when they were unable to be present in the house. Paul Martin eliminated the position of secretary of state and reverted to using the title "minister of state" for junior cabinet ministers. The day he took office, Martin realigned various government departments. However, this can be done by changing the law only so, in reality, he set up various ministries of state headed by ministers of state. All such ministries of state and their ministers were styled as proper ministers of permanent departments. Over the course of his government, most of these departments were created in law and the ministers of state became ministers of the new departments as their empowering legislation received royal assent. When Stephen Harper became Prime Minister on February 6, 2006, he did not include any ministers of state in his cabinet. Derek Burney, the head of Harper's transition team, noted to the press that this was intentional: ministers of state and the role of Deputy Prime Minister were omitted to create a cabinet of full equals. In actuality, Harper did appoint a number of ministers of state in order to give certain ministers responsibilities outside of their portfolios; however, all of these ministers of state were also full Cabinet ministers and their formal titles were styled such as to omit "of state". On January 4, 2007, Harper added five secretaries of state to his ministry thus reviving the practice of appointing junior ministers outside of the Cabinet. On October 30, 2008, Harper added 11 ministers of state to his Cabinet. On January 4, 2011, Harper added one minister of state to his Cabinet to a total of 12. In 2015, the 29th cabinet led by Justin Trudeau, formed and updated several ministries including the formation of Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities from the previous junior position Minister of State (Sport). Ministers of State Agriculture The Minister of State (Agriculture) () was a junior minister in the Canadian Cabinet responsible for the Rural Secretariat and the Cooperatives Secretariat, reporting to the Minister of Agriculture. As of , the position has not been a part of the Cabinet of Justin Trudeau. Children and Youth Minister of State (Children and Youth) was a Cabinet of Canada portfolio created in 2003 by Prime Minister Paul Martin to assist with the Minister of Human Resources Development. Ethel Blondin-Andrew was the first and only holder of this position, which