[2] After the High Court found in October 2017 that Canavan was not an Italian citizen,[3] he was immediately reappointed to Cabinet.

[4] In February 2020, Canavan resigned again from Cabinet to support Barnaby Joyce in his unsuccessful bid for National Party leadership.

[8] While at University, Canavan identified as a communist until a political disagreement with volunteers for the International Socialist Organisation.

On 3 February 2020, he resigned again from Cabinet to support Barnaby Joyce in his unsuccessful bid for National Party leadership.

[5] He also cited his failure to declare his membership of the North Queensland Cowboys, as the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility within his Northern Australia portfolio, approved a $20 million loan for the Cowboys to build a training centre next to the North Queensland Stadium in Townsville.

[15] He denied it was a breach of ministerial standards as under the North Australia Infrastructure Facility Act, he had no power to approve loans but could only reject them.

[16][17] Canavan has served on the "Inquiry into the destruction of 46,000 year old caves at the Juukan Gorge in the Pilbara region of Western Australia", which delivered its interim report in December 2020.

Canavan spoke in support of the referral, while stating that he did not believe he was in breach of s 44(i), and said that he would not be voting in the Senate until his position was determined by the Court.

[28] Canavan is a climate change denier[29] and a prominent supporter of fossil fuels, particularly coal,[30][31] and has strongly opposed investment in renewable energy.

[33] Canavan has rejected that climate change contributed to the catastrophic 2019–20 Australian bushfire season, despite evidence to the contrary.

[34] His views have been rebuked by climate scientists and other members of Parliament, including Nationals MP Darren Chester.

"[37] He also strongly opposes the teaching of climate change in schools, stating that children are "more interested in PewDiePie than politics", "Fortnite than fostering revolution" and that the only mining they get involved in is in Minecraft.

This was posted in the wake of major racial tension following the murder of George Floyd, and Canavan was met with heavy backlash on social media.

[46] Canavan called for the rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine to be halted, contrary to the policy of his own government and views of his colleagues.