Monday’s media blackout in the lead-up to the Fall Economic Statement (FES) will go down in history as one of the strangest events in Canadian political history.
The doors to the policy briefing in Ottawa opened at 9 a.m. and seven minutes later Chrystia Freeland resigned as finance minister, sparking a flurry of rumors and speculation.
Hours after the lockup was supposed to begin, the book containing FES, which was supposed to go on sale at 10 a.m., remained wrapped in a black tablecloth.
Periodically, a voice could be heard over the crackling in-house PA, providing updates with little to say.
“Due to incoming information, we are currently determining next steps,” a disembodied voice said at one point.
Several hours passed with no word on what that “next step” would be.
Lockups are a traditional part of government policy development. Journalists, pundits, bureaucrats, and political staffers fill the chamber with stale coffee, prepackaged sandwiches, and early copies of the policies in question.
Lockups allow journalists and officials to review documents and ask questions of officials before writing stories. Once the policy in question is tabled in Congress, the lockup is lifted and journalists are free to broadcast its content.
Journalists locked up on Monday, many of whom no doubt would have been hoping to follow the reaction to the political earthquake on Capitol Hill, watched various feeds of news programs on their laptops, wondering what would happen next. I bet it would happen.
They roamed the halls of the John G. Diefenbaker Building in Ottawa, wondering if the economic report would actually be released.
The building itself is perhaps best known as the former home of the Commission of Inquiry into Sponsorship Programs and Advertising. “Sponsor scandal”) led by Justice John Gomery.
This investigation led, at least in part, to the downfall of Paul Martin’s government.
Instead of poring over budget speeches, annexes and spending graphs, shocked reporters holed up in the Diefenbaker Building were left to parse bombshell statements Mr. Freeland posted on social media.
“After much consideration, I have concluded that the only honest and viable path forward for me is to resign from the Cabinet,” the abrupt former finance minister wrote.
The news itself was shocking. The fact that it happened just moments before the lock-up began only added to the sense of confusion.
Following the resignation of Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, there are growing calls for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to resign. Former Liberal MP Gordie Hogg, former Conservative MP Diane Watts and former NDP MP Nathan Cullen discuss the Liberal Party’s next move with BC Today host Michelle Elliott.
And Freeland did not quit quietly. She directly targeted her former boss, his policies, and in some ways the FES itself.
Specifically, Freeland said Canada faces a serious challenge from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s threat to impose significant tariffs on all Canadian imports.
“We need to take that threat very seriously, and that means keeping our finances on fire today and securing the reserves we need for the coming tariff war. “We recognize the gravity of this moment,” Freeland wrote. Ta.
Eventually, staff announced that the lockup would begin at 1:45 p.m. The tablecloth shroud was removed and journalists were given just over two hours to investigate the FES.
As it turned out, the economic statement itself was the least interesting part of the lockup.
The political drama of the time cast a long shadow over this figure. Even the news of a $61.9 billion deficit pales in comparison to the impact of Freeland’s resignation.
Fifteen years ago, political columnist Paul Wells wrote what he called the four rules governing Canadian politics. The first was that “in any given situation, Canadian politics tends toward the least provocative outcome.”
Regardless of how things pan out, the 2024 FES lockup will join a short list of Canadian political events that have broken Wells’ original rules.
