Minister quits as Trudeau’s troubles grow

Canada’s Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has preempted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to replace her by resigning, and placing her resignation letter on the social media platform X.

Trudeau is considering to make Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney the next finance minister. That Freeland and Trudeau were at loggerheads became evident days ahead of Freeland’s resignation because they disagreed vehemently on spending.

She was to present her Budget Report to parliament which showed that the budgetary deficit was higher than stated earlier. Trudeau was increasing the expenditure by giving a GST holiday on toys, alcohol and food, and a $250 rebate for workers earning less than $150,000 or less. The budgetary outgo from these two measures would add up to $6.28 billion. It is something that Canada cannot afford, especially in the face of tariff threat of incoming US President Donald Trump. Trudeau however seems to press ahead with his giveaways in a bid to shore up his sinking political fortunes. That left Freeland no other option but to quit. In her resignation letter she pressed the point that Trump’s tariff threat has to be taken seriously. She wrote: “We need to take the threat extremely seriously. That means keeping our fiscal powder dry today, so we have reserves we may need for a coming tariff war.”

And to be able to do that, she cautioned, “That means eschewing costly political gimmicks, which we can ill afford and which makes Canadians doubt that we recognise the gravity of the moment.”

Trudeau has been following an erratic path in his political moves, both at home and abroad. He handled the killing of the Sikh leader Nijjar quite badly when he blamed Indian High Commission officials for being indirectly involved in it, while at the same time admitting that the Canadian government did not yet have the evidence.

He had recently made further amendments that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah had nothing to do with the incident. And he restricted the students’ visas, especially Indians, on the ostensible grounds that there was no sufficient residential accommodation for these overseas students. Then he was faced with the serious law and order problem of the Hindus of the Indian diaspora feeling unsafe even as the Sikh community turned hostile. His government is dependent on the support of the Sikhs’ New Democratic Party (NDP).

Similarly, on the home front, he has been losing ground because of economic pressures. The need of the hour was austerity of some kind, but he seems to believe like any politician that economic austerity would ensure his defeat in the next election, which is due next year.

After Trump announced his tariff war against Mexico and Canada, Trudeau went to the US to meet the American president-elect. It is not known whether he had any assurances from Trump, or he had returned empty-handed.

The charges that Trump made against Canada are the serious ones of illegal immigration into the US, and drug trafficking. Trudeau has not refuted the charges. It is to be seen whether Trudeau wants to make a deal with Trump on these tricky issues and avert the tariffs that Trump has threatened.

Meanwhile, the prime ministers of the Canadian provinces are meeting in an airport hotel in Ottawa to chalk out plans of strengthening policing on the border, and a one billion-dollar investment in putting more security forces to patrol the border. Ontario Prime Minister Doug Ford said that the provinces are willing to pitch in with the needed forces and budgets, but that it was the duty of the federal government to deal with the issue. The provincial prime ministers want to strengthen the border patrol, and deal with Trump to show that they are serious about dealing with his concerns.