Ex-finance minister Chrystia Freeland announces bid for Liberal leadership #CanadaFinance

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OTTAWA — Chrystia Freeland, whose dramatic resignation as finance minister in December set the stage for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to step down, has announced she will run for the Liberal leadership.

Freeland announced her campaign on social media on Friday morning with a single sentence: “I am running to fight for Canada.”

The announcement comes on the heels of former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney’s campaign launch in Edmonton on Thursday. Freeland wrote on social media that her own official launch will take place on Sunday.

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On Friday, Freeland penned a letter in the Toronto Star and Quebec newspaper Le Devoir detailing how she would stand up to U.S. President Donald Trump who is threatening to slap 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods.

She argued Canada’s counterpunch to U.S. tariffs should be “dollar-for-dollar — and it must be precisely and painfully targeted.”

“Florida orange growers, Michigan dishwasher manufacturers and Wisconsin dairy farmers: brace yourselves,” she wrote. “Canada is America’s largest export market — bigger than China, Japan, the U.K., and France combined.”

“If pushed, our response will be the single largest trade blow the U.S. economy has ever endured,” she added.

While Freeland has been closely associated with Trudeau since the Liberals took power, she is expected to take her distances from government policy she has defended.

A source close to Freeland confirmed this week that she plans to scrap the unpopular consumer carbon tax should she be elected Liberal leader, adding that “she will not fight Canadians on a policy they have been clear they do not support.”

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Freeland is also expected to heavily court Quebecers to win their support in the leadership race. She was set to meet Liberal supporters in Montreal on Friday — a way to signal the importance she places on la Belle Province even before she officially launches her bid in Toronto, where she lives.

Freeland has already garnered support from many caucus members, with more pouring in in the hours prior to her official announcement, highlighting her proven record in negotiating with Trump and how she has defended different MPs’ regional interests.

Newfoundland and Labrador Liberal MP Ken McDonald said he personally credits Freeland for reversing the decision to impose the carbon tax on home heating fuel, which mostly affected Atlantic Canadians and was widely seen as a blow to the carbon tax policy.

Alberta MP Randy Boissonnault also endorsed Freeland which he said has delivered important funding and announcements for Alberta, whereas Fisheries Minister Diane Lebouthillier said Freeland has always taken Quebec and the French language to heart.

In 2013, Freeland was a high-profile media executive when she was recruited by Trudeau, then a newly minted leader of the Liberal party, to run in a byelection in Toronto.

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After the Liberals took power in 2015, Freeland served in a variety of key positions in cabinet — international trade, foreign affairs, intergovernmental affairs — to the point of being dubbed “Minister of Everything.” She was most recently serving as deputy prime minister and minister of finance, and was seen as Trudeau’s most loyal ally.

That changed in the weeks following Trump’s re-election, especially after he threatened to impose punitive tariffs. Freeland was of the view that the federal government should keep its powder dry to fight those tariffs, while Trudeau’s team wanted to dole out $250 cheques to Canadians to bounce back in the polls.

Days before Freeland was set to present her fall economic statement on Dec. 16, Trudeau told Freeland on a Zoom call that she would be shuffled out of finance and would instead become minister responsible of Canada-U.S. relations.

She ultimately resigned from cabinet the morning of Dec. 16 and penned a stinging letter in which she blasted the government for its “costly political gimmicks.”

On Jan. 6, Trudeau would announce his intention to resign as prime minister after the Liberal party selects its new leader.

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After Carney and Freeland, Liberal House leader Karina Gould is expected to announce her intention to seek the top job. Liberal backbencher Chandra Arya and former Liberal MP Frank Baylis have also said that they would be contenders in the leadership race.

Many prominent cabinet ministers such as Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly and Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne have bowed out of the leadership race, citing the need to focus on fighting U.S. tariffs.

On Friday, Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson added his name to that list.

“Stepping aside from my position in cabinet at this critical time would not, in my view, best serve Canadians and the country I love so very much,” he wrote in a statement.

Prospective candidates have until Jan. 23 to register to run and until Jan. 27 to sign up new members. The next Liberal leader will be announced on March 9.

National Post
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