Former deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland has launched her leadership campaign with a video highlighting her confrontations with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.
As minister of foreign affairs during Trump’s first term, Freeland worked on renegotiating NAFTA and trade retaliation after U.S. tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum in 2018.
After she resigned from cabinet on Dec. 16, Trump said in a social media post that she is “totally toxic.” He also said that her behaviour was “not at all conducive” to making deals. “She will not be missed,” he said in the post.
Freeland has also criticized the Trump administration in the past, saying in one speech in 2018 that, “You may feel today that your size allows you to go mano-a-mano with your traditional adversaries and be guaranteed to win. But if history tells us one thing, it is that no one nation’s pre-eminence is eternal.”
In her Jan. 18 video, Freeland said that she is a “tough negotiator,” and that she fought to protect Canadian jobs and the economy during the first Trump presidency, “and we won.”
“I left Trudeau’s cabinet because I know what we need to do to win that fight again,” she said.
“Donald Trump and his billionaire buddies think they can push us around. Trump thinks we’re for sale, that he can take what isn’t his. We’re not going to let him,” she said, referring to Trump’s comments about Canada becoming the 51st U.S. state.
Freeland’s resignation on Dec. 16 came after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told her he wanted to move her from the position of finance minister to another cabinet post. In her resignation letter, Freeland said she had been “at odds” with Trudeau over the country’s finances. She accused Trudeau of using “costly political gimmicks” rather than focusing on a potential trade war with the United States.
Her resignation rattled the Liberal caucus, and an increasing number of MPs started to call for Trudeau to resign. Trudeau announced on Jan. 6 that he would step down as Liberal leader and prime minister once a replacement is selected by the party. He also asked the governor general to prorogue Parliament until March 24.
In a Jan. 17 op-ed in the Toronto Star, Freeland said she would take a strong stance against Trump’s proposed tariffs.
She said that retaliatory tariffs could be put on Florida orange growers, Michigan dishwasher manufacturers, and Wisconsin dairy farmers.
“If pushed, our response will be the single largest trade blow the U.S. economy has ever endured,” she said.
Freeland also criticized Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre in her Jan. 18 video, saying “he'll bow down to Trump and sell us out.”
Leadership Campaign
Several contenders for the Liberal leadership have already put their names forward, including former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney, who launched his leadership campaign on Jan. 16, and government House leader Karina Gould, who launched her campaign on Jan. 18.Other leadership contenders include Liberal MPs Chandra Arya and Jamie Battiste, and former Liberal MP Frank Baylis.
The new leader will be chosen on March 9.
