Chrystia Freeland to become Canada’s first female finance minister

KEY FACTS

OTTAWA — Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland will become Canada’s first female finance minister, filling the gap left by Bill Morneau’s abrupt resignation on Monday evening.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will shift his deputy prime minister into the coveted finance portfolio Tuesday afternoon, the Star has confirmed.

The cabinet shuffle will see former minister Dominic Leblanc return to take over Freeland’s intergovernmental responsibilities, a portfolio the New Brunswick MP and longtime Trudeau friend previously held before he stepped aside to go through cancer treatment, a source said.

Trudeau is also expected to suspend Parliament for a short time in order to reset his minority government’s agenda. CBC reported Trudeau would prorogue Parliament next month and return with a new speech from the throne and economic update in October.

Freeland takes over the finance role at a time when the Liberal government is projecting a $343-billion deficit. She will retain the title of deputy prime minister as the Trudeau government shifts its attention from managing the economic crisis created by COVID-19 to rebuilding the Canadian economy.

A former journalist and author, Freeland has held senior portfolios in the Trudeau cabinet. She will continue to manage Canada’s relationship with the United States in the run-up to this fall’s U.S. presidential election.

As international trade minister, Freeland concluded a free-trade agreement with the European Union. As foreign affairs minister, she led Canada’s renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, jockeying with the Trump Administration over steel and aluminum tariffs, and has been Trudeau’s right-hand minister dealing with the provinces through the pandemic.

The cabinet shuffle was prompted by Morneau’s abrupt resignation on Monday, which came weeks after he and Trudeau separately apologized for failing to remove themselves from a cabinet decision to give a sole-sourced contract to the WE Charity to administer a $544-million student volunteer program.

Aside from his daughters’ ties to WE Charity — one worked there, one spoke at a WE Charity event — Morneau later disclosed he had accepted two family trips from the organization, and belatedly reimbursed it $41,000 for the travel expenses.

More recently, Morneau was rumoured to have had major disagreements with Trudeau over how to navigate the economic crisis, which seemed to seal his political fate.

Morneau ended that speculation on Monday evening by announcing that he would resign, both from cabinet and as the member of Parliament for Toronto Centre.

“As we move to the next phase of our fight against the pandemic and pave the road towards economic recovery, we must recognize that this process will take many years,” Morneau told a hastily scheduled news conference, at which he said he had never intended to seek a third term in the House of Commons.

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“It’s the right time for a new finance minister to deliver on that plan for the long and challenging road ahead.”

The Prime Minister’s Office refused to confirm details of the cabinet shuffle on Tuesday morning.