Chrystia Freeland resigned as Minister of Finance on Monday, hours before she was set to deliver the federal government’s latest fiscal update, saying she and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are “at odds about the best path forward for Canada.” Freeland refused an offer of another ministerial role and will leave Cabinet, but said she is committed to running in the next federal election.
In a letter addressed to Trudeau and posted to X, Freeland said the Prime Minister told her on Friday that he no longer wanted her to serve as Finance Minister.
“Upon reflection, I have concluded that the only honest and viable path is for me to resign from the Cabinet,” she wrote in the letter.
“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 said that “for the past number of weeks, you and I have found ourselves at odds about the best path forward for Canada.” She pointed to incoming U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat of a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian exports to the United States, saying that “we need to take that threat extremely seriously.”
“That means keeping our fiscal powder dry today, so we have the reserves we may need for a coming tariff war,” Freeland wrote.
“That means eschewing costly political gimmicks, which we can ill afford and which make Canadians doubt that we recognize the gravity of the moment.”
More to come.
Alicja Siekierska is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance Canada. Follow her on Twitter @alicjawithaj.
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