Canada's Chrystia Freeland quits cupboard to turn out to be Ukraine envoy

[ad_1] Canadian minister and member of parliament Chrystia Freeland has introduced she is going to step down from Prime Minister Mark Carney's cupboard and won't run for re-election.

Freeland will as an alternative tackle a brand new position as Canada's particular envoy to Ukraine, Carney mentioned.

She has been a fixture of Canadian politics since 2015, serving as former finance and overseas affairs minister, in addition to deputy prime minister. Freeland can be credited with forcing former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's exit after abruptly resigning from his cupboard final yr.

She introduced her resignation in a submit on X, writing that she made the choice "with large gratitude and somewhat unhappiness".

"I've determined to step down from cupboard at present and switch the web page on this chapter in my life. I don't intend to run within the subsequent election," she mentioned.

In his personal assertion, Carney thanked Freeland "for her extraordinary service within the Cupboard of Canada's federal authorities during the last decade".

He added that he requested her to function Canada's new Particular Consultant for the Reconstruction of Ukraine, along with her position as a Liberal MP.

Earlier this yr, Canada dedicated a further C$2bn ($1.46bn; £1bn) in army help to Ukraine. Carney later made a shock go to to Kyiv in August.

Freeland, a former journalist who's of Ukrainian heritage, has lengthy been a vocal supporter of Ukraine in its ongoing warfare with Russia. In 2014, she was positioned on a Kremlin record of westerners who have been banned from getting into Russia in retaliation of sanctions towards Moscow.

Since Could, she had been serving as Transport and Inner Commerce Minister below the Liberal Carney authorities, overseeing efforts to dismantle inner commerce limitations between provinces as Canada works to deal with the influence of US tariffs.

In 2020, Freeland grew to become the primary girl to be appointed as finance minister in Canada's historical past, the place she managed Canada's monetary response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

She abruptly resigned from that submit in December 2024 by way of a letter shared publicly on X, hours earlier than she was attributable to desk a authorities fiscal replace.

Within the letter, Freeland known as out former Prime Minister Trudeau for "expensive political gimmicks" and mentioned the 2 had been "at odds about the perfect path ahead for Canada".

The resignation triggered the autumn of Trudeau's political profession. He later resigned as prime minister in January after 9 years in workplace.

Freeland later ran to exchange Trudeau as Liberal Celebration chief however misplaced to Carney.

She can be credited with serving to renegotiate the present free commerce settlement between Canada, the US and Mexico throughout President Donald Trump's first time period in 2018. Trump later known as her "poisonous".

The USMCA commerce deal - or CUSMA in Canada - has been credited with serving to the nation largely keep away from a stiff 35% tariff fee imposed by Trump, who granted Canada an exemption for items lined by the free commerce settlement.

That deal is now up for one more spherical of renegotiations in 2026.

In her submit on X, Freeland mentioned her choice to resign was not made "to spend extra time with my household or as a result of the burden of elected workplace is simply too heavy to bear".

"For me and for my fantastic husband and youngsters, public service has been a privilege and never a sacrifice," she mentioned.

"I'm grateful for each minute, and I hope extra Canadian women and girls will step up and search the thrill and rewards of elected politics for themselves and for his or her households."