Canada’s Minister of Finance, Chrystia Freeland has announced she will be resigning from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet, effective immediately.
This announcement came just ours before Freeland was to deliver a fall economic update on behalf of the Canadian government.
According to Freeland, Trudeau asked her to step down from her position as Finance Minister as he looks to shuffle his cabinet ahead of the new year.
Trudeau asked her to take up another position in his cabinet, to which she declined.
“Upon reflection, I have concluded that the only honest and viable path is for me to resign from the cabinet,” Freeland wrote.
Her resignation letter also cites the United States President-elect, Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs on Canada as one of the reasons she has chosen to resign.
“For the past number of weeks, [Trudeau] and I have found ourselves at odds about the best path forward to Canada,” Freeland continued.
“Our country faces a grave challenge. The incoming administration in the United States is pursuing a policy of aggressive economic nationalism, including a threat of 25 per cent tariffs.”
She added that this threat must be taken extremely seriously and predicted a possible “tariff war” between Canada and the United States that could wreak havoc on Canadian affordability, in a worse case scenario.
Freeland wants to see Trudeau step up to the task of pushing back against the looming threat in a concerted effort, along with all other levels of government.
“I know Canadians would recognize and respect such an approach. They know when we are working for them, and they equally know when we are focussed on ourselves,” Freeland said.
“Inevitably, our time in government will come to an end. But how we deal with the threat that our country currently faces will define us for a generation, and perhaps longer. Canada will win if we are strong, smart and united.”
In her resignation, Freeland said that she had been pushed to continue to spend recklessly, rather than reduce spending in preparation for the United States’ tariffs.
Despite her stepping back from the cabinet, Freeland says she will continue to serve her riding as a Liberal Member of Parliament and will be running again for her Toronto seat in the next federal election.
Following this announcement, Conservative Leader, Pierre Poilievre spoke to reporters in Ottawa on the matter.
“Here we are, everything is spiraling out of control,” Poilievre said as he criticized the Liberals on numerous situations faced by Canadians and the Canadian government.
“Justin Trudeau has lost control and yet he clings to power. We cannot continue this while we are staring down the barrel of a 25% tariff from our biggest trading partner and closest ally.”
In light of this news, Poilievre says that he wants to see NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh instigate a vote of no confidence to trigger an election.
On top of Freeland’s resignation, Trudeau must now replace another key cabinet member, Sean Fraser, Minister of Housing, as he has announced he too will be stepping back due to personal circumstances.
