Minister of Finance of Canada | Chrystia Freeland’s days could be numbered

(Ottawa) The fate of Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland rests in the hands of former Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney.

Mr. Carney, who agreed in September to act as special advisor to the Liberal Party of Canada (PLC) on economic growth, is once again the subject of an intense campaign of seduction on the part of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and of his close collaborators so that he jumps into the political arena.

Result: Mr. Carney has become in recent days the centerpiece of a ministerial reshuffle that the Prime Minister must make by mid-January. This reshuffle is a necessary step to replace ministers who will not run for office in the next elections. Mr. Trudeau also wants to adjust his ministerial team in anticipation of Donald Trump’s return to power at the White House on January 20.

Efforts to convince Mr. Carney were first reported by the daily The Globe and Mail last week. Five government and liberal sources confirmed this information to The Press over the weekend.

If Mr. Carney accepts Justin Trudeau’s offer, he would be given important functions, likely the Ministry of Finance.

Chrystia Freeland is due to present her fall economic statement this Monday. She would not be removed from the cabinet. She could be given responsibilities related to foreign affairs again.

In the statement she will present to the Commons, Ms.^me Freeland will confirm that she will be unable to keep the deficit below $40 billion, as she promised to do in her last budget tabled in April.

“The discussions are very serious. Mark Carney is thinking. Nothing is certain yet. But it will affect the cabinet reshuffle,” said a reliable government source who requested anonymity because she was not authorized to speak publicly about the ongoing negotiations.

Another government source, who also requested anonymity, recalled that Justin Trudeau’s Liberals have been courting Mr. Carney for more than four years. So far, the main interested party has declined all offers.

“When Finance Minister Bill Morneau resigned in 2020, he was offered the riding of Toronto Center that the minister held. It is difficult to find a riding more favorable to the Liberal Party in the country. But Mark Carney still refused,” noted this government source.

Chrystia Freeland’s days as Finance Minister could therefore be numbered if Mr. Carney accepts Justin Trudeau’s invitation. If the former governor of the Bank of Canada decides to take the plunge, the reshuffle could take place as early as Wednesday, it was argued. The Globe and Mail in its Saturday issue.

Against a backdrop of friction

These negotiations come as friction between the office of Justin Trudeau and that of Minister Chrystia Freeland has made headlines in the media in recent days.

“It would be a strange choice if Mark Carney decided to make the jump now. We are at the end of the mandate and there will be elections in 2025. It is still unacceptable, what is happening to Chrystia Freeland. If I were in his place, I wouldn’t find it funny at all,” commented a liberal source, who also requested anonymity in order to express himself more freely.

Citing anonymous sources, The Globe and Mail reported last Tuesday that tensions are increasingly palpable between Ms.^me Freeland and that of Mr. Trudeau.

These tensions relate to the government’s decision to offer a two-month GST holiday, from December 14 to February 15 – a measure that will cost the Canadian taxman at least $1.5 billion.

A second proposed measure – sending a $250 check to all workers earning less than $150,000 in the spring – was shelved after an outcry from opposition parties in the House of Representatives. communities.

Finance Ministry officials opposed both measures, saying they were costly and economically unbeneficial. Last week, Minister Freeland said she ignored “rumors” about her.

Justin Trudeau must reshuffle his cabinet in order to replace five ministers who do not intend to run for office in the next election, namely the Minister of Housing, Sean Fraser, the Minister of National Revenue, Marie-Claude Bibeau, the Minister of Northern Affairs, Dan Vandal, Minister of Sport and Physical Activity, Carla Qualtrough, and Minister of the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, Filomena Tassi.

Two ministers have also left the cabinet in recent weeks: the Minister of Transport, Pablo Rodriguez, who is running for the leadership of the Quebec Liberal Party, and the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and of Official Languages, Randy Boissonnault, who resigned amid controversy after falsely claiming to have Indigenous roots.