The shock resignation of Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland denies the Liberals one of their most experienced cabinet ministers at navigating Canada-U.S. relations, with just over a month to go until president-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration.
But more pressingly for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Freeland’s blunt resignation message — released publicly on social media in a move that blindsided Trudeau’s office and cabinet — has reignited questions on whether he can continue to lead the country.
Freeland was a central player in the “Team Canada” approach to dealing with Trump’s first term, his threats of tariffs and the renegotiations of the North American free trade pact. With Trump’s return, Canada will face all those issues again from an American administration emboldened by their political comeback.
But the Canadian government will face those issues without Freeland this time around. In a statement that reverberated through Ottawa Monday, Freeland said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made it clear he no longer had confidence in her to do her job.
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In her statement — released publicly just hours before Freeland was scheduled to release the government’s Fall Economic Statement — the now-former deputy prime minister prominently referenced the “grave challenge” Trump’s “aggressive economic nationalism.”
“We need to take threat extremely seriously. That means keeping our fiscal powder dry, so we have the reserves we may need for a coming tariff war,” Freeland wrote.
“That means eschewing costly political gimmicks, which we can ill afford and which make Canadians doubt that we recognize the gravity of the moment,” Freeland added, a potential reference to Trudeau’s decision to issue $250 one-time cheques to millions of Canadians.
Senior Liberal officials are fond of saying the Canada-U.S. relationship is bigger than any one person, be it Justin Trudeau or Donald Trump. While that may be true, Freeland was not exactly a bit player in the drama between the two countries over the last eight years.
In his re-established Canada-U.S. Relations Committee of senior cabinet ministers, Trudeau named Freeland the chair with one of his most trusted ministers, Dominic LeBlanc, as vice chair. That was less than a month ago.
There was speculation in Ottawa Monday that when Trudeau told Freeland she would be shuffled out of the finance portfolio on Friday, the prime minister offered her a role in triangulating Ottawa’s approach to the new U.S. administration. Global News could not confirm that detail Monday.
But the Canada-U.S. file is something she already would’ve been intimately involved with as the committee chair, as finance minister and as deputy prime minister.
Robert Asselin, the senior vice-president of the Business Council of Canada and a former economic policy adviser to the Liberal government, said it’s a question now whether the government can “put itself together cabinet wise.”
“The prime minister cannot function without the support of his team, but including cabinet,” Asselin said in an interview.
“Cabinet has to be in solidarity with whatever is decided by the prime minister. If we feel that this has reached a tipping point, and obviously the Number Two of the government doesn’t send a great signal in that regard, then I think the prime minister needs to evaluate what are his options going forward, and whether the people in his own party agree with the direction that he’s taking.”