Canadian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speak at a press conference in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada on October 6, 2021.
Patrick Doyle | Reuters
Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland resigned on Monday after clashing with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over issues including how to handle potential U.S. tariffs, adding to an already unpopular The government dealt a huge blow.
In a sharply worded resignation letter, Freeland dismissed Trudeau’s push for more spending, calling it a political stunt that could hurt Ottawa’s response to the 25% imports U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has said he will impose. tariff capabilities.
The resignation of Freeland, 56, who also served as deputy prime minister, is one of the biggest crises Trudeau has experienced since taking power in November 2015. Conservative Party.
“The Canadian government itself is spiraling out of control,” Conservative Leader Pierre Poliyev told reporters, repeating his call for an immediate election.
“We cannot accept this confusion, division and weakness as we stare at our largest trading partner with 25% tariffs… We cannot continue like this,” he told reporters.
Freeland said she resigned after meeting with Trudeau on Friday, who asked her to take a lower role after the two argued for weeks over spending.
Liberal Party sources said that Trudeau nominally wants Freeland to serve as minister, but he will not be responsible for handling Canada-U.S. relations. In fact, it is a major demotion.
huge deficit
Her resignation comes just hours before she is due to deliver an autumn economic update to parliament, a document widely expected to show the minority Liberal government’s 2023/24 budget deficit is much larger than expected.
Officials said the document would be released as planned on Monday, but gave no details.
“This could trigger a leadership crisis within the Liberal caucus… It would be politically and personally devastating for Trudeau,” said Nik Nanos, founder of Nanos Research.
FILE PHOTO: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau listens to a speech by Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland during a news conference in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, May 31, 2018.
Chris Watty | Reuters
Polls suggest the Liberals, in power since November 2015, will be defeated in an election due in late October 2025.
Freeland, a former journalist, served as trade minister and foreign minister before taking over as finance minister in August 2020.
Colleagues were visibly stunned.
“This news hits me hard and I will reserve further comments until I have time to process it,” an emotional Finance Minister Anita Anand said.
Trudeau has been under pressure for months from Liberal lawmakers alarmed by the party’s poor poll numbers, fueled in part by dissatisfaction with high prices.
But he is safe for now because Canada’s political leaders are elected by a special convention.
‘Blockbuster’ decision
“This is a real bombshell,” said Nelson Wiseman, a political science professor at the University of Toronto. “I think the problem for the Liberals is they have no mechanism to remove Trudeau. Only a full-blown caucus rebellion can do that.”
Trudeau’s minority government needs the support of other lawmakers to stay in power, which has so far been held by the left-leaning New Democrats.
In a statement regarding Freeland’s resignation, party leader Tammy Chan did not mention whether he would continue to support Trudeau.
Canada’s 10-year government bond yield climbed to its highest level since November 28. The Canadian dollar fell to a four-and-a-half-year low of 1.4268 against the U.S. dollar before reversing course.
Domestic media reported that Freeland and Trudeau clashed over the government’s proposals for temporary tax cuts and other spending measures.
“Over the past few weeks, you and I have found ourselves at odds over the best path forward for Canada,” Freeland said in a letter to Trudeau posted on X.
Freeland said the threat of new U.S. tariffs was a serious threat.
“That means keeping our finances dry today so that we have the reserves we might need for a tariff war. It means avoiding costly political maneuvering that we cannot afford,” she wrote.
When Trump came to power in 2017, he vowed to tear up the trilateral free trade agreement with Canada and Mexico. Freeland was instrumental in helping renegotiate the deal and rescue Canada’s economy, which was heavily dependent on the United States.
On December 10, during a meeting held by Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador at the Presidential Palace in Mexico City, Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and Mexico’s Chief of Staff for North American Affairs Deputy Foreign Minister Jesus Seder and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer signed documents at the meeting.
Henry Romero | Reuters
While tensions between prime ministers and first ministers are not unusual — Trudeau’s first finance minister resigned in 2020 over spending conflicts — the level of invective in Freeland’s letter is remarkable by Canadian standards of.
“On Friday you told me that you no longer wanted me to be your finance minister and offered me another position in your cabinet… You made it clear that I no longer credibly enjoyed that confidence And have the authority that comes with it,” Freeland said.
“After careful consideration, I have concluded that the only honest and feasible path forward is for me to resign from cabinet.”
Freeland’s departure came on the same day that Housing Minister Sean Fraser announced he was resigning for family reasons. Six other ministers have either resigned or announced they will not run again at the next election.
Before entering politics in 2013, she worked as a journalist and held senior editorial roles at various media companies, including at the Financial Times, The Globe and Mail and Reuters News from 2010 to 2013 company.
One potential replacement could be former Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney, who already serves as Trudeau’s economic adviser. However, Carney is not a legislator and, by tradition, would need to run for an elected seat in the House of Commons.
