Ottawa:
Soon after Chrystia Freeland’s sudden resignation, her cabinet colleague Dominic LeBlanc was sworn in as Canada’s new Finance Minister. Mr LeBlanc, a long-time ally of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, served as Public Safety Minister in his cabinet. The move comes at a time when Canada is grappling with a Can$62 billion deficit — about Can$22 billion more than initially projected– due to “unexpected expenses.”
In his new role, LeBlanc, 57, will be at the forefront of managing the ongoing economic challenges, including navigating the looming threat of US tariffs. The US is Canada’s main trading partner, with 75 per cent of its exports each year going to its southern neighbour.
About Dominic LeBlanc
The Prime Minister moved swiftly to fill the position vacated by Ms Freeland, by having Mr LeBlanc sworn in as finance minister at a ceremony at Rideau Hall late on Monday.
Since the Liberal Party’s victory in 2015, Mr LeBlanc has held multiple key cabinet positions, recently contributing significantly to creating Canada’s billion-dollar border program as the government’s public safety head and senior cabinet minister. The strategy was designed to address US concerns about migration and narcotics.
Seen as top fixer in Mr Trudeau’s cabinet, Dominic LeBlanc accompanied the Canadian Prime Minister to Florida last month to meet with US President-elect Donald Trump, underscoring his prominent role in international negotiations. He will also lead the Canada-US cabinet committee, formerly Ms Freeland’s role.
“We understand that cost of living for a huge, huge number of Canadians is a very significant issue and they expect their government to be focused on affordability issues,” Mr LeBlanc said after the ceremony.
Chrystia Freeland’s Resignation
Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s sudden resignation on Monday triggered political chaos and raised questions about the future of Prime Minister Trudeau’s leadership. Ms Freeland, who was clashing with Mr Trudeau on issues including how to handle possible US tariffs, said she was quitting because the Prime Minister asked her to take on a lesser post after the two had been arguing for weeks over spending.
The resignation of Ms Freeland, 56, who also served as deputy prime minister, was one of the biggest crises Mr Trudeau has faced since taking power in November 2015. It also leaves him without a key ally when he is on track to lose the next election to the official opposition Conservatives.
She quit just hours before she was due to present a fall economic update to parliament. The document showed the minority Liberal government had run up a 2023/24 budget deficit of C$61.9 billion, much higher than predicted.
Mr Trudeau can be toppled if the opposition parties unite against him on a vote of no confidence, though that cannot happen until next year. The potential threat to his future was underlined when a top member of the opposition New Democrats, who have been helping keep the Liberals in power, said the party would vote to bring down Trudeau next year unless he quit.
“If we’re coming up to a straight up non-confidence motion at the end of February, early March, that’s one of the tools that we have,” House of Commons leader for the NDP Peter Julian told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
Party leader Jagmeet Singh had earlier been less equivocal when asked about bringing down Trudeau, whom he insisted should resign.
