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Canada’s FM Freeland confident in role amid calls for her removal
Economic woes have caused the unpopularity of Justin Trudeau’s government to crater since last year, a trend that has no sign of easing
Toronto: Canada’s Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has said she has confidence she can continue to do perform her job “effectively” even as multiple reports in Canadian media have suggested that the Prime Minister’s Office wants her to be removed from the portfolio.
Economic woes have caused the unpopularity of Justin Trudeau’s government to crater since last year, a trend that has no sign of easing. Trudeau’s own unpopularity remains elevated, but Freeland, who is also the and Deputy Prime Minister, may be a convenient scapegoat to signal the government is seeking a change in the manner in which those chronic problems are being dealt with.
On Tuesday, during the course of a press conference, Freeland said, “What I will say to everyone here, speaking for myself, is I do have the confidence that I need to do my job effectively.” She also said she had met Trudeau on Friday and spent time with him on Saturday and Monday.
While in Washington last week, Trudeau defended Freeland, saying he had “full confidence in her.” That came after a report in the outlet Globe and Mail cited unnamed PMO officials as saying Freeland “has not been effective in delivering an upbeat economic message as the Liberal government struggles to reconnect with Canadians amid low approval ratings.”
A report in the outlet Toronto Star said Freeland could be shifted to Foreign Affairs, displacing incumbent Mélanie Joly, while former Governor of Bank of Canada and, more recently, Bank of England, Mark Carney, would replace her at Finance. Freeland assumed charge of the department in 2020 after the resignation of Bill Morneau.
Trudeau praised Carney last week, as he said, “I think he would be an outstanding addition at a time when Canadians need good people to step up in politics.”
Carney was Governor of Bank of Canada from 2008 to 2013 and headed Bank of England from 2013 to 2020.
But the larger problem could be with the PM’s own disapproval ratings, over 66 per cent, as per the public polling agency Angus Reid Institute’s Trudeau Tracker. In a survey published on July 3, the agency Leger noted three out of five Canadians (63%) disapprove of Justin Trudeau’s performance as PM, while around one-quarter (27%) approve.
Removing Freeland may not resolve that sentiment.
