After being informed by Justin Trudeau that he no longer wanted her to be the finance minister on Friday, but still apparently expecting her to present the fall economic statement on Monday, Chrystia Freeland instead submitted her resignation from cabinet:
In the National Post, John Ivison calls it her “gangster move” against Trudeau:
Who saw Chrystia Freeland pulling a gun, after Justin Trudeau unsheathed a knife?
The finance minister is an unlikely champion of the Chicago Way, but she has just pulled off a coup that may end up toppling this government.
Just hours before she was due to give her fall economic statement, she quit.
Despite the widespread media speculation about a falling out between Freeland and Trudeau, it’s a good bet that no one was more surprised at the finance minister’s gangster move than the prime minister.
Her resignation letter was savage. She said that on Friday, Trudeau had told her he no longer wanted her as finance minister and offered her another job in cabinet.
She said that she concluded she had no option but to resign because she had lost the prime minister’s confidence.
The casus belli was the multi-billion-dollar affordability package that included a two-month GST holiday and mailing $250 cheques to nearly 19 million working Canadians.
As the National Post reported late Sunday, Freeland had already reversed the government’s position on the rebate cheques that would have cost an estimated $4.68 billion. One person with knowledge of the plans said that the measure will not be in the fiscal update but the government hopes to take another look in the new year, if it can find another party to support it.
Oh, and the financial update Freeland was still expected to deliver after being underbussed by Trudeau? It apparently did get released:
You can always count on the Babylon Bee to find the most accurate and tasteful way to present the news:
