Kim Campbell and Lawrence Freedman
In the first week of January, I was invited by the editors of this substack to write an essay about Canada. It seemed like a good idea at the time since, in a departure from our normal unexciting existence, Canada had become more interesting due to the political changes that were in the offing. In recent months, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had become increasingly unpopular and was facing pressure from even some members of his own caucus to step down as Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. In December 2024, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland resigned from the Cabinet (but not from Parliament) in a letter that was scathingly critical of the direction of the government.
It turned out that the Prime Minister had advised her that he wanted to move her out of the Finance portfolio to a more general responsibility dealing with the upcoming changes in the United States, but without an actual Ministry to run. As Minister of Trade in the first Trudeau government, Freeland had led the Canadian team in negotiating the replacement for NAFTA – (USMCA)- and in the course of this had earned the enmity of Donald Trump.
In moving to replace Freeland, Trudeau had announced that Mark Carney, former Governor of the Bank of Canada and of the Bank of England, would become Minister of Finance, even though he did not have a seat in Parliament. This surprise announcement was probably key to Freeland’s resignation but it seemed particularly unfortunate since Carney himself publicly disavowed the plan.
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