OTTAWA — Former finance minister Chrystia Freeland will announce her intention to run for the Liberal social gathering management simply earlier than the U.S. presidential inauguration, a supply near her marketing campaign workforce mentioned Monday.
OTTAWA — Former finance minister Chrystia Freeland will announce her intention to run for the Liberal social gathering management simply earlier than the U.S. presidential inauguration, a supply near her marketing campaign workforce mentioned Monday.
The supply, who was not approved to talk publicly concerning the announcement, additionally mentioned Freeland’s first coverage promise will probably be to impose dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports to match the tariffs U.S. president-elect Donald Trump has vowed to impose on Canada.
Trump has promised to impose 25 per cent tariffs on all imports from Canada and Mexico on Jan. 20, the day he’s inaugurated.
The federal and provincial governments are working collectively to set retaliatory tariffs to reply to that risk, attempting to focus on U.S. exports that may wreak most harm on areas essential to Republican leaders together with Trump.
Freeland was a key participant in responding to Trump tariffs throughout his first time period within the White Home. Because the minister of international affairs she oversaw a dollar-for-dollar tariff response to Trump’s imposition of import taxes on Canadian metal and aluminum in 2018.
Freeland initially led Canada’s cupboard committee working to mount the response this time however has not been at that desk since she resigned from cupboard Dec. 16.
That bombshell transfer — which got here after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau advised her he was changing her as finance minister with former Financial institution of Canada governor Mark Carney — set in movement the ultimate chapter of Trudeau’s tenure on the prime. It ignited a firestorm of criticism inside his caucus that finally led him to say final week that he would step down as quickly as a brand new chief is chosen.
The social gathering has now set the date for that as March 9, and candidates have till Jan. 23 to declare their intention to run.
The Freeland marketing campaign supply mentioned sustaining Canada’s robust relationship with the U.S. is shaping her early coverage choices, and the dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs could be developed in live performance with the provinces.
Trudeau is about to fulfill Wednesday with the premiers in Ottawa to finalize Canada’s response plan.
Freeland is predicted to be joined within the race by Carney, and former B.C. premier Christy Clark although neither have but formally declared their candidacies.
Ontario MP Chandra Arya and former Montreal MP Frank Baylis are the one two to formally be a part of the competition.
A supply near Business Minister François-Philippe Champagne, who was not approved to talk publicly concerning the matter, mentioned he plans to disclose Tuesday whether or not he’ll run, making his announcement throughout a chat on the Canadian Membership in Toronto hosted by enterprise journalist Amanda Lang.
Freeland, Carney, Clark, Arya, and Baylis are among the many seven potential management candidates with kinds posted on the Liberal social gathering web site to gather the signatures they require to enter the race.
Cupboard ministers Karina Gould and Jonathan Wilkinson are additionally on that record.
Nova Scotia MP Jaime Battiste mentioned Monday he’s “laying the groundwork for an exploratory workforce” for a bid to make historical past as the primary Indigenous prime minister.
Whereas Champagne has lengthy been floated in media studies as a possible management contender, he seems to don’t have any publicly obtainable web page on the social gathering web site looking for signatures.
To launch a management run, every candidate should accumulate 300 signatures from registered Liberals, together with no less than 100 from three completely different provinces or territories.
Transport Minister Anita Anand and Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon took themselves off an inventory of doable contenders over the weekend, whereas Overseas Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly and Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc introduced final week they might not run.
They dropped out shortly after the social gathering introduced the tight timeline and a steep entrance charge of $350,000.
MacKinnon mentioned in a social media publish on Sunday that he needed to enter to make sure robust bilingual illustration, however the “time obtainable doesn’t permit me to mount the sort of marketing campaign that I might need to run.”
Battiste additionally mentioned in his assertion that he is “absolutely conscious of the complexity” of elevating such a hefty sum in such a short while interval.
Additionally they face a fast-approaching cutoff date of Jan. 27 to enroll members eligible to vote within the race.
“There are time constraints, little question about it,” Liberal MP Yasir Naqvi advised reporters in Ottawa Monday, noting a federal election will comply with intently after the brand new chief is chosen. “It is essential we’ve got a robust chief in place as shortly as doable.”
Trudeau’s workplace confirmed the outgoing prime minister will chorus from weighing in in the course of the race and can stay impartial.
The social gathering’s management vote committee, led by former social gathering president Suzanne Cowan and the social gathering’s Quebec director Marc-Etienne Vien, is drafting the principles and procedures for the vote, whereas the management expense committee is engaged on setting the spending guidelines and limits.
Get together president Sachit Mehra introduced over the weekend that the committee has tapped Beatrice Keleher Raffoul to function the chief electoral officer for the vote.
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed Jan. 13, 2025.
Kyle Duggan, Mia Rabson and Emilie Bergeron, The Canadian Press
