In a truly shocking development, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland quit just hours before she was due to deliver the federal government’s fall economic statement.
In her resignation letter, Freeland stated that on Friday Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told her she was being moved to a different portfolio.
Freeland took that as a sign she had lost the prime minister’s confidence. She noted in her letter that in recent weeks, she had found herself at odds about Trudeau’s priorities and style of governing.
In particular, she took aim at “costly political gimmicks” that were expending funds the country will need to fight incoming President Donald Trump’s threat of a 25-per-cent tariff on 91原创 goods and services.
Presumably among those “gimmicks” were the promised handout of $250 to any worker earning less than $150,000, and the two-month GST holiday. These are estimated to add more than $5 billion to the government’s already sky-high deficit.
Both cabinet colleagues and Opposition members were shocked at Freeland’s departure. Treasury Board president Anita Anand, who worked closely with Freeland, told reporters that the news “hit me really hard.”
NDP MP Charlie Angus used an expletive, then asked “How does a prime minister, on the eve of a statement that we’ve been waiting for for months, deep-six his finance minister and think that things are going to be normal?”
The obvious question is why Trudeau chose this moment to ask his finance minister to stand aside.
Was Freeland going to use the economic update to cast doubt on the government’s financial management? Did the prime minister fear she may have intended to reveal the extent of her disagreements with him?
By law, the government must issue a fall economic update that meets the requirements laid out in the Fall Economic Statement Implementation Act.
So shortly after Freeland left, an update was offered. It put the deficit at a staggering $61.9 billion.
But how much credibility does it have?
Freeland’s departure raises fundamental questions about the true state of the government’s finances.
Bad as things are, might they be even worse than we’ve been told?
Inevitably, the prime minister now faces intensified demands for him to step down.
And all this comes at a time when a trade war with the U.S. might lie ahead.
Canada’s political leaders must present a united front when pushing back against Trump’s threatened tariff.
It’s difficult to see how this can be managed with Trudeau still in place, a point Freeland makes in her resignation letter.
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