Chrystia Freeland is out, the Trudeau government is in disarray and the only thing that will fix any of this is an election and a new government.
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On the very day that she was supposed to deliver her fall economic statement, Chrystia Freeland announced she was leaving Justin Trudeau’s cabinet. Freeland not only resigned, she did it in a very public way, taking retribution on Trudeau and his office after weeks of leaks that have undermined her position.
“On Friday, you told me you no longer want me to serve as your Finance Minister and offered me another position in the Cabinet,” Freeland wrote in a letter she posted to social media.
“Upon reflection, I have concluded that the only honest and viable path is for me to resign from the Cabinet.”
Freeland posted the letter to X just after 9 a.m. as Trudeau’s cabinet was gathering for a meeting ahead of the fall economic statement.
“This news has hit me very hard,” Treasury Board President Anita Anand said walking in.
Anand noted that she has worked closely with Freeland, considers her a good friend and said she would reserve further comment until she could process the news.
Trudeau was already dealing with a cabinet minister resigning with the news that Housing Minister Sean Fraser was stepping down. Speculation has been that Fraser will seek other political opportunities in Nova Scotia, perhaps as leader of the Nova Scotia Liberal Party.
Freeland’s resignation was completely unexpected though.
“To be effective, a minister must speak on behalf of the Prime Minister and with his full confidence. In making your decision, you made clear that I no longer credibly enjoy that confidence and possess the authority that comes with it,” Freeland wrote to Trudeau.
Her decision to step down, and hit Trudeau hard on the way out, comes just days after Trudeau boasted about his feminist bona fides.
In a speech to Equal Voice last week, Trudeau lamented that it was a shame the United States had chosen once again not to elect a woman as president. Trudeau said that he is a feminist leading a feminist government and that women will always have an ally in him.
That is of course unless they disagree with him.
In her resignation letter, Freeland confirmed that she and Trudeau had been at odds over the past several weeks over the government’s fiscal direction. As Trudeau has done with other women who have dared to disagree with him, he tried to take Freeland out of a position of power.
Once again, Trudeau is showing that he’s a fake feminist. A pretty boy with nice words who doesn’t believe anything that he says.
There has been speculation that has bubbled up several times over the past few months that Freeland was looking for a way out of politics and had sought a position in the private sector. In her letter, she said that she still plans to stay on as an MP and run in the next election.
Now, we can expect a full leadership campaign from Freeland, who also has a book coming out in the new year about her time in politics.
“She just carved a path for her leadership by standing up,” said one Liberal insider moments after Freeland’s statement became public.
Justin Trudeau may have thought he was solving one problem by getting rid of Freeland as his finance minister, but he’s created a new one by unleashing a leadership rival inside his caucus at a time when Trudeau is weak.
Flavio Volpe, the president of the Auto Parts Manufacturers Association, worked closely with Freeland during the renegotiation of NAFTA and said her strategic thinking will be missed as we head into round two of dealing with Donald Trump.
“Big loss on our way into round two with a weaker hand. Huge,” Volpe said.
Freeland mentioned the issue of Trump’s tariff threats in her resignation letter, saying that we need to keep our fiscal powder dry to be able to respond to what may come.
“That means eschewing costly political gimmicks, which we can ill afford,” Freeland wrote.
The biggest political gimmick that Canadians can ill afford is Justin Trudeau.
His botched handling of Freeland, his inability to step up and deal with the Trump border threats, a disastrous handling of the country’s finances, and scandal upon scandal point to one thing – Trudeau must go.
The problem is, he’s staying while chasing everyone else away.