Update: 3:31 p.m. Monday
You could not blame Prime Minister Justin Trudeau if he looks like he has seen a ghost.
After reportedly offering Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland a demotion during a Zoom meeting on Friday, he likely felt he was being visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future all at once when Freeland dropped her resignation letter on social media Monday.
Freeland added a lump of coal in her letter, using opposition-worthy rhetoric in citing “costly political gimmicks” on her way out the door, reference the “GST holiday.”
“On Friday, you told me you no longer want me to serve as your Finance Minister and offered me another position in the cabinet,” Freeland said in her letter. “Upon reflection, I have concluded that the only honest and viable path is for me to resign from the cabinet.”
The Liberals face the prospect of delivering the fall economic statement Monday afternoon with a back-up minister.
Adding to the chorus of chaos is NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, whose party holds the balance of power in Parliament. Singh formally said Trudeau should resign as Liberal leader.
More to come.
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Chrystia Freeland is resigning from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet.
In a statement issued on Monday morning, the Deputy Prime Minister says that Trudeau told her Friday he no longer wants her to serve as Finance Minister.
She says he offered her another position in cabinet which led to her resignation.
Freeland was scheduled to deliver an economic update on Monday afternoon.
In her statement, Freeland says she and the PM have found themselves at odds recently about the best path forward for Canada.
She adds they need to take U-S import tariff threats seriously.
While taking aim at what she calls ‘costly political gimmicks’ Freeland says they need keep reserves for the ‘coming tariff war’.
