Anita Anand, the current Minister of Transport in Justin Trudeau’s government, is emerging as a leading candidate to succeed him as Prime Minister. Trudeau announced his resignation on Monday, opening the door for new leadership within the Liberal Party of Canada. Alongside Anand, other contenders include Dominic LeBlanc, Chrystia Freeland, Melanie Joly, François-Philippe Champagne, and Mark Carney.

A senior member of the Liberal Party, Anand has been a Member of Parliament since 2019 and has held several high-profile positions, including Minister of Public Services and Procurement, Minister of National Defence, and President of the Treasury Board. She assumed her current role as Minister of Transport in 2024.

Born on May 20, 1967, in Kentville, Nova Scotia, Anand is the daughter of Saroj D. Ram and S.V. Anand, doctors who immigrated to Canada from India in the early 1960s. Raised with humble beginnings, Anand attributes her values and professional ethics to her family’s experiences. She has two sisters, Gita and Sonia. In 1985, at the age of 18, she moved to Ontario to pursue higher education, earning a degree in political science before completing a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Jurisprudence at Oxford University. She later obtained bachelor’s and master’s degrees in law from Dalhousie University and the University of Toronto, respectively.

Before entering politics, Anand had a distinguished academic career, teaching at institutions like Yale Law School and the University of Toronto. At the University of Toronto, she held the J.R. Kimber Chair in Investor Protection and Corporate Governance and served as Associate Dean and Director of Policy and Research at the Rotman School of Management’s Capital Markets Institute.

Anand’s political journey began in 2019 when she was elected as the Member of Parliament for Oakville. As Minister of Public Services and Procurement during the COVID-19 pandemic, she played a crucial role in securing vital medical supplies, including vaccines, PPE kits, and oxygen. Her efforts earned widespread recognition.

In 2021, she was appointed Minister of National Defence, where she spearheaded reforms to address sexual misconduct in the Canadian Armed Forces and managed Canada’s military aid to Ukraine. Later, as President of the Treasury Board, she worked to enhance transparency within Canada’s financial system.

Since becoming Minister of Transport in 2024, Anand has focused on modernising Canada’s infrastructure, improving roads, highways, and railways, while prioritizing climate change and safety reforms in the transportation sector.

If selected to replace Trudeau, Anita Anand would make history as the first woman of color and the first Canadian of Indian origin to become Canada’s Prime Minister. While Kim Campbell briefly held the position in 1993 as a Progressive Conservative, no woman from the Liberal Party has ever served in this role. Anand’s potential leadership marks a significant milestone in Canadian politics.