Canada’s Trudeau loses key ally as finance minister resigns #CanadaFinance

STORY: :: File

Canada’s finance minister quit on Monday, dealing another major political blow to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s already unpopular government.

Chrystia Freeland said in a stinging resignation letter that she was quitting in the wake of a meeting last Friday with Trudeau… who asked her to take on a lesser post after the two had argued for weeks over spending.

In the letter posted to social media, Freeland said the possibility of new U.S. tariffs represented a grave threat.

She wrote:

:: “That means keeping our fiscal powder dry today, so we have the reserves we may need for a tariff war. That means eschewing costly political gimmicks, which we can ill afford.”

Her resignation came just hours before she was due to present an economic update to parliament.

The finance ministry said in November Canada’s budget deficit for the first six months of the 2024-2025 fiscal year had jumped by more than a half to $9.28 billion.

Freeland also served as deputy prime minister and her resignation leaves Trudeau without a key ally in cabinet at a critical juncture.

She joins a wave of cabinet minster who have either already quit or announced they won’t run in the next election

Approval ratings indicate Trudeau would lose badly to the opposition Conservatives in the next election, which must be held before the end of October 2025.

One potential replacement could be former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney, who serves as economic adviser to Trudeau.

Carney though is not a legislator and tradition would dictate that he would need to run for a seat in the House of Commons.

Before entering politics in 2013, Freeland worked as a journalist and in senior editorial roles with several media companies, including the Financial Times, the Globe and Mail, and Reuters News, where she worked from 2010 to 2013.