Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland stepped down on Monday in a surprise move after disagreeing with Justin Trudeau over US President-elect Donald Trump’s tariff threats.
Freeland also resigned as Finance Minister, and her resignation marked the first open disagreement against Prime Minister Trudeau within his cabinet and could threaten his hold on power.
Trudeau, leader of the Liberal Party, is 20 points behind his main rival, conservative Pierre Poilievre, who has tried three times since September to topple the government and call snap elections.
“Our country faces a serious challenge today,” Freeland said in his resignation letter, pointing to Trump’s plan for a 25 percent tariff on Canadian imports.
“For the past several weeks, you and I have been at odds about the best path forward for Canada.”
First elected to Parliament in 2013, the former journalist joined Trudeau’s Cabinet two years later when the Liberals came to power, holding key positions including trade and foreign minister, and leading free trade negotiations with the European Union and the United States. Led.
Most recently, he was tasked with helping lead Canada’s response to the incoming Trump administration’s actions.
Canada’s main trading partner is the United States, with 75 percent of its exports going to its southern neighbor each year.
In her resignation letter, Freeland said Trudeau wanted to transfer her to another job, to which she responded: “I have concluded that the only honest and viable path forward is for me to resign from cabinet.”
As Finance Minister, he called for Trump’s tariff threats to be taken “extremely seriously”.
Warning that this could lead to a “tariff war” with the United States, he said Ottawa should keep its “fiscal powder dry”.
“This means avoiding costly political maneuvers, which we cannot afford,” he said, pointedly criticizing the recent sales tax holiday, which critics said was costly and aimed at bolstering the ruling Liberals’ declining political fortunes. Was.
– Trouble for Trudeau –
Dalhousie University professor Lori Turnbull called Freeland’s exit an “absolute disaster”.
“It really shows there’s a crisis of confidence in Trudeau,” he said. “And it becomes very difficult for Trudeau to remain prime minister.”
University of Ottawa professor Genevieve Taylor said that so far, the cabinet has rallied around Trudeau because he has faced dissent from backbench MPs.
Freeland’s rejection of his economic policies is “a big problem,” he said, and shows that his team is not as united behind him as some people thought.
Freeland’s departure comes on the same day she was due to deliver an update on the country’s fiscal situation, amid reports the government will exceed Freeland’s deficit forecast for the spring.
“This government is in shambles,” Poilievre’s deputy leader Andrew Scheer said in response to Freeland’s news, adding, “He’s even lost confidence in Trudeau.”
Housing Minister Sean Fraser, who announced on Monday he was leaving politics, described Freeland as “professional and helpful”.
Anita Anand, one of his closest friends and colleagues in the Cabinet, told reporters: “This news has really hit me hard.”
Freeland said she would run in the next election in 2025.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
