Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland’s resignation from the Cabinet sent shockwaves across Ottawa on Monday.
“Chrystia Freeland is a good friend and someone I work very closely with… this news was a huge shock to me,” Anita Anand, Minister of Transport and Chair of the Finance Committee, told the cabinet. I spoke on the way to.
Freeland announced his resignation in a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau posted on social media. Freeland said in his letter that Prime Minister Trudeau told him last week that he would be removed from the finance portfolio and offered him another cabinet position.
“After much consideration, I have concluded that the only honest and viable path forward for me is to resign from the Cabinet,” she wrote.
Transport Minister and Finance Minister Anita Anand became emotional on Monday at the news that her friend and colleague, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, was resigning from her cabinet post.
Housing Minister Sean Fraser was apparently caught off guard by the news when he was asked about it at the press conference announcing his resignation from the cabinet.
“This is news to me,” he said. Mr Fraser served as Parliamentary Secretary for Freeland before being appointed to the Cabinet.
“It’s very difficult to assess what that means because we don’t know her own views on the reasons behind that decision,” he said.
“But my sense is that she was a great team member to work with, and I continue to consider her a friend.”
Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu said she respects Freeland’s decision to resign.
“I wish her all the best,” Hajdu told reporters Monday morning. “These are difficult, very personal decisions. Obviously she made that decision and I respect her for that decision.” I will,” he said.
Conservatives, however, said Freeland’s resignation was a sign that the Liberals were losing confidence in Trudeau’s leadership.
“Even she has lost faith in Prime Minister Trudeau. This government is in shambles,” Conservative House of Commons Leader Andrew Scheer said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
However, the news seems to have surprised even the Conservative Party. Leader Pierre Poièvre was scheduled to hold a press conference on Monday morning. It has now been postponed.
Outgoing housing minister Sean Fraser was asked on Monday about colleague Chrystia Freeland’s social media posts, and Freeland was asked to resign as finance minister, saying he would no longer serve in the cabinet. He said no.
Freeland’s resignation comes as the federal government is scheduled to deliver its long-awaited autumn economic statement.
When asked about the timing of Freeland’s resignation, NDP MP Charlie Angus didn’t mince words.
“What the hell? How do you think the Prime Minister tipping off the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the eve of the statement we’ve been waiting for for months is going to put things back on track?” Angus said.
“The prime minister is missing, the deputy prime minister and the finance minister have jumped. The prime minister needs to turn up and explain how this gong show will be tolerated.”
Calls for Prime Minister Trudeau to resign grow louder
Jody Wilson-Raybould, a former Cabinet minister who resigned over the SNC-Lavalin scandal, said Trudeau needs to resign, especially given the looming tariff threat from President-elect Donald Trump.
“This country desperately needs a new general on the eve of a (tariff) war and the general is losing his most loyal soldiers,” Wilson-Raybould said in a post on X.
Francis Drouin, a Liberal supporter who is not seeking re-election, said it was time for Trudeau to step down.
“I was a great defender [of Trudeau]But I have no idea how we’re going to move forward,” Drouin told Radio-Canada.
“I don’t see how this helps the prime minister, I don’t see how this helps him talk about Canadians.”
