Mr. Bains is a former accountant at the Ford Motor Company of Canada and a former professor at Ryerson University’s management school. He was a member of Parliament, representing a Mississauga riding, from 2004 to 2011, and re-elected in 2015.

Ms. Bennett is a former family physician who served as a minister of state (public health) under prime minister Paul Martin. She has been an MP since 1997.

A former foreign-aid worker, Ms. Bibeau was an officer forthe Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) stationed in Morocco and then Benin. She later settled in the Eastern Townships, near Montreal, where she was executive director of the Sherbrooke Museum of Nature and Science. Her husband is Sherbrooke Mayor Bernard Sévigny. He has said he doesn’t see ethical problems with their domestic situation. “We talk politics at home, but … we don’t have to tell each other everything,” he said after she was elected.

Mr. Brison has been a Nova Scotia MP since 1997. He originally represented Kings-Hants for the Progressive Conservatives, and ran unsuccessfully for the party leadership before its merger with the Canadian Alliance. At first a supporter of the merger, he had second thoughts and crossed the floor to the Liberals. He was prime minister Paul Martin’s minister of public works and ran unsuccessfully in the leadership race to succeed him.

One-time oboist, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra trustee, journalist and member of the Manitoba Legislative Assembly, Mr. Carr has deep roots in the provincial Liberal Party. He served as its deputy leader and critic of several portfolios, including the energy sector. Mr. Carr belongs to a group of star Liberal candidates from the business world that Justin Trudeau signed up early. He founded the Business Council of Manitoba in 1997 and served as CEO until 2014, working closely with business leaders on such issues as energy, northern development and aboriginal affairs.

The rookie MP is the daughter of Indian immigrants who settled in the Waterloo region in the 1970s. As the story goes, a precocious 13-year-old Ms. Chagger was helping her father put up election signs – and ever since the political bug has stuck. She served as executive assistant to former MP Andrew Telegdi (Kitchener-Waterloo) from 2004 to 2008 and has been active at the Kitchener-Waterloo Multicultural Centre, which helps new Canadians settle in their communities. She is also an early Justin Trudeau backer – part of his leadership bid team in Ontario.

The former political science professor and author entered federal politics in 1996, serving as Jean Chrétien’s intergovernmental affairs minister and Paul Martin’s environment minister. He led the Liberal party from 2006 to 2008.

An economist who has written extensively about taxation, inequality and the elderly, Mr. Duclos was head of the department of economics at Laval University and is considered an expert on the impact of public policies on the poor. He developed computer models that made it easier and cheaper for developing countries to measure poverty indices. He has also co-authored a study warning that the Conservatives’ changes to the Old Age Security Pension would push more elderly people into poverty.

Ms. Duncan is a medical geographer and former professor at the University of Windsor and University of Toronto. She served on the Nobel prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. She has been a Liberal MP since 2008.

The former TV journalist was elected in Newfoundland’s legislature in 1996 and held multiple cabinet roles under premier Brian Tobin. Elected to the House of Commons in 2008, she served over the years as the Liberals’ deputy house leader and party whip.

One of a dozen Canadian parliamentarians who were barred last year from travelling to Russia because of their stances on the Ukraine crisis, Ms. Freeland said at the time it was a badge of honour to be on the sanctions list. A Ukrainian-Canadian mother of three, she was born in Peace River, Alta. After earning degrees at Harvard and Oxford, she became a journalist, reporting from Moscow and Eastern Europe for the Financial Times. She is a former deputy editor of The Globe and Mail.

Mr. Garneau is a former astronaut and the first Canadian to go to outer space. He served as president of the Canadian Space Agency from 2001 to 2006. He ran for the Liberals in 2006 and lost, then won in Ville-Marie in 2008. He ran for the Liberal leadership in 2013, but bowed out to support Mr. Trudeau.

Mr. Goodale has represented the Liberals in Saskatchewan, both federally and provincially, off and on since the 1970s.He held cabinet positions under Jean Chrétien including agriculture, natural resources and public works, and was finance minister under Paul Martin.

Ms. Hajdu has been on the front lines when it comes to helping the vulnerable in Ontario’s northwest. She ran a homeless shelter in Thunder Bay and was actively involved in shaping public policy on harm reduction, public health and affordable housing. She served as executive director of Shelter House, which prepares more than 700 meals a day and has 77 beds. She was also a member of the implementation panel for Thunder Bay’s drug strategy and former chair of the city’s drug awareness committee. Her presence at the cabinet table gives Northern Ontario a powerful voice.

Stepping into a portfolio where Canada’s veterans are looking for a new champion, Mr. Hehr brings political experience and an extraordinary personal story. At 19, Mr. Hehr was paralyzed when a bullet struck him in the neck during a drive-by shooting. The former junior hockey player calls the incident a defining moment that turned him to public service. He eventually became a lawyer, community activist and member of the Alberta Legislature – speaking passionately about fairness and championing causes including affordable housing for the poor.

Ms. Joly won her riding easily, but her entry into federal politics was more laborious. A lawyer and friend of Mr. Trudeau, she was a surprising runner-up to Denis Coderre in the 2013 Montreal mayoral election. After pledging to remain involved in municipal affairs, she quit politics, then came back as a star candidate for Mr. Trudeau’s Liberals. It took three ballots to clinch her nomination. She is a former managing partner at the public-relations firm Cohn & Wolfe, where she worked for Andrew Molson, heir to the brewing dynasty.

The former lawyer has served in the House of Commons since 2000 and held parliamentary secretary roles under Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin. He is the son of former governor-general Roméo Leblanc.

A long-time social worker, Ms. Lebouthillier was the warden of the Regional County Municipality of Rocher-Percé in the Gaspé Peninsula. Her cabinet appointment was hailed in her region, which has not had a minister since the 1980s. As a social worker for 23 years, she worked with people with addictions and mental illness. A mother of three and grandmother of one, she also runs an outfitting lodge.

The twenty-five-year veteran Liberal MP served as veterans affairs minister and solicitor-general under Jean Chrétien.

The former economics professor and dean of arts at McGill University was elected to the House in 2000 and held cabinet roles including defence and veterans affairs in the Chrétien and Martin governments.

The international trade and competition lawyer has worked in Ottawa and Jakarta, and served as a legal adviser and negotiator for the United Nations peacekeeping mission in East Timor on treaty negotiations. Ms. McKenna taught at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and has also served in leadership roles at the high-profile Banff Forum and the charitable group Level at the University of Ottawa. The department she now heads has expanded to include climate change. She and the Prime Minister will soon lead Canada in negotiations toward a historic climate-change treaty.

A former school trustee, geoscientist and founder of organizations promoting women in the minerals exploration and mining sector, Ms. Mihychuk is one of two Winnipeg MPs in cabinet. She also comes with deep political experience as an NDP member of the Manitoba Legislature for nine years and minister in the former Gary Doer government – responsible for intergovernmental affairs and industry, trade and mines. In 2014, she switched to the Liberal Party, likening Justin Trudeau’s vision on the economy, jobs and innovation to the centrist policies of the Manitoba governments in which she served.

Ms. Monsef made history last month as the first Afghan-Canadian elected to Parliament. She came to Canada as an 11-year-old refugee – one of three girls raised by a widow who was trying to escape a country increasingly under the grip of the Taliban. The Peterborough community organizer is co-founder of the Red Pashmina Campaign, which has raised more than $150,000 for the education of women and girls in Afghanistan.

Bill Morneau is a political rookie, but the successful businessman and millionaire is a familiar face on Bay Street. He is well acquainted with pension reform and has advised the Ontario government on the issue. As chief executive officer of Morneau Shepell, he expanded the firm founded by his father, making it the country’s largest manager of private-sector pensions. He was also chairman of the C.D. Howe Institute. The father of four is married to Nancy McCain, a member of the family that owns McCain Foods.

Jane Philpott is a rarity in federal politics, a health minister who also happens to be a physician. The woman in charge of the billions of dollars that Ottawa transfers to provinces has been chief of family medicine at Markham Stouffville Hospital, northeast of Toronto. Dr. Philpott is also known for her humanitarian work overseas. From 1989 to 1998, she practised general medicine in Niger, where her eldest daughter died of meningococcemia. She returned there in 2005 to work for Médecins san frontières (Doctors Without Borders). She is a mother of four and a member of the Mennonite Church.

The three-time Paralympic Games medalist in swimming competed for Team Canada at Seoul and Barcelona in 1988 and 1992. She also holds four world championship medals. Ms. Qualtrough was born with a visual impairment. That personal experience has made her a strong advocate for people with disabilities – serving as chair of the British Columbia Minister’s Council on Employment and Accessibility and president of the Canadian Paralympic Committee. The Delta, B.C., lawyer has worked extensively in the area of human rights. Her most recent work is as vice-chair of the B.C. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Tribunal.

A retired lieutenant-colonel, Mr. Sajjan is a decorated veteran of three tours in Afghanistan and one in Bosnia. His appointment was immediately noticed because he was chosen over another Liberal MP, retired lieutenant-general Andrew Leslie. Mr. Sajjan was the first Sikh to command a Canadian army regiment. His appointment as head of the British Columbia Regiment (Duke of Connaught’s Own) was even more symbolic because it was the same unit that was involved in expelling the South Asian passengers of the Komagata Maru in 1914. Mr. Sajjan is also a former Vancouver police officer.

A former city bus driver, twice-elected Edmonton city councillor and strong proponent of light rapid transit , Mr. Sohi is one of several South Asians in the Trudeau cabinet. His personal story is the Canadian immigrant’s tale: Sponsored by his brother, he arrived in Canada from India as a teenager unable to speak English. Mr. Sohi promised voters that he would take his experience as a city councillor to Ottawa and put municipal issues such as transit and infrastructure on the agenda.

Mr. Tootoo, a long-time politician in Nunavut who was born in Rankin Inlet, served as an MLA in the territory’s legislative assembly for 14 years before leaving politics in 2013. Mr. Tootoo is the second Inuit MP to serve as a federal cabinet minister. As a territorial politician, he held cabinet positions that oversaw housing, homelessness, energy and education. Before politics, he co-founded the Iqaluit branch of Arctic Insurance Brokers Ltd. Like at least one other Trudeau minister, he has an NDP past – running unsuccessfully for the party in 1997. Following his swearing-in, a congratulatory tweet came from his cousin, NHL player Jordin Tootoo.

As Canada’s first aboriginal federal justice minister, Ms. Wilson-Raybould is in a position to help Justin Trudeau keep his promise of reshaping Canada’s relationship with First Nations, on issues from governance to criminal law. She spent six years as regional chief of the B.C. Assembly of First Nations. As a former prosecutor in the trenches of Vancouver’s Main Street courthouse, she knows the practical realities of a justice system overburdened with the marginalized. From legalizing marijuana to softening Bill C-51, it won’t be business as usual.