Trying to have your political cake — and eat it, too

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This article was published 23/01/2025 (268 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In her pursuit of the Liberal party’s leadership, it’s difficult to decide whether Chrystia Freeland is steadfastly embracing her past or desperately trying to leave it behind.

One might argue the former finance minister and deputy prime minister in Justin Trudeau’s government is taking a situational approach, touting her accomplishments as the Liberals’ second-in-command while at the same time distancing herself from the boss she faithfully served alongside, but who has now become the party’s biggest liability.

Is it an approach that could deliver the prize she seeks — a chance to lead the Liberals into the next federal election? Very possibly, as Freeland has established herself as one of two viable candidates in this abbreviated leadership race (the other being former Bank of Canada and Bank of England governor Mark Carney). All she needs to do is convince Liberals they’re better off with an experienced insider at the helm than with an outsider with virtually no government experience.

And, should she succeed, how might this dual-political-personality tactic fare in a federal election with Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre as her main opponent? Well, that’s another matter altogether.

For the moment, it’s in the Liberal leadership contest that the success or failure of Freeland’s sleight-of-hand effort to highlight her experience as a cabinet minister, while somehow making her connections to Trudeau disappear, will largely determine the outcome of the race.

She was, without question, the highest-profile and arguably most effective member of the Liberal cabinet team, handling the most difficult portfolio and guiding Canada through negotiations of crucial trade agreements in North America and Europe.

She was clearly Trudeau’s rock during increasingly turbulent times — right up until the moment she wasn’t. After being informed by the prime minister that he intended to shuffle her out of finance and into a lesser portfolio — presumably to make room for the appointment of unelected Carney into the finance role — Freeland chose instead to resign from cabinet, a move that proved to be the last straw for Trudeau’s broken leadership.

There was little doubt Trudeau’s forced resignation would be followed quickly by a declaration of Freeland’s leadership intentions. And after announcing on social media that she’s “running to fight for Canada,” she quickly sought to differentiate herself from her former boss, saying she had increasingly found herself disagreeing with Trudeau in recent months and ultimately decided the government was headed in the wrong direction.

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Years of downward-spiraling poll numbers and the rise of Poilievre as the odds-on favourite to become Canada’s next PM could probably have helped her reach that conclusion a lot sooner, but that’s another issue. Here she is, front and centre in the race in which Liberals will basically decide who will lead them through a humbling term or two in the opposition benches.

And if it’s true that party leadership contests are essentially political popularity contests, it’s interesting that Freeland has decided one of the central elements of her appeal to Liberals is pointing out who doesn’t like her.

During an appearance in Winnipeg on Tuesday, Freeland proclaimed, “Donald Trump doesn’t like me … (and) I consider that to be the highest accolade.”

Having stared down U.S. negotiators in the last renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, in a way that prompted first-term Trump to describe her as “nasty,” is undoubtedly a feather in her cap, but it’s going to take more than that for Freeland to convince her party she’s the best choice as their next leader.

Outrunning her past while at the same time clinging to it might turn out to be as impossible as it sounds.