Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has been thrown into fresh disarray with the abrupt departure of his finance minister, Chrystia Freeland.
By the end of a frenetic Monday, a new finance minister was in place, but Trudeau was facing calls from members of his own Liberal Party to quit.
Without directly referring to the news, the prime minister told party donors at an event in Ottawa: “It’s obviously been an eventful day. It has not been an easy day.”
In her scathing resignation letter – published on the day she was due to deliver an economic statement – Freeland cited disagreements with her long-time ally on how to respond to the threat of tariffs from Donald Trump.
The US president-elect, who will return to the White House in January, has vowed to impose a levy of 25% on imported Canadian goods unless the shared border is made more secure.
Economists say the tariffs could have a devastating effect on Canada’s economy.
In her letter, Freeland accused Trudeau of choosing “costly political gimmicks” over addressing the threat posed by Trump’s “aggressive economic nationalism”.
Trump himself later responded to Freeland, posting that her “behaviour was totally toxic, and not at all conducive to making deals which are good for the very unhappy citizens of Canada”.
Freeland said her decision came after Trudeau told her last week that he no longer wanted her to be the government’s top economic adviser.
Her departure blindsided the government, leaving the fate of the scheduled economic update in the air for hours and bringing Trudeau and his shaky minority Liberals to the brink.
Credit: bbc.com
