Canada’s Freeland called Trump a “bully.” she could be the next prime minister

After nearly a decade in power, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau finally bowed to a chorus of criticism and announced his resignation on Monday. The loudest critic is one of his most loyal and longest-serving deputies.

In December, then-Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland scolded Trudeau for pursuing “expensive political maneuvers,” referring to recent policy proposals including a two-month sales tax exemption and provides most workers with a tax rebate of CAD 250 (USD 175).

She wrote in her resignation letter that she and Trudeau “find ourselves at odds over the best path forward,” and quipped about her boss’s declining approval ratings: Canadians “know when we work for them, and they know it too.” When do we focus on ourselves,” Freeland said.

A few weeks later, Trudeau announced his resignation.

“Removing me from my role as leader of the Liberal Party campaign for the next election should also reduce the level of polarization we currently see in the House of Representatives and in Canadian politics,” he said when he resigned on Monday.

While Trudeau is already facing pressure from a disillusioned public and a growing opposition movement, Freeland’s letter is a stunning about-face for Trudeau’s once staunch ally.

Is this also her campaign manifesto? Members of Trudeau’s ruling Liberal party are now preparing to vie for leadership, and Freeland, 56, has been widely seen as one of the most likely contenders.

A poll conducted last week for CTV by Nik Nanos, a prominent Ottawa pollster, found that when Canadians were asked to choose from nine possible candidates for the Liberal leadership, they found the candidate most attractive. Freeland had the upper hand.

Canadian opposition politicians also appear to be eyeing Freeland as a possible successor. A video shared by Conservative Leader Pierre Poliyev last week focused on Freeland and Trudeau’s description of “lunatics” in government.

Who is Chrystia Freeland? “Minister of Everything”

Freeland is a longtime Liberal Party figure who has held a series of positions in the Canadian government, attracting international attention and occasionally being dubbed the “minister of everything” by local media.

Nelson Wiseman, an emeritus professor at the University of Toronto, told CNN, “Freeland is probably the most well-known cabinet minister outside the prime minister.”

During Trump’s first administration, Freeland, then foreign minister, had a high-profile conflict with the United States over Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada.

She has been closely involved in the tough negotiations to revise the long-standing North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which Trump has said he wants to renegotiate again.

“Canada basically gave the United States nothing in these negotiations,” Wiseman told CNN. “Trump basically turned over because image is everything for Trump in the renegotiation of NAFTA.”

Since then, Freeland has become a personal target of Trump, who recently criticized her as “totally toxic and not conducive to getting a deal done.”

Freeland said Trump acted as a “bully” in the negotiations after his son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner criticized her own negotiating tactics in a memoir.

Freeland was born in western Alberta to a Ukrainian mother and attended Harvard University before spending several years as a journalist covering Russia and Ukraine.

She subsequently worked in Canada and successfully ran for a seat in Parliament in 2013 within Trudeau’s Liberal Party. First as Minister of International Trade, then Minister of Foreign Affairs and finally Deputy Prime Minister.

Freeland was appointed to the post in August 2020 after Canada’s finance minister resigned amid an ethics scandal and left an economy reeling from the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In this role, she will be tasked with overseeing government financial reforms and cutting the deepening deficit. These responsibilities and the challenges associated with them led to a breakdown in her relationship with Trudeau when he introduced economic policies with which she disagreed.

Freeland has been an enthusiastic supporter of Ukraine’s fight against Russia. Dalhousie University professor Lori Turnbull told CNN her personal relationship with the conflict also worked to her advantage as a politician.

“There is a large Ukrainian diaspora community in Canada, and it was actually an advantage for her that she was able to speak to them in their language and identify with them,” Turnbull said.

Freeland played a key role in positioning Canada as a staunch supporter of Ukraine by pushing to freeze billions of dollars worth of Russian assets and provide Ukraine with a broad financial aid package.

“I really don’t think we can underestimate the extent to which the battlefield in Ukraine is a battleground between democracy and authoritarianism,” Freeland said in an interview at the Council on Foreign Relations in November. “I think they can definitely win. We just have to give them a little more support.

In the same interview, Freeland expressed support for Ukraine joining NATO.

Her hardline stance on Russia has led to her clashing with Moscow. In 2014, Freeland was one of 13 Canadian officials sanctioned by Russia. In response, she expressed her love for Russian language and culture, while also noting that she was “honored to be on Putin’s sanctions list.”

Freeland government?

In the eyes of Canadians, Freeland is a capable politician, but he has close ties to the government, which many people are dissatisfied with amid the economic downturn.

“Cristia is a mixed bag to me. I thought she did a great job negotiating the USMCA (United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement). She is a very capable young lady. She has a strong presence throughout her resume. “It’s shown in China,” retiree Rod Matheson, 66, told CNN. “It’s embarrassing that she’s the finance minister and the budget is never under control.”

“The deficit and the debt are out of control. It’s definitely going to hurt for a while, but now it’s time to cut spending,” Doug Gillis, 60, told CNN. “I know she’s running for Liberal leadership, but I kind of blame her because she’s in charge of the finances.” .So I don’t think she’s the right candidate.

Whoever succeeds Trudeau in the Liberal Party will likely be short-lived.

After Trudeau resigned, Parliament was suspended until March 24. That’s one reason Canada’s next prime minister may try to keep Parliament in suspended animation for as long as possible.

Wiseman told CNN: “It seems to me that the new prime minister has no incentive to reconvene parliament because then she would be running an election in which she was defeated.” Wiseman said: “What she can do is , once she becomes leader and Prime Minister, she can go to the Governor-General and ask for the dissolution of Parliament and the holding of elections.”

Nanos said the Liberals’ path to retaining power has been rocky, with polls showing the Conservatives leading in the upcoming election this fall.

“It’s going to be very difficult for the Liberals. They’re more than 20 points behind the Conservatives, who have had a double-digit lead for almost 18 months,” Nanos said. “Because they have been in power since 2015, there is a wave of change happening in the country right now, and that wave of change is being driven and led by the leader of the Conservative Party, Pierre Poilievre.”

The Canadian economy is already under pressure from inflation and high costs of living, and Donald Trump has added to the pain by threatening to impose tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico unless they take tougher action against immigrants.

Canada’s population continues to grow, in part due to record numbers of immigrants. But Freeland hinted that immigration numbers might be cut. After Trump was re-elected, Freeland said in an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that new immigrants must arrive in Canada in an “organized and systematic way.”

Whoever wins the Liberal leadership will face an uphill battle and may need to take the lead in reshaping the party, polling and analysts show. “I don’t think anyone expects the Liberals to win the next election. So the question is really who is going to rebuild the party,” Turnbull said.

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