
By Vjosa Isai
Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s former deputy prime minister, whose sudden resignation in December helped set the stage for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to step down, said late last week that she was running to replace him.
She posted her announcement Friday on the social platform X with a six-word sentence: “I’m running to fight for Canada.”
Freeland, 56, once a close ally of Trudeau who was often called his “minister of everything,” had served as deputy prime minister since 2019 and had long been viewed as a possible successor.
But the two had a bitter rift when Trudeau moved to demote her over a Zoom call in December, offering her a minister-without-portfolio role. Instead, she opted to resign and delivered a strong rebuke of Trudeau’s leadership as Canada prepares to deal with President-elect Donald Trump, who has threatened to apply a tariff on Canadian exports to the United States.
Her stinging departure destabilized Trudeau’s shaky grip on power. Three weeks later, on Jan. 6, he announced he would step down as Liberal Party leader and as prime minister once a new leader was in place.
Candidates for the leadership post will campaign before a national vote among party members in March. The new Liberal Party leader will also become prime minister of Canada and lead the party in a general election expected to take place in the spring.
Freeland said she would officially launch her campaign in person Sunday, most likely in Toronto, the electoral district she represents in parliament. She will face a stiff challenge persuading Canadians that she is the candidate best suited to take on the Conservative Party and its leader, Pierre Poilievre.
The Conservatives, who have a 25 percentage point lead over the Liberals in polls, have sought to portray Freeland as part of the problem given her once-close relationship with Trudeau and her key role in his governments since 2015, when he first became prime minister.
Trudeau’s popularity has nosedived in recent years as Canadians have become increasingly frustrated with persistently high cost of living on everything from housing to groceries.
Many Canadians have also started pushing back against the government’s immigration policy, which has resulted in 2.3 million people arriving in the country in the past two years.
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