Finance minister to step aside after prime minister reportedly tried to move her from position
Federal finance minister and deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland has resigned from cabinet, posting on X that she had made the decision after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tried to move her to another role.
In a bombshell announcement, Freeland published a letter she sent Trudeau this morning in which she said the prime minister “made clear that I no longer credibly enjoy [his full] confidence and possess the authority that comes with it.”
She said she and Trudeau had found themselves “at odds” on the best path forward for Canada and highlighted the need to avoid what she described as “political gimmicks, which we can ill afford” in the face of tariff threats by the incoming US administration.
See my letter to the Prime Minister below // Veuillez trouver ma lettre au Premier ministre ci-dessous pic.twitter.com/NMMMcXUh7A
— Chrystia Freeland (@cafreeland) December 16, 2024
“Our country today faces a grave challenge,” Freeland wrote in her letter to Trudeau. “The incoming administration in the United States is pursuing a policy of aggressive economic nationalism, including a threat of 25% tariffs. We need to take that threat extremely seriously. That means keeping our fiscal powder dry today, so we have the reserves we may need for a coming tariff war.”
Freeland had served as finance minister since 2020, having previously held high-profile roles as minister of international trade, minister of foreign affairs, and minister of intergovernmental affairs.
Long viewed as a key Trudeau ally, her departure marks a second blow to the prime minister today after it was announced that Sean Fraser, the federal housing minister and a rising star within cabinet, would also be stepping aside.
The news will intensify speculation about the political future of Mark Carney, the former Bank of Canada and Bank of England governor who’s reportedly been earmarked by the Trudeau government as a future finance minister.
It will also increase pressure on the governing Liberals, who have plunged well behind the opposition Conservative Party in the polls with an election in the cards for 2025.
Freeland’s announcement arrived hours before she was scheduled to deliver a fiscal and economic update to the House of Commons.
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