Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland resigned from cabinet just hours before the federal government was scheduled to release the fall fiscal update.
In a scathing letter posted to her social media on Monday, Freeland said that on Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told her he no longer wanted her to serve as finance minister but offered her another position within the cabinet.
“Upon reflection, I have concluded that the only honest and viable path is for me to resign from cabinet,” she wrote in the letter.
Freeland explained in the letter that the two had been at odds for several weeks over Canada’s path forward.
“Our country today faces a grave challenge,” she said in the letter. “The incoming administration in the United States is pursuing a policy of aggressive economic nationalism, including a threat of 25 per cent tariffs.”
She said the threat must be taken seriously.
“That means keeping our fiscal powder dry today, so we have reserves we may need for a coming tariff war,” she wrote in the letter. “This means eschewing costly political gimmicks, which we can ill afford and which make Canadians doubt that we recognize the gravity of the moment.”
Freeland said she has been grateful for her opportunity and will remain as an MP, and will run in the next federal election.
It comes as Sean Fraser, a prominent Atlantic Canada Liberal MP and federal housing minister, also resigned this morning from the cabinet. He also said he will not seek re-election. The decisions leave another gap in the federal cabinet as a shuffle is looming.
A federal election is expected to be called in October 2025.
Author
