Acadian Minister Dominic LeBlanc will now occupy the position of Minister of Finance of Canada, left vacant Monday by the surprise resignation of Chrystia Freeland, the Prime Minister’s former right-hand woman, the same day she was to submit her fall economic statement.
“It is a tremendous privilege to serve as Minister of Finance. I will dedicate myself to it body and soul,” Minister LeBlanc promised to journalists gathered in the freezing cold in front of Rideau Hall late Monday afternoon.
His swearing in took place just hours after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau approached him about taking on this important federal government position.
This appointment comes in the middle of a leadership crisis for Justin Trudeau. His deputy prime minister, Chrystia Freeland, declared Monday morning on social networks that she “disagreed” with the prime minister “on the best path forward for Canada.” She left her post as minister immediately, and she did not present her fall economic statement herself.
The new Minister of Finance was reassuring about the current crisis. “I am very confident that I can do the job that needs to be done. We are a government that had the support of the House in several votes of confidence last week,” he indicated.
Already Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs, the New Brunswick politician was given a new portfolio two days after his 57e birthday. According to our information, he will shortly relinquish his responsibilities at Public Security, but will retain the portfolio of Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs.
Financial skills
Questioned by journalists outside the Governor General’s residence, Mr. LeBlanc did not specify whether he was the Prime Minister’s first choice for this portfolio.
For several weeks, rumors had it that Prime Minister Trudeau would replace Chrystia Freeland with Mark Carney, former governor of the Bank of Canada.
“We should talk to the Prime Minister about these issues. I spoke to him this afternoon. He asked me to take on this responsibility [aux Finances]to remain Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, to assume the role of Chairman of the Canada-United States Cabinet Committee and to remain very focused on border security,” he explained.
Mr. LeBlanc’s knowledge of finance and economics remains unclear. Before entering politics, he studied at the University of New Brunswick, then at Harvard Law School, before working as a lawyer in New Brunswick.
Complex task
Minister LeBlanc therefore inherits the task of defending Ottawa’s latest economic plan, which includes a larger than expected deficit, estimated at $48.3 billion, at a time when the next President of the United States, Donald Trump, threatens the country with customs tariffs of 25%.
He was also present at the Thanksgiving dinner which brought together Mr. Trump and Justin Trudeau in Florida at the end of November.
Dominic LeBlanc will chair the committee on relations between the United States and Canada. He said on Monday that he wanted to devote himself to the issue of the rising cost of living as the new Minister of Finance.
His mission will be complicated by the fact that the very survival of the government seems to hang by a thread. The Conservatives and the Bloc, who are demanding new elections, joined the New Democratic Party on Monday, a former ally of the Liberals in Parliament, whose leader, Jagmeet Singh, officially requested the resignation of the Prime Minister.
Close to Justin Trudeau and first elected in 2000, Mr. LeBlanc has held the important position of Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs since 2020. The Prime Minister also entrusted him with additional responsibility for the Ministry of Public Safety in 2023 to turn the page on a controversy that stuck to the skin of the previous minister, Marco Mendicino.
Since 2000, he has been re-elected seven times in the riding of Beauséjour, New Brunswick.
