Canada's History of Turmoil: Prime Ministers and Their Finance Ministers

📆 18/12/2024 19:46:00
📰 CBCNews

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Canadian Politics,Prime Minister,Finance Minister

This article explores the recurring challenges faced by Canadian Prime Ministers and their Finance Ministers in maintaining a harmonious working relationship. It highlights the inherent conflicts arising from differing priorities, such as the Prime Minister's focus on voter-pleasing programs and the Finance Minister's duty to manage the budget. The recent breakdown between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and former Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland serves as a prime example of this tension. The article delves into past instances of conflict, such as those between Lester B. Pearson and Walter Lockhart Gordon, to illustrate the long-standing nature of this issue in Canadian politics.

Finance ministers and prime ministers in Canada have a long history of struggling to stay on the same page. The collapse this week of the relationship between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and former finance minister Chrystia Freeland is just the most recent example of what happens when this relationship breaks down.

CBC News took a look at some of the other notable conflicts between prime ministers and finance ministers that have challenged federal governments in the past.First elected as a Liberal MP in 1962 in the Toronto riding of Davenport, Walter Lockhart Gordon was Lester B. Pearson's minister of finance from 1963 to 1965.

"It was a humiliation for a brand new government," Stephen Azzi, a professor of political management at Carleton University, told CBC News. "It was presented on the 59th day of the government's life and almost immediately they were backpedaling from it." Gordon returned to cabinet from the backbench in 1967 to serve as president of the Privy Council after Pearson promised that he would be tasked with directing the work of cabinet. Azzi said that when that promise did not materialize, Gordon decided in 1968 to step down from cabinet a second time.First elected in 1962, John Turner held a number of cabinet posts, including justice and consumer affairs, before Pierre Elliott Trudeau made him finance minister in 1972.

Randy Besco, a political science professor at the University of Toronto, said a common reason for disagreements in governments is that the finance minister doesn't want to spend money but everyone else does. When Chrétien won his third majority, it began to look like there was never going to be a time for Martin to step up to the role of prime minister. That put a strain on the pair's working relationship.

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