Jakarta – Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland resigned after clashing with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over various issues, including how to handle the potential U.S. tariffs, which dealt a blow to an already unpopular government.
Quoted by Reuters, Tuesday (12/17/2024), Freeland resigned after a meeting with Trudeau on Friday (12/13). Freeland said she stepped down after Trudeau offered to demote her from the ministerial chair after weeks of debate between them regarding spending.
Trudeau has now appointed Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc – a close ally of Trudeau – as the new Minister of Finance.
Freeland’s resignation, who also serves as deputy prime minister, is one of the biggest crises Trudeau has faced since taking office in November 2015. This also left him without important allies when he was on track to lose the next election. official Conservative opposition
A source from the Liberal Party said Trudeau wants Freeland to serve as a minister without portfolio handling Canada-U.S. relations – which is essentially a major demotion.
Meanwhile, domestic media reports say Freeland and Trudeau are at odds over the government’s proposal for temporary tax relief and other spending measures.
“For the past few weeks, you and I have found ourselves at odds over the best way forward for Canada,” Freeland said in her letter to Trudeau posted on X.
Freeland said the threat of new U.S. tariffs is a significant concern.
“This means keeping our fiscal policies vigilant at this time, so we have reserves that we might need for a tariff war.” That means avoiding expensive political tricks that we cannot afford,” he wrote.
Freeland was said to resign on the same day that Housing Minister Sean Fraser announced his resignation for family reasons. Six other ministers are said to have resigned and stated that they will not run again in the next election.
For your information, before entering the political world in 2013, Freeland worked as a journalist and served as a senior editorialist at several media companies, including the Financial Times, Globe and Mail, and Reuters, where she worked from 2010 to 2013.
Canada’s Finance Minister Resigns After Clash with PM Trudeau
