Canada finance minister replaced after resigning

TORONTO — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faced the biggest test of his political career after Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, long one of his most powerful and loyal ministers, announced Monday that she was resigning from the Cabinet.

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The stunning move raised questions about how much longer the prime minister of nearly 10 years can stay on in his role as his administration scrambles to deal with incoming U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. Trudeau’s popularity has plummeted due to concerns about inflation and immigration.

Trudeau swiftly named longtime ally and close friend Dominic LeBlanc, the public safety minister who recently joined him at dinner with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, to replace Freeland.

After being sworn in, LeBlanc told reporters he and Trudeau are focused on the cost of living facing Canadians and on finding common ground with Trump on border security and economic issues.

Trudeau later told a room of party supporters that it was “the absolute privilege of my life to serve as your prime minister.”

“I wake up every single day thinking how to make this nation work better for all Canadians,” Trudeau said. “It’s why I would show up here, even on one of the toughest days as a party. You know that the only thing that ultimately matters is fighting like hell every single day to make life better for Canadians.”

Opposition leader Jagmeet Singh, whose party Trudeau’s ruling Liberals have relied upon to stay in power, called on Trudeau to resign. The main opposition Conservatives demanded an election.

Freeland, who was also deputy prime minister, said that Trudeau had told her Friday that he no longer wanted her to serve as finance minister and that he offered her another role in the Cabinet. But she said in her resignation letter to the prime minister that the only “honest and viable path” was to leave the Cabinet.

“For the past number of weeks, you and I have found ourselves at odds about the best path forward for Canada,” Freeland said.

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Freeland and Trudeau disagreed about a two-month sales tax holiday and $175 checks to Canadians that were recently announced. Freeland said that Canada is dealing with Trump’s threat to impose sweeping 25% tariffs and should eschew “costly political gimmicks” it can “ill afford.”

“Our country is facing a grave challenge,” Freeland said in the letter. “That means keeping our fiscal powder dry today, so we have the reserves we may need for a coming tariff war.”

A Liberal party official said Freeland was offered a position as minister in charge of Canada-U.S. relations without portfolio and without a department. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of not being authorized to speak publicly on the matter, said the position would have been in name only and wouldn’t have come with any of the tools Freeland previously had when she negotiated trade with the United States.

Freeland, who chaired a Cabinet committee on U.S. relations, had been set to deliver the fall economic statement and likely announce border security measures designed to help Canada avoid Trump’s tariffs. Trump has threatened to impose a 25% tax on all products entering the U.S. from Canada and Mexico unless the neighbors stem the numbers of migrants and drugs.

The statement shows a much larger deficit than expected for the fiscal year and more than a billion for border security.

Trudeau has said that he plans on leading the Liberal Party into the next election, but some party members have said they don’t want him to run for a fourth term, and Freeland’s departure came as a strong blow to Trudeau’s administration.

Trudeau met with his lawmakers on Monday evening. Later, most of them brushed past reporters, declining to say what was said in the meeting.

Liberal lawmaker Chad Collins said they were “not united.”

“There’s still a number of our members that want a change in leadership. I’m one of them,” he said. “I think the only path forward for us is to choose a new leader.”

Opposition Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said that the government is losing control at the worst possible time.

“Justin Trudeau has lost control, but he’s hanging onto power,” Poilievre said. “All this chaos, all this division, all this weakness is happening as our largest neighbor and closest ally is imposing 25% tariffs under a recently elected Trump with a strong mandate, a man who knows how to identify weakness.”

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No Canadian prime minister in more than a century has won four straight terms.

The federal election has to be held before October. The Liberals must rely on the support of at least one other major party in Parliament, because they don’t hold an outright majority themselves. If the opposition New Democratic Party, or NDP, pulls support, an election can be held at any time.

“I’m calling on Justin Trudeau to resign. He has to go,” NDP leader Jagmeet Singh said.

Trudeau’s Liberal party needs the support of the NDP to stay in power. Singh didn’t say if he would vote no confidence in the government but said all options are on the table.

“Mr. Trudeau’s government is over,” Opposition Bloc Quebecois leader Yves-François Blanchet said. “He must acknowledge that and act accordingly. The departure of his most important ally, his finance minister, is the end of this government.”

Trudeau channeled the star power of his father in 2015, when he reasserted the country’s liberal identity after almost a decade of Conservative Party rule. But the son of late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau is now in big trouble. Canadians have been frustrated by the rising cost of living and other issues like immigration increases following the country’s emergence from the covid-19 pandemic.

“As a country we have to project strength,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said. “It’s chaos right now up in Ottawa.”

Trudeau’s legacy includes opening the doors wide to immigration. He also legalized cannabis and brought in a carbon tax intended to fight climate change.

Freeland said in the resignation letter that Canadians “know when we are working for them, and they equally know when we are focused on ourselves. Inevitably, our time in government will come to an end.”

Freeland’s resignation comes as Trudeau has been trying to recruit Mark Carney to join his government. Carney is the former head of the Bank of England and Bank of Canada.

    Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, right, and Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs Dominic LeBlanc arrive for a press conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press via AP)