‘I Was Driving Too Fast’: Freeland Responds to Getting Speeding Ticket in Alberta

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland holds a press conference on Parliament Hill, in Ottawa, June 14, 2023. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrysia Freeland has apologized after being fined $273 for speeding at 132 km/h on a northern Alberta highway on Aug. 15.

“I did get a speeding ticket driving between Grand Prairie and Peace River,” the minister said when asked about the report during a press conference in Prince Edward Island on Aug. 23.

“I was driving too fast and I won’t do it again.”

The news, which was first reported by The Counter Signal, was confirmed by Ms. Freeland’s office on Aug. 23. Her office said the deputy prime minister paid the ticket.

According to Katherine Cuplinskas, the minister’s senior communications advisor and press secretary, Ms. Freeland was driving a rental car at the time. The $273 fine indicates Freeland was driving 32 km/h over the posted speed limit.

Ms. Freeland has previously said she does not own a vehicle but did not mention that as a federal minister, she rents a car and driver.

“A fact that still shocks my dad is that I don’t actually own a car,” Ms. Freeland told reporters during an event in Prince Edward Island in July.

Ms. Freeland added that she lives close to the subway in Toronto and has a preference for walking or biking. “I can live that way, but I grew up in a small town in northern Alberta, and I got my driver’s license the day I turned 16,” Ms. Freeland said.

On July 31, Blacklock’s Reporter cited expense records showing that Ms. Freeland used a chauffeured car 11 times in the past two years to attend events in Toronto. She subsequently came under fire from Conservatives for her comments.

“Who among us hasn’t ‘forgotten’ that they have a taxpayer-funded car and driver when lecturing Canadians about walking, riding your bike and taking the subway as Liberals punish everyone by tripling their carbon tax? Hypocrites,” Tory Deputy Leader Melissa Lantsman said on platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

“Melissa, I am disappointed to see you peddling blatant misinformation,” Ms. Freeland responded on the platform. “I ride my bike to meetings in Toronto—because I live in the community I represent in the centre of this great city—and I take taxis to the airport.”