Announcement comes on the scheduled morning of a delayed economic update
Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister of Canada, has resigned from Justin Trudeau’s Cabinet. In a letter posted on social media, Freeland stated that the move comes after she was offered by another position by Trudeau, which prompted her to resign from Cabinet altogether.
“On Friday, you told me you no longer want me to serve as your Finance Minister and offered me another position in the Cabinet,” her letter reads. “Upon reflection, I have concluded that the only honest and viable path is for me to resign from the Cabinet.”
Freeland was scheduled to deliver her fall economic update later this morning, an announcement which had been delayed up until this point. There had been recurring reports of tensions between Freeland and Trudeau in the leadup to this announcement.
“To be effective, a Minister must speak on behalf of the Prime Minister and with his full confidence. In making your decision, you made it clear that I no longer credibly enjoy that confidence and possess the authority that comes with it,” the letter continues.
Freeland says she will remain a Liberal MP. The letter also mentioned the prospect of an incoming Trump administration in the United States and the threat of 25 per cent tariffs levied over social media.
"We need to take that threat extremely seriously," Freeland's letter states. "That means keeping our fiscal powder dry today, so we have the reserves we may need for a coming tariff war. That means eschewing costly political gimmicks, which we can ill afford and which make Canadians doubt that we recognize the gravity of the moment."
Media commentators have speculated that those "costly political gimmicks" include the GST holiday which began on Saturday.
On Sunday it was announced that another high-profile Trudeau cabinet minister — Minister of Housing Sean Fraser — was set to leave his post. There was speculation that the Liberals were making space to appoint former Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney to a Cabinet position.
