In what’s being described as a “crisis of leadership,” Canada’s federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland resigned on the day the government’s fall economic update was tabled in Parliament.
Freeland resigned on social media, stating that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had asked her to step down as finance minister and take another ministerial role in his cabinet.
“On Friday, you told me you no longer want me to serve as your Finance Minister and offered me another position in Cabinet. Upon reflection, I have concluded that the only honest and viable path is for me to resign from Cabinet,” wrote Freeland on social media.
The resignation came hours before Trudeau’s Liberal government was to table its fall economic update in Parliament.
However, Liberal House leader Karina Gould still managed to introduce the government’s fall economic statement in Parliament as planned.
The Department of Finance, which Freeland previously ran, unveiled a current deficit of $61.9 billion for the 2023-24 fiscal year.
The deficit far exceeded the projected $40.1 billion that was the government’s original target.
The economic update also included several previously announced measures such as the year-end tax holiday for consumers and removal of a 30% investment cap on pension funds.
However, the fall economic update was largely overshadowed by Freeland’s abrupt resignation from Trudeau’s cabinet, an event that has thrown the Liberal government into disarray.
Opposition politicians have seized on Freeland’s resignation and are demanding that Trudeau resign and that a federal election be called.
