Joël Lightbound

Joël Lightbound is a Canadian politician who has served as the minister of government transformation, public services and procurement since May 2025 and the government's Quebec lieutenant since December 2025. A member of the Liberal Party, he was first elected following the 2015 federal election and is the member of Parliament for Louis-Hébert.

Background

In 2008, Lightbound was awarded the Cardinal Roy Trophy from Champlain Regional College. He later attended the McGill University Faculty of Law, where he won the National Laskin Moot. He initially articled with the Montreal offices of Fasken, and prior to his election practiced law in the Quebec City area, specializing in immigration.

Lightbound was elected in 2015. He was re-elected in 2019, becoming the first MP in three decades to hold Louis-Hébert for more than one term, and again in 2021.
In February 2022, during the COVID-19 pandemic and Freedom Convoy protests, Lightbound held a press conference where he spoke out against politicians' handling of the pandemic, and denounced dismissing those with "legitimate concerns" while also calling for the convoy protesters to return home. Soon afterwards, Lightbound resigned his position in the party as Quebec caucus chair.
On April 28, 2025, Lightbound was re-elected again from Louis-Hébert, with 55.4% of the vote. On May 13, 2025, he was appointed to Prime Minister Mark Carney's Cabinet as Minister of Government Transformation, Public Services and Procurement. In this capacity, Lightbound announced in September 2025 that the federal government would allow Canada Post to phase out door-to-door service in favour of community mailboxes, impacting roughly 4,000,000 addresses. It will also close many rural post offices. He was appointed Quebec lieutenant in December 2025.