Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland delivers remarks during Canada Day celebrations at LeBreton Flats in Ottawa, on July 1.Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland declined to say Tuesday whether she has received assurances from the Prime Minister that she will be staying in her cabinet post but acknowledged having had a series of in-depth meetings with Justin Trudeau over the last four days.
In her first news conference since The Globe and Mail reported last week that senior officials in the Prime Minister’s Office had concerns about Ms. Freeland, she was careful not to say what would happen next.
“I just consider it a real privilege every day to do my best to serve Canada and Canadians,” Ms. Freeland said.
The Finance Minister, who is also Deputy Prime Minister, said she had a long conversation with Mr. Trudeau on Friday, spent much of Saturday with him at events in the Greater Toronto Area and also travelled to Ottawa to meet with him again on Monday.
She twice avoided answering whether she had received assurances from Mr. Trudeau about continuing as Finance Minister, saying “he is really capable of speaking for himself.”
“To serve as minister in a cabinet, you do need the support and confidence of the Prime Minister; that is especially true for the deputy prime minister and finance minister,” Ms. 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.”
The Prime Minister’s Office declined Tuesday to share what message Mr. Trudeau gave Ms. Freeland in their private meetings. Instead it re-sent a statement that it first issued last week, which said the assertions reported by The Globe are “not accurate” and “the Prime Minister, and his office have full confidence in Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Chrystia Freeland.”
Ms. Freeland has been a constant beside Mr. Trudeau since the pandemic and often serves as his back-up at government and Liberal Party events. However, on Thursday, The Globe and Mail reported that senior officials in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) are concerned by her effectiveness in the role, and the relationship between the two offices has become tense.
Two sources said the view of some senior officials within the PMO, including chief of staff Katie Telford, is that Ms. Freeland has been ineffective in selling the government’s economic policies, which have come under assault from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.
Other criticism includes that Ms. Freeland is not doing enough to win over members of the Liberal caucus, the sources said. The Globe and Mail is not naming the sources because they were not authorized to discuss the matter.
Two Liberal Party sources said last week there is also unease in the PMO over the reaction in Washington to a controversial new tax on U.S. tech giants. The Globe and Mail is not naming the sources because they were not authorized to the internal debate.
One of the sources said the PMO had discussed a scenario about replacing Ms. Freeland with former Bank of Canada and Bank of England governor Mark Carney.
In response to The Globe’s reporting, Mr. Trudeau told a news conference last week that he had been trying to recruit Mr. Carney for years. He did not directly answer a question about Ms. Freeland’s future in the finance minister post but said he has “full confidence in her abilities.”
Political pressure has mounted on Mr. Trudeau to shuffle his cabinet, renew his senior staff and shift policy directions since the Conservatives won Toronto-St. Paul’s, which was considered a safe Liberal riding, late last month. Many former Liberal ministers have publicly called for his exit, but only one sitting MP has added his name to those demands.
During Tuesday’s news conference, Ms. Freeland noted that Mr. Carney is her son’s godfather. She said she speaks with Mr. Carney often and welcomed his support for the Liberals and the government but didn’t clarify when asked if she has also tried to recruit him.
Asked if Mr. Trudeau had raised concerns directly with her about her performance, Ms. Freeland again declined to disclose what the Prime Minister told her and expressed gratitude for the job she has.
“It is a huge privilege for me to serve Canada and Canadians as your Finance Minister and as your Deputy Prime Minister,” Ms. Freeland said.
The Globe’s reporting last week also increased expectations for a cabinet shuffle later this summer. Such a shake-up would also be expected to replace ministers who have decided not to run again in the next election, which Michele Cadario, who was deputy chief of staff to former prime minister Paul Martin, said in an interview is standard practice for governments with a year left in their mandates.
Ms. Cadario said it would be rare for a prime minister to give a cabinet colleague 100-per-cent certainty about their position while a shuffle is being contemplated, and Ms. Freeland would be very limited in what she could say about private meetings.
Still, based on the comments from Mr. Trudeau and Ms. Freeland, Ms. Cadario said her takeaway is that the government isn’t yet certain about its next move.
“What I read is leaving room to make decisions one way or the other,” she said.
Sharan Kaur, who served as deputy chief of staff to former finance minister Bill Morneau until he resigned in 2020, questioned the leaks to the press, which she said have ultimately undermined confidence in the cabinet selected by the Prime Minister.
“Both the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister have now had opportunities to put this rumour to bed. Instead, they have repeatedly left more and more room for speculation,” Ms. Kaur said.
“The main issue is that the PMO leadership is seeking a scapegoat for declining government support,” she added. “While Deputy Prime Minister Freeland’s communication skills are a concern, the real problem lies within the PMO itself. These leak tactics only highlight the lack of self-awareness and accountability at the core.”
Ms. Freeland is one of the government’s best-known ministers. According to an Abacus Data poll conducted July 4 to 9 and released Monday, 39 per cent of respondents were able to identify her from a picture. The next most-recognized person was Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly, who was identified by 20 per cent of respondents.
She has been at the helm of the most important ministerial portfolio for the government through a rocky time. While inflation has cooled and the Canadian economy avoided a widely predicted recession, households have been gripped by affordability challenges to which the government was late to respond.
Mr. Poilievre, who has made affordabillity his main focus since last summer, has enjoyed a double-digit lead over the Liberals ever since.
The government recognized its vulnerability on housing affordability issues late last summer and tried to pivot with a string of announcements over the last year aimed at boosting home construction. But many of the measures – such as GST rebates for rental unit construction or federal money to incentivize municipal zoning changes – won’t have an impact on housing supply and costs for some time.
The April budget also tried to make an argument for generational fairness, by funding spending on housing with an increase in capital gains taxes for businesses and some individuals. The Liberals expected the move would help win back voters, but the polling has shown no meaningful change since then.