Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tapped Chrystia Freeland to be Canada’s first female finance minister on Tuesday as an ethics scandal that clipped her predecessor’s wings reverberates through the government.
“We do not want an election,” Trudeau said, “but it’s obvious that the Throne Speech we gave eight months ago is no longer relevant for the reality that Canadians are living and that our government is facing.” The former journalist, first elected in 2015, takes on the top finance job as Canada goes through its worst economic crisis since the Second World War.
The temporary shutdown of parliament effectively ends committee inquiries into the WE Charity scandal dogging the Liberals. Trudeau too is being probed over his family ties to the charity, which paid his wife, brother and mother for speaking engagements. “We all know it was the scandal that brought Mr. Morneau down,” Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre said.
her grandfather was a nazi and fun fact: canada has monuments honoring nazis.