laws degree at theUniversité de Montréal in 2001, Joly became a member of theBar of Quebec. She subsequently received theChevening Scholarship and continued her studies atBrasenose College, Oxford, where she received aMagister Juris in comparative and public law in 2003.[8] Joly also interned atRadio-Canada, in 2007.[9]
At the beginning of her career, Joly practiced law at two major Montreal law firms,Stikeman Elliott andDavies Ward Phillips & Vineberg. At the latter firm, her mentor was formerParti Quebecois premierLucien Bouchard, who supplied her with a letter of recommendation for her Oxford application.[10] She worked primarily in the areas of civil and commercial litigation, bankruptcy and insolvency law. She was also a prosecutor before theGomery Commission of inquiry.[11]
In 2010, she became the first Quebecer to receive the Arnold Edinborough award, which recognizes philanthropic involvement within the Canadian cultural community.[12]
In 2013, she was appointed to head the Quebec Advisory Committee forJustin Trudeau'scampaign for the leadership of theLiberal Party of Canada.
Along with her colleagues, she founded Generation of Ideas, which is a political forum for 25- to 35-year-olds.[13] She is also a member of the collective group Sortie 13, for which she wrote "Les villes au pouvoir ou comment relancer le monde municipal québécois".[14]
In June 2013, Joly announced her candidacy formayor of Montreal in theelections which occurred in the same year. She founded a new party,Vrai changement pour Montréal, to support her candidacy with her personal friends.[4] On November 3, election day, she obtained 26.50 per cent of the votes, finishing six points behind the winner,Denis Coderre. However, she finished ahead of several more established challengers.[15]
In 2015, Joly left municipal politics and announced her candidacy for the nomination of the Liberal Party of Canada in the new electoral district of Ahuntsic-Cartierville for the2015 Canadian federal election to the42nd Canadian Parliament.[16] Joly won the riding with 47.5 per cent of the vote, unseating incumbentMaria Mourani.[17]
After the 2015 general election, Joly was named as the minister of Canadian heritage as part of Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau'snew government.[18]
On August 28, 2018, Joly was named to the tourism, official languages, andLa Francophonie portfolio.[19]
She assumed the position ofMinister of Economic Development and Official Languages on December 13, 2019. Her mandate was marked by the introduction of separate regional development agencies for Western Canada: Canada Economic Development for the Prairies (PrairieCan)[20] and Canada Economic Development for the Pacific (PacifiCan).[21]
On June 15, 2021, she introduced Bill C-32 in the House of Commons, an Act to achieve substantive equality of English and French and to strengthen theOfficial Languages Act.[22] The first reform since 1988, Joly's modernization was intended to ensure that the government's broad range of measures in support of official languages responded to and adapted to the challenges faced by these languages in the various regions of the country.[23]
Joly took office as Canada'sMinister of Foreign Affairs on October 26, 2021.[24]
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Amidst global concerns about a buildup of Russian troops on the country's eastern border,[25][26][27] she visitedUkraine in January 2022.[28] Amidst theRussian invasion of Ukraine, she visited again on May 8, 2022 when she accompanied Prime Minister Trudeau on an unannounced visit to Kyiv to reopen the Canadian embassy. However, it was reported that the Canadian Embassy was never in fact reopened and the Canadian ambassador did not return.[29] One year after the invasion began, she touted her government's efforts to promote regime change in Russia.[30]
In May 2022, Turkish PresidentRecep Tayyip Erdoğan voiced his opposition toSweden andFinland joiningNATO, accusing the two countries of tolerating groups whichTurkey classifies as terrorist organizations, including the Kurdish militant groupsPKK andYPG and the supporters ofFethullah Gülen, a US-based Muslim cleric accused by Turkey of orchestrating a failed2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt.[31] Joly held talks with Turkey to convince the Turkish government of the need for the integration of the two Nordic nations into NATO.[32]
During the March 2023 House of Commons committee studying Chinese election interference in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections, Joly accused China of "trying to sow division in many democracies" and suggested ways foreign meddling could be hindered in the future.[33]
Following a vote on thepersecution of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, it was reported in May 2023 that Conservative MPMichael Chong's family inHong Kong was targeted, including by a Chinese diplomat named Zhao Wei. Wei was later declaredpersona non grata by Joly.[34][35]
The murder of CanadianSikh separatist leaderHardeep Singh Nijjar caused a diplomatic crisis, withCanada–India relations falling to their lowest point.[36] Joly ordered the expulsion of Pavan Kumar Rai, a top Indian diplomat in Canada who headed the operations of theResearch and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency, in Canada.[37]
In September 2023,Azerbaijan launched a large-scalemilitary offensive against theself-declared breakaway state ofRepublic of Artsakh, a move seen by theEuropean Parliament as a violation of the2020 ceasefire agreement.[38] Joly expressed grave concern with Azerbaijan's military intervention, calling for immediate cessation of hostilities, asking the Azerbaijani government to refrain from any actions and activities that pose a risk to the safety and welfare of the civilian population ofNagorno-Karabakh, labelling the military action as "unjustifiable" and theLachin corridor blockade as "illegal".[39]
After the events of theOctober 7 attacks, Joly rejected calls for a ceasefire in theGaza war on October 30 but expressed support for a "humanitarian pause".[40]
Joly was considered a possible candidate in the2025 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election, upon the resignation of Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau.[41][42] On January 10, 2025, she announced that she would not enter the race to focus on the threat of tariffs on Canadian goods from the incomingsecond Trump administration, as Minister of Foreign Affairs. On January 19, she endorsed former Bank of Canada governorMark Carney.[43][44]
Following the2025 Canadian federal election, the newly elected Liberal leaderMark Carney namedAnita Anand as foreign minister and assigned Joly as Minister of Industry.[45]
| 2025 Canadian federal election:Ahuntsic-Cartierville | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Liberal | Mélanie Joly | 30,833 | 60.96 | +9.05 | ||||
| Bloc Québécois | Nabila Ben Youssef | 8,538 | 16.88 | -5.74 | ||||
| Conservative | Margie Ramos | 7,600 | 15.03 | +6.87 | ||||
| New Democratic | Idil Issa | 3,333 | 6.59 | -5.13 | ||||
| Marxist–Leninist | Linda Sullivan | 273 | 0.54 | N/A | ||||
| Total valid votes/expense limit | 50,577 | 98.31 | ||||||
| Total rejected ballots | 871 | 1.69 | ||||||
| Turnout | 51,448 | 67.35 | ||||||
| Eligible voters | 76,387 | |||||||
| Liberalnotional hold | Swing | +7.40 | ||||||
| Source:Elections Canada[46][47] | ||||||||
| Note: number of eligible voters does not include voting day registrations. | ||||||||
| 2021 Canadian federal election:Ahuntsic-Cartierville | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Liberal | Mélanie Joly | 26,402 | 52.38 | –0.07 | $71,604.96 | |||
| Bloc Québécois | Anna Simonyan | 11,112 | 22.04 | +0.31 | $12,053.64 | |||
| New Democratic | Ghada Chaabi | 5,844 | 11.59 | +0.19 | $3,163.17 | |||
| Conservative | Steven Duarte | 4,247 | 8.43 | +1.15 | $0.00 | |||
| Green | Luc Joli-Coeur | 1,491 | 2.96 | –3.12 | $0.00 | |||
| People's | Manon Chevalier | 1,313 | 2.60 | +1.54 | $1,694.83 | |||
| Total valid votes | 50,409 | 100.00 | – | $110,827.67 | ||||
| Total rejected ballots | 1,054 | 2.05 | +0.23 | |||||
| Turnout | 51,463 | 64.16 | –3.34 | |||||
| Eligible voters | 80,206 | |||||||
| Liberalhold | Swing | –0.19 | ||||||
| Source:Elections Canada[48][49] | ||||||||
| 2019 Canadian federal election:Ahuntsic-Cartierville | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Liberal | Mélanie Joly | 28,904 | 52.45 | +5.65 | $75,399.95 | |||
| Bloc Québécois | André Parizeau | 11,974 | 21.73 | +8.53 | none listed | |||
| New Democratic | Zahia El-Masri | 6,284 | 11.4 | −18.6 | none listed | |||
| Conservative | Kathy Laframboise | 4,013 | 7.28 | −0.02 | $0.00 | |||
| Green | Jean-Michel Lavarenne | 3,352 | 6.08 | +3.98 | $7,837.28 | |||
| People's | Raymond Ayas | 584 | 1.06 | $7,512.42 | ||||
| Total valid votes/expense limit | 55,111 | 100.0 | ||||||
| Total rejected ballots | 1,022 | |||||||
| Turnout | 56,133 | 67.5 | ||||||
| Eligible voters | 83,176 | |||||||
| Liberalhold | Swing | −1.44 | ||||||
| Source:Elections Canada[50][51] | ||||||||
| 2015 Canadian federal election | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Liberal | Mélanie Joly | 26,026 | 46.8 | +15.7 | $149,387.67 | |||
| New Democratic | Maria Mourani | 16,684 | 30.0 | +0.1 | $86,722.49 | |||
| Bloc Québécois | Nicolas Bourdon | 7,346 | 13.2 | -15.1 | $27,931.96 | |||
| Conservative | Wiliam Moughrabi | 4,051 | 7.3 | -1.3 | $12,346.58 | |||
| Green | Gilles Mercier | 1,175 | 2.1 | +0.7 | – | |||
| Rhinoceros | Catherine Gascon-David | 285 | 0.5 | – | – | |||
| Total valid votes/Expense limit | – | 100.0 | $220,041.13 | |||||
| Total rejected ballots | – | – | – | |||||
| Turnout | – | – | – | |||||
| Eligible voters | 82,863 | |||||||
| Source:Elections Canada[52][53] | ||||||||
Media related toMélanie Joly at Wikimedia Commons
| 29th Canadian Ministry (2015-2025) – Cabinet ofJustin Trudeau | ||
| Cabinet posts (3) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Predecessor | Office | Successor |
| Marc Garneau | Minister of Foreign Affairs October 26, 2021 – May 13, 2025 | Anita Anand |
| Bardish Chagger(Tourism) Marie-Claude Bibeau (La Francophonie) | Minister of Tourism, Official Languages and la Francophonie July 17, 2018 – November 20, 2019 | Herself |
| Shelly Glover | Minister of Canadian Heritage November 4, 2015 – July 17, 2018 | Pablo Rodriguez |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
