Freeland will move to U.K. for new job at prestigious Rhodes Trust

OTTAWA – Liberal MP Chrystia Freeland will move to Oxford, England, to take on a new position next summer administering the Rhodes Trust, the educational charity confirmed Thursday.

The charity is famous for its prestigious Rhodes Scholarship, which offers students from around the world the chance to study at the University of Oxford.

It announced Wednesday evening that Freeland has been appointed CEO of the Rhodes Trust and Warden of Rhodes House, a building on the university’s campus, starting July 1, 2026.

Spokesperson Babette Littlemore confirmed by phone Freeland will move to Oxford for the role.

But Freeland herself has not announced plans to resign as a member of Parliament.

Freeland’s office did not respond to calls or emails Thursday.

Her local Liberal riding association for University—Rosedale did not have information related to her new role, presumed departure or preparations for an eventual candidate nomination race for a byelection.

Neither the Prime Minister’s Office nor the House of Commons Speaker’s office had further information.

The Rhodes Trust press release that announced her appointment includes a quote from Freeland saying she’s honoured to take on the role with her alma mater.

“Having personally benefited from a Rhodes Scholarship, I know how deeply transformative and influential it can be on the lives and futures of our scholars. The experience helped shape my international outlook and played a defining role in guiding my subsequent career,” she said.

Freeland earned a degree in Slavonic Studies at the University of Oxford in the early 1990s.

The former finance minister and deputy prime minister was in the running for the Liberal party leadership earlier this year and ran a scrappy campaign that positioned her early on as the candidate who would bring the most aggressive fight to U.S. President Donald Trump in his trade war against Canada.

She ultimately lost to Mark Carney, who became prime minister in March. Freeland served dual roles in Carney’s cabinet as internal trade minister and transport minister, and led a push to reduce internal trade barriers in Canada.

She abruptly stepped down from cabinet in September to take on a special role representing the Carney government on matters dealing with the reconstruction of Ukraine.

Freeland developed a reputation as one of the staunchest defenders of Ukraine in its war against Russia, and led an international push to seize Russian assets for the purpose of rebuilding Ukraine.

She had posted a letter on social media mid-September that stated she would leave cabinet and would not seek re-election. Since then, she has kept a low profile and largely remained out of the news.

Freeland worked as a journalist in Kyiv and Moscow for the Financial Times, the Economist and the Washington Post, and speaks Ukrainian and Russian. She returned to Canada and worked as an editor for The Globe and Mail in the late 1990s, and eventually for Reuters. 

She authored books about income disparity and the rise of oligarchs in post-Soviet countries.

The five-time MP was first elected to the House of Commons in 2013, two years before Justin Trudeau became prime minister when he won a majority mandate in 2015.

Freeland entered cabinet immediately, first in trade and then in foreign affairs, and was a driving force in Canadian politics throughout the past decade.

She helped save an endangered trade deal with the European Union and steered Canada through the renegotiation of the continental trade pact during Trump’s first term in the White House.

Trudeau named her deputy prime minister in late 2019, and she became the first woman appointed as federal finance minister in 2020. In that role she oversaw historic emergency spending during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On the day she was set to present a major fiscal update in December 2024, Freeland instead resigned and publicly attacked Trudeau on fiscal policy measures — a key event that led to Trudeau’s resignation on Jan. 6 at the start of this year.

She is married to New York Times journalist Graham Bowley. The couple has two daughters and a son.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 20, 2025.

— With files from Dylan Robertson