Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Canada's Finance Minister Resigns as Trudeau Faces Biggest Test of His Political Career
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 1 month ago on
December 16, 2024

Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland delivers remarks on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press via AP)

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

TORONTO — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faces the biggest test of his political career after Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, long one of his most powerful and loyal ministers, announced Monday that she was resigning from the Cabinet.

It was a move that stunned the country and raised questions about how much longer the unpopular Trudeau can stay in his job.

Freeland, who was also deputy prime minister, said that Trudeau had told her Friday that he no longer wanted her to serve as finance minister and that he offered her another role in the Cabinet.

But she said in her resignation letter to the prime minister that the only “honest and viable path” was to leave the Cabinet.

“For the past number of weeks, you and I have found ourselves at odds about the best path forward for Canada,” Freeland said.

Freeland and Trudeau disagreed about a two-month sales tax holiday and $250 Canadian ($175) checks to Canadians that were recently announced.

Freeland said that Canada is dealing with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s threat to impose sweeping 25% tariffs and should eschew “costly political gimmicks” it can “ill afford.”

“Our country is facing a grave challenge,” Freeland said in the letter. “That means keeping our fiscal powder dry today, so we have the reserves we may need for a coming tariff war.”

Resignation Comes as Canada Trump Proofs

The resignation comes as Freeland, who chaired a Cabinet committee on U.S. relations, was set to deliver the fall economic statement and likely announce border security measures designed to help Canada avoid Trump’s tariffs. The U.S. president-elect has threatened to impose a 25% tax on all products entering the U.S. from Canada and Mexico unless they stem the numbers of migrants and drugs.

Trudeau has said that he plans on leading the Liberal Party into the next election, but there are some party members who don’t want him to run for a fourth term. It wasn’t immediately clear what Freeland’s resignation from the Cabinet means for Trudeau’s immediate future.

“This news has hit me really hard,” a shocked Transport Minister Anita Anand said. She added that she needed to digest it before commenting further.

Opposition Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said that the government is losing control at the worst possible time.

“Justin Trudeau has lost control, but he’s hanging onto power,” Poilievre said.

“All this chaos, all this division, all this weakness is happening as our largest neighbor and closet ally is imposing 25% tariffs under a recently elected Trump with a strong mandate, a man who knows how to identify weakness.”

No Canadian prime minister in more than a century has won four straight terms.

The federal election has to be held before October. The Liberals must rely on the support of at least one major party in Parliament, because they don’t hold an outright majority themselves. If the opposition New Democratic Party, or NDP, pulls support, an election can be held at any time.

Trudeau in Trouble

Trudeau channeled the star power of his father in 2015, when he reasserted the country’s liberal identity after almost a decade of Conservative Party rule. But the son of late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau is now in big trouble. Canadians have been frustrated by the rising cost of living and other issues like immigration increases following the country’s emergence from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“As a country we have to project strength,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said. “It’s chaos right now up in Ottawa.”

Trudeau’s legacy includes opening the doors wide to immigration. He also legalized cannabis and brought in a carbon tax intended to fight climate change.

Freeland said in the resignation letter that Canadians “know when we are working for them, and they equally know when we are focused on ourselves. Inevitably, our time in government will come to an end.”

Freeland’s resignation comes as Trudeau has been trying to recruit Mark Carney to join his government. Carney is the former head of the Bank of England and Bank of Canada.

He was so well regarded after helping Canada dodge the worst of the global economic crisis that the U.K. named him the first foreigner to serve as governor of the Bank of England since it was founded in 1694.

Carney has long been interested in entering politics and becoming the leader of the Liberal Party. It wasn’t immediately clear if Carney has agreed to join Trudeau’s Cabinet.

“This is quite a bombshell,” said Nelson Wiseman, professor emeritus at the University of Toronto. “Freeland was not only finance minister but also deputy prime minister and, until a couple of years ago, was seen as Trudeau’s heir as Liberal leader and prime minister.”

Wiseman said that leaks from the prime minister’s office suggest that she was a poor communicator and made Freeland’s status questionable.

“There was talk about her becoming foreign minister again and that would have been a good fit for her, but the stab in the back from the prime minister’s office cast the die,” Wiseman said.

Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal, also called it a political earthquake and not just because Freeland was the second most powerful official in government.

“Also because of how she resigned: by publishing a letter on social media that clearly criticizes the prime minister only hours before she was supposed to present the government’s fall economic statement,” Béland said.

“This is clearly a minority government on life support but, until now, the (opposition) NDP has rejected calls to pull the plug on it. It’s hard to know whether this resignation will force the NDP to rethink its strategy.”

NDP leader Jagmeet Singh released a statement, but didn’t say whether his party would vote to topple the government.

“While the Liberals fight with each other, I believe we should be fighting for Canadians jobs at risk from Donald Trump’s tariffs,” Singh said in a statement.

“People deserve a government that fights for you for a change.”

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

Democrats’ Crisis of the Future: The Biggest States That Back Them Are Shrinking

DON'T MISS

Tech Founder Pledges to Give Away Half His Wealth to Make the American Dream More Possible

DON'T MISS

Let the Latest Scramble Begin for California School Construction Money

DON'T MISS

Americans Say It’s Harder to ‘Make It’ Financially Than Ever Before

DON'T MISS

Feeling’s Mutual: Rams Rookie Jared Verse Already Feeling Ire From Eagles Fans on Social Media

DON'T MISS

Ravens and Bills Lost Plenty of Talent Last Offseason, but Stayed in Super Bowl Contention

DON'T MISS

Mahomes and Kelce Help Chiefs to 23-14 Win Over Texans and Another AFC Title Game Trip

DON'T MISS

Governor Newsom Negotiates Mortgage Relief for LA Firestorm Victims

DON'T MISS

Fresno Women’s Celebration Host People’s March on January 18th

DON'T MISS

Homes Were Burning and Roads Already Jammed When Pacific Palisades Evacuation Order Came, AP Finds

UP NEXT

Tech Founder Pledges to Give Away Half His Wealth to Make the American Dream More Possible

UP NEXT

Let the Latest Scramble Begin for California School Construction Money

UP NEXT

Americans Say It’s Harder to ‘Make It’ Financially Than Ever Before

UP NEXT

Feeling’s Mutual: Rams Rookie Jared Verse Already Feeling Ire From Eagles Fans on Social Media

UP NEXT

Ravens and Bills Lost Plenty of Talent Last Offseason, but Stayed in Super Bowl Contention

UP NEXT

Mahomes and Kelce Help Chiefs to 23-14 Win Over Texans and Another AFC Title Game Trip

UP NEXT

Governor Newsom Negotiates Mortgage Relief for LA Firestorm Victims

UP NEXT

Fresno Women’s Celebration Host People’s March on January 18th

UP NEXT

Homes Were Burning and Roads Already Jammed When Pacific Palisades Evacuation Order Came, AP Finds

UP NEXT

On LA Fire Lines, Inmates Shoulder Heavy Packs and Tackle Dangerous Work for Less Than $30 a Day

Americans Say It’s Harder to ‘Make It’ Financially Than Ever Before

2 hours ago

Feeling’s Mutual: Rams Rookie Jared Verse Already Feeling Ire From Eagles Fans on Social Media

15 hours ago

Ravens and Bills Lost Plenty of Talent Last Offseason, but Stayed in Super Bowl Contention

15 hours ago

Mahomes and Kelce Help Chiefs to 23-14 Win Over Texans and Another AFC Title Game Trip

16 hours ago

Governor Newsom Negotiates Mortgage Relief for LA Firestorm Victims

16 hours ago

Fresno Women’s Celebration Host People’s March on January 18th

17 hours ago

Homes Were Burning and Roads Already Jammed When Pacific Palisades Evacuation Order Came, AP Finds

19 hours ago

On LA Fire Lines, Inmates Shoulder Heavy Packs and Tackle Dangerous Work for Less Than $30 a Day

22 hours ago

Trump Says He ‘Most Likely’ Will Give TikTok a 90-Day Extension to Avoid US Ban

22 hours ago

Maria Chiquita Proves Three Legs Are Just as Good as Four

23 hours ago

Democrats’ Crisis of the Future: The Biggest States That Back Them Are Shrinking

WASHINGTON — Texas and Florida are growing rapidly. California, Illinois and New York are shrinking. With America’s population shiftin...

2 hours ago

2 hours ago

Democrats’ Crisis of the Future: The Biggest States That Back Them Are Shrinking

2 hours ago

Tech Founder Pledges to Give Away Half His Wealth to Make the American Dream More Possible

2 hours ago

Let the Latest Scramble Begin for California School Construction Money

2 hours ago

Americans Say It’s Harder to ‘Make It’ Financially Than Ever Before

15 hours ago

Feeling’s Mutual: Rams Rookie Jared Verse Already Feeling Ire From Eagles Fans on Social Media

15 hours ago

Ravens and Bills Lost Plenty of Talent Last Offseason, but Stayed in Super Bowl Contention

16 hours ago

Mahomes and Kelce Help Chiefs to 23-14 Win Over Texans and Another AFC Title Game Trip

FILE - California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a press conference in Los Angeles, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer, File)
16 hours ago

Governor Newsom Negotiates Mortgage Relief for LA Firestorm Victims

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend