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Since first taking office in 2015, beyond routine cabinet shuffles, several members of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet have resigned or been removed.
However, 2024 has proven to be a record year for departures.
The unexpected resignation of Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland on Dec. 16 on top of the exit of Housing Minister Sean Fraser brings the total in 2024 to nine.
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However, unlike Freeland’s announcement, other departing ministers have not offered evidence of a rift with the prime minister. In a letter sent to the PM, posted to her X account, Freeland appeared to allude to friction with Trudeau regarding how the federal government should respond to Donald Trump’s threat of a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian imports.
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“We need to take that threat extremely seriously,” she wrote. “That means keeping our fiscal powder dry today, so we have the reserves we may need for a coming tariff war. That means eschewing costly political gimmicks, which we can ill afford and which Canadians doubt that we recognize the gravity of the moment.”
Freeland’s membership in Trudeau’s cabinet began when she was elected in 2015. She has been his only finance minister, other than Bill Morneau, and wrote that despite her resignation from cabinet that she will seek re-election in her Toronto riding when an election is called.
‘My kids aren’t getting any younger’
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Fraser’s departure was different. In announcing he is stepping down as Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities, he also said he won’t re-offer in the next election.
In a news conference ahead of the planned fall economic update, the Nova Scotia Member of parliament said: “My kids aren’t getting any younger and they’re going to need their dad around,” he said, reports the Canadian Press. Fraser and his wife have struggled with childbirth challenges, including the loss of their one-day old daughter, Ruth.
Boissonnault’s blunder
In November, Edmonton MP Randy Boissonnault departed his post as employment minister after weeks of questions about his inconsistent claims about being Indigenous and the connection that has had with his business dealings.
He’s has apologized twice, once in Edmonton and again with the parliamentary committee on Indigenous and Northern affairs.
“It has been a difficult time to see our family’s history be challenged publicly and I recognize the ways in which I described my heritage have not always been as accurate as they could have been,” Boissonnault told the committee.
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Rodriguez and O’Regan first to leave
In the summer, Trudeau lost two long-time allies with the resignations of Pablo Rodriguez and Seamus O’Regan.
The former left his transportation post in September with designs on the leadership of the Quebec Liberal Party. He now sits in the House of Commons as an independent.
Seamus O’Regan, a Newfoundland and Labrador MP as well as Labour Minister, announced his resignation in July and said he would not seek re-election. “Ultimately, my family comes first. I need to be a better husband, son, uncle, and friend, and this job means, and deserves, a lot of time in order to do it well,” the National Post reported.
Lost in the shuffle?
In the fall, four cabinet ministers told Trudeau they will not seek re-election. B.C. MP Carla Qualtrough, Minister of Sport and Physical Activity; Quebec member Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of National Revenue; Ontario MP Filomena Tassi, Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario; and Quebec’s Dan Vandal, Minister of Northern Affairs.
Bibeau and Qualtrough have been in cabinet since 2015, serving in two or more other portfolios.
All four continue to sit in Cabinet, but their announcements fuelled speculation of an imminent cabinet shuffle.
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