Every Wednesday, our parliamentary correspondent in Ottawa Marie Vastel analyzes a federal political issue to help you better understand it.
The international order has entered a “new era” following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Democracies must rethink the global geopolitical order and band together economically to stand up to the autocracies of the planet more than ever. This new foreign policy doctrine was not professed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, or even by Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly. But by Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, who was in Washington last week. An intellectual statement that she allowed herself to preach without consulting her colleagues internally, but which nevertheless embarrassed them as well as her boss.
Chrystia Freeland appeared before the Brookings Institution, an American think tank, to set out her vision for this “new economic path that the democracies of the world can chart together”. The latter must join forces to supply each other and no longer depend on autocracies likely to extort them. The Canadian Deputy Prime Minister did not hesitate to criticize Russia and China, with harsher words than those used publicly until now by her government.
Until then, M.me Freeland deviated only slightly from the positions of his government.
But two short sentences from his 40-minute speech particularly raised eyebrows.
“We must then be ready to take some political losses at the national level to safeguard the economic security of our democratic partners,” she further ruled. “Canada must—and will—show” generosity to its allies “by, for example, accelerating the energy and mining projects that our allies need to heat their homes and manufacture electric vehicles. »
Two little sentences that the Bloc Québécois picked up in the Commons and that the Ministers of the Environment and Natural Resources, Steven Guilbeault and Jonathan Wilkinson, had to explain. Their offices were not consulted by that of the Deputy Prime Minister, prior to her speech. That of Minister Joly either.
At odds with the boss
However, Justin Trudeau asserted this summer, when the visit of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz reignited discussions surrounding the approval of natural gas projects to supply Europe, that “there was never a plan to ‘viable business so far’. The Prime Minister and his ministers emphasize the economic potential to make Canada one of the world’s leading producers of critical minerals. But they also pride themselves on having strengthened the independence of the environmental assessment process for energy projects.
The words of M.me Freeland may worry the Aboriginal communities that ministers Guilbeault and Wilkinson try to reassure when discussing potential development. They could also provide ammunition to the Conservative opposition, which likes to accuse the Liberal government of holding back the development of energy projects with an approval process that is too slow and too complex. There is also a risk in promising allies and local companies rushed projects that we do not intend to deliver.
A second speech by Mr.me Freeland, in Gatineau this time on Monday, made no further mention of its promise to accelerate energy projects and rather only repeated the potential of Canada’s critical mineral reserves.
The misstep of the Deputy Prime Minister also seemed to undermine some of the main political legacies that Justin Trudeau hopes to leave: the fight against climate change and reconciliation with Indigenous peoples through consultation. As for the survival of democracy in the world, the Prime Minister also likes to talk about it often. “He is somehow outdone by his number two,” observes a government source, who preferred to remain anonymous to speak freely, like all the people consulted for this article.
A lone player
The Liberals all agree that they see no malice behind this grand speech by Chrystia Freeland. The Deputy Prime Minister is simply known for being more solitary than her cabinet colleagues.
His Washington presentation demonstrated this. Mme Freeland also said in a press briefing, still in the American capital, that Russia should be excluded from the International Monetary Fund and the G20 – which, however, requires a consensus of the nineteen other countries, notes an internal source. . “No one is against this virtue, but the reality is a bit more complicated,” this person said, echoing other comments shared following the speech.
“It is certain that she went to Washington to play the role of Chrystia Freeland, more than to play the role of Minister of Finance of Canada”, comments the first source.
Recent rumors sent Mme Freeland to land an international position, since the arrival of Pierre Poilievre at the head of the Conservative Party has given Justin Trudeau the desire to run for the next election and therefore to delay the holding of a possible race for his succession . The Deputy Prime Minister, whose mother is of Ukrainian origin, is also very concerned about the war in that country.
By appointing Chrystia Freeland to the post of number two in his government – and thus resuming a liberal tradition that had been abandoned by conservative governments since 2006 – Justin Trudeau gave her the latitude to step out of her simple finance portfolio. Some in government and cabinet, however, take little notice when she ventures into their flowerbeds.
After last week’s speech, Justin Trudeau’s office may now also be hoping for Chrystia Freeland to take a few less liberties.