Ottawa: Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland resigned on Monday in a surprise move after falling out with Justin Trudeau over US President-elect Donald Trump’s tariff threats.
The resignation of Freeland, 56, who also stepped down as finance minister, marked the first open dissent against Prime Minister Trudeau from within his cabinet, and could threaten his hold on power.
Liberal leader Trudeau is 20 points behind his main rival, conservative Pierre Poilivre, who has tried three times since September to topple the government and force snap elections.
“Our country faces a serious challenge today,” Freeland said in her resignation letter to Trudeau, referring to Trump’s plan to impose a 25 percent tariff on Canadian imports.
“For the past few weeks, you and I have disagreed 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 swept to power, holding key posts including trade and foreign minister, and leading free trade negotiations with the European Union and the United States.
Most recently, Freeland was tasked with helping lead Canada’s response to the incoming Trump administration. As the first woman to hold the nation’s purse strings, she is also touted as a potential successor to Trudeau.
At the end of the day, Public Security Minister Dominique LeBlanc was sworn in as the new finance minister, as the country announced a Can$62 billion (US$43.5 billion) deficit – about $22 billion more than forecast – due to “unexpected”. expense.”
LeBlanc now takes the reins to negotiate with Team Trump, and has vowed to “focus on the challenges” ahead.
Canada’s main trading partner is the United States, with 75 percent of its exports going to its southern neighbor each year.
Trudeau traveled to Florida last month to dine with Trump at the latter’s Mar-a-Lago resort and try to defuse the threat of tariffs, but so far there has been no indication that the US president-elect is changing his position.
In her resignation letter, Freeland said she wanted Trudeau to move her to another job, to which she responded: “I have come to the conclusion that resigning from cabinet is the honest and practical course.”
She said the country needs to take Trump’s tariff threats “very seriously.”
She warned that it could lead to a “tariff war” with the United States, saying Ottawa must keep its “fiscal powder dry.”
“It means giving up expensive political gimmicks, which we can tolerate,” she said, in an apparent rebuke of recent sales tax cuts that critics say are expensive and aimed at bolstering the political fortunes of the ruling Liberals. said
‘crisis of faith’
Dalhousie University professor Lori Turnbull called Freeland’s exit “an absolute disaster”.
“It really shows that Trudeau has a crisis of confidence,” she said. “And makes it very difficult for Trudeau to continue as prime minister.”
Until now, the cabinet has rallied around the prime minister as he faces pockets of dissent from backbench MPs, noted University of Ottawa professor Genevieve Tellier.
But Freeland’s rejection of his economic policies poses a “huge problem,” she said, and shows her team is not as united behind him as some thought.
One after the other, ministers stormed out of the cabinet meeting on Monday, shouting questions from reporters. Some shouted that they had “faith in the Prime Minister” but most looked serious and said nothing.
Freeland’s departure came just hours before he was due to provide an update on the nation’s finances amid reports last spring that the government would push ahead with the finance minister’s deficit forecast.
“We just can’t go on like this,” Poilivre said. “The government is spinning out of control at a very bad time.”
In another blow to Trudeau, Housing Minister Sean Fraser also resigned on Monday. He described Freeland as “professional and helpful.”
Anita Anand, one of his close friends and aides in the cabinet, told reporters: “This news really hit me hard.”
Freeland said she would seek re-election in the country’s next parliamentary election. Voting is expected by October 2025.
Trudeau has indicated he plans to lead the Liberals into the next election.
Some local media suggested Freeland might step down after his exit, but his office denied the report as “absolutely untrue.”