section_path: Resignation of Chrystia Freeland
section_name: Resignation of Chrystia Freeland
paragraph_text: Resignation of Chrystia Freeland
  
  On 13 December 2024, Trudeau informed Freeland in a Zoom call that he no longer wished to see her continue as finance minister. According to multiple sources, including The Globe and Mail and the Financial Post, Trudeau informed her that she would be replaced by Mark Carney; the latter also reported that Carney had accepted the offer. This development came after a months-long campaign by Trudeau to recruit Carney to the government. On the call, Trudeau indicated his wish for Freeland to remain in cabinet, and offered her a portfolio managing Canada's fraught relations with the US under the second Trump administration, but without a department. Freeland reportedly expressed her displeasure at the offer, telling Trudeau she could not credibly manage the file without a department. Freeland and her staff spent the weekend mulling her response. Meanwhile, Carney himself reportedly began having second thoughts about the offer over the same period.
  
  On Monday morning, 16 December, Freeland called Trudeau and informed him of her decision to resign from cabinet altogether. She subsequently shared her resignation letter on Twitter at 9:07 AM. In the letter, she stated "to be effective, a Minister must speak on behalf of the Prime Minister and with his full confidence. In making your decision, you made clear that I no longer credibly enjoy that confidence." Freeland's letter was described as being scathing in tone by multiple outlets, and publicized her recent disagreements with the prime minister. On the same day, after Freeland's resignation, Carney reportedly spoke directly with Trudeau and informed him that he would not join cabinet.
  
  Freeland's resignation occurred in the context of the incoming second Trump administration in the United States threatening to impose 25 per cent tariffs upon Canada, with Freeland writing to Trudeau that Canada faces a grave challenge due to this. The previous week, reports had circulated about a rift between the prime minister and deputy prime minister, with Freeland opposing Trudeau's recent promise of $250 cheques to working Canadians who earned $150,000 or less in 2023. In her letter, Freeland referred to the proposal as a "costly political gimmick" and argued that the Canadian government should " our fiscal powder dry today, so we have the reserves we may need for a coming tariff war."
  
  Freeland resigned hours before she was to announce the government's fall economic statement. Government house leader Karina Gould presented it in the House of Commons later that day. The statement showed a deficit of $61.9 billion for 2023–24, exceeding Freeland's target of $40.1 billion or less, and left Trump's tariff threats largely unaddressed.