What Trudeau and Freeland said about each other after prime minister announced plan to resign

Freeland's resignation sparked heightened speculation about Trudeau's departure

Published Jan 06, 2025  •  Last updated 0 minutes ago  •  2 minute read

Better days: Justin Trudeau and Chrystia Freeland pose before tabling of the Fall Economic Statement in in 2022. In response to today's announcement she responded tersely on X, thanking him for his service. Photo by THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

After Justin Trudeau’s announced that he intends to resign, he was asked about the departure of his former deputy prime minister, Chrystia Freeland, and how it acted as a “catalyst” for the end of his political career.

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Her own resignation announcement on Dec. 16, sparked heightened speculation about Trudeau stepping down as Liberal leader and prime minister – not to mention the possibility that the Liberals could choose her as his successor.

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“Chrystia has been by my side for close to 10 years now,” Trudeau said Monday. “She has been an incredible political partner through just about everything we have done as a government and as a party for the past decade. I’d really hoped she would agree to continue as my deputy prime minister and take on one of these most important files that not just this government, but this country is facing but she chose otherwise.”

However, he said he was not about to reveal their actual conversation about his decision to remove her from the finance minister post. “I am not someone who is in the habit of sharing private conversations.”

Freeland’s response on X, a short while later, was terse: “I thank Justin Trudeau for his years of service to Canada and Canadians. I wish him and his family the very best.”

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According to Freeland’s resignation letter, posted on her X account, she resigned afterTrudeau telling her he was removing her from the finance minister post.

“To be effective, a Minister must speak on behalf of the Prime Minister and with his full confidence. In making your decision, you made clear that I no longer credibly enjoy that confidence and possess the authority that comes with it,” she wrote in her letter.

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That letter also expressed concerns about strategies for responding to the income U.S. administration. Rather than the previously announced temporary GST holiday, she asserted the need to keep fiscal reserves available for a possible trade war with the U.S.

Now, she may play an even larger role in that potential clash – one that president-elect Donald Trump seems unlikely to welcome.

“Her behavior was totally toxic, and not at all conducive to making deals which are good for the very unhappy citizens of Canada,” he wrote on X. “She will not be missed!!!”

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