Canada's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland speaks during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, on Dec 3, 2024. OTTAWA: Canada's Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland quit on Monday after clashing with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on issues including how to handle possible US tariffs, dealing an unexpected blow to an already unpopular government.
Freeland quit just hours before she was due to present a fall economic update to parliament. The document showed the minority Liberal government had run up a 2023/24 budget deficit of C$61.9 billion, much higher than predicted. Trudeau can be toppled if the opposition parties unite against him on a vote of no confidence, though that cannot happen until next year.Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said the government was spiralling out of control.
Trudeau has been under pressure for months from Liberal legislators alarmed by the party's poor polling numbers, in part due to unhappiness over high prices, and the loss of two safe parliamentary seats in special elections."This is quite a bombshell," said Nelson Wiseman, political science professor at University of Toronto."I think the problem the Liberals have is that they have no mechanism to remove Trudeau. Only a full blown caucus revolt could do that.
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