She announced her resignation from the federal cabinet and blamed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for her departure.
The announcement appeared in a letter she posted on X (formerly Twitter) Monday morning.
In a letter to Trudeau, Chrystia Freeland said, “On Friday you told me that you do not want me to continue to serve as your Finance Minister and you offered me a different role in Cabinet.”
“Reflecting on this, I believe the only honest and appropriate course is for me to resign from Cabinet,” she added.
Freeland, 56, also said that in recent weeks, she has gotten growing distance from Trudeau.
The post, sent at 9:07 a.m. Eastern, came just hours before a lock up in Ottawa for the fall economic statement.
Global News reached out to Freeland’s office to ask if she would be delivering the fall economic statement. What ultimately happens with the fiscal update is a question for the Prime Minister’s Office or the Department of Finance, a press secretary said.
“In view of the new information that we have received today, the Department of Finance Canada is evaluating the next steps in regard to the embargoed 2024 Fall Economic Statement documents,” the Department of Finance said in a statement on Monday.
‘Costly political gimmicks’
Freeland’s letter said, “Today our country faces a serious challenge. The new administration in the United States is adopting a policy of belligerent economic nationalism, with a possible 25 per cent threat of tariffs.”
We have to take that threat very, very seriously.’ It also means maintaining our fiscal powder today, so we are able to support ourselves through a coming tariff war. That means abandoning expensive political gimmicks, which we cannot afford and which lead Canadians to wonder if we understand the seriousness of this moment.”
That means pushing back on the “American First” economic nationalism and working in good faith with provinces and territories to assemble a “Team Canada” response, Freeland said.
She said she was confident Canadians would “recognize and respond to such an approach.”
“They know when we are working for them, and they know equally well when we are working for ourselves,” she said. “Eventually, our time in government will also draw to a close. But whether we address that threat to our country right now will define us for a generation and perhaps longer. Canada wins when we are strong, smart and united.”
It is this conviction, Freeland said, that has guided her work this fall in trying to control the nation’s spending while giving room to maneuver in the face of the serious challenges to come.
“I have always been grateful for the opportunity to serve in government and always proud of the work of our government on behalf of Canada and Canadians,” she said.
“I look forward to continuing in my role as a Liberal Member of Parliament, and intend to run again in the next federal election in my current seat in Toronto.”
Treasury Board President Anita Anand called Freeland a “good friend,” while speaking to reporters before a cabinet meeting Monday.
“Chrystia Freeland is… very, very close to me, someone I worked a lot with when I was president of the Treasury Board and Minister of Transport. The news hits me very hard, and I want to reserve more comments until I have time to digest this report,” she said.
Freeland has been the member of Parliament for the Toronto riding of University-Rosedale since her first election to the House of Commons in 2015. She moved quickly up the ranks within the Liberal Party, first as minister of international trade, then as deputy prime minister and, in 2020, as minister of finance.
Trudeau’s office did not immediately respond to the remark.
