Ottawa:
Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland surprisingly resigned on Monday after disagreeing with Justin Trudeau over newly elected US President Donald Trump's tariff threats.
Freeland also resigned as finance minister, and her resignation marked the first open resistance to Prime Minister Trudeau from his cabinet and could threaten his grip on power.
Liberal party leader Trudeau is 20 points behind his main rival, conservative Pierre Poilievre, in the polls, who has tried three times since September to overthrow the government and force early elections.
“Our country faces a serious challenge today,” Freeland said in her resignation letter, pointing to Trump's planned 25 percent tariffs on Canadian imports.
“Over the past few weeks, you and I have been at odds over the best path forward for Canada.”
The former journalist was first elected to Parliament in 2013 and joined Trudeau's cabinet two years later as the Liberals came to power, taking on key posts including minister of trade and foreign affairs and leading free trade negotiations with the EU and the United States.
Most recently, she was tasked with helping lead Canada's response to moves by the new Trump administration.
Canada's most important trading partner is the United States, with 75 percent of annual exports going to its southern neighbor.
In her resignation letter, Freeland said Trudeau wanted to move her to another job, to which she responded, “I have come to the conclusion that the only fair and viable course of action is for me to resign from Cabinet.”
As Treasury Secretary, she explained the need to take Trump's threats “extremely seriously.”
She warned that this could lead to a “tariff war” with the United States and said Ottawa must keep its “fiscal powder dry.”
“That means avoiding costly political tricks, which we cannot afford,” she said in an apparent rebuke of a recent sales tax exemption that critics say was costly and aimed at bolstering the ruling Liberals' sagging political fortunes.
– Problems for Trudeau –
Professor Lori Turnbull of Dalhousie University called Freeland's departure “a total disaster.”
“It really shows that there is a crisis of confidence in Trudeau,” she said. “And makes it much more difficult for Trudeau to continue as prime minister.”
So far, the cabinet has sided with Trudeau when he has faced dissent from backstabbing MPs, noted Genevieve Tellier, a professor at the University of Ottawa.
Freeland's rejection of his economic policies is “a big problem,” she said, showing that his team is not as united behind him as some thought.
Freeland's departure comes on the same day she was due to provide an update on the country's finances, amid reports that the government would avoid Freeland's deficit forecasts in the spring.
“This government is in shambles,” Poilievre's deputy leader, Andrew Scheer, responded to Freeland's news, saying, “Even she has lost confidence in Trudeau.”
Housing Minister Sean Fraser, who also announced he was leaving politics on Monday, described Freeland as “professional and supportive”.
One of her closest friends and allies in the Cabinet, Anita Anand, told reporters: “This news has hit me very hard.”
Freeland said she would run for office in the next election, expected in 2025.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Our staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)