With zero prime ministerial strategy, Chrystia Freeland seized the narrative, and dealt a deadly blow to Trudeau’s future. The Prime Minister’s Office is solely responsible for this crisis.
By Sheila Copps
First published in The Hill Times on December 23, 2024.
OTTAWA—Politics 101: Do not fire your most senior minister by Zoom.
And if a firing is in the works, be prepared for all eventualities, including a resignation.
At the Liberal Christmas gathering last week, senior ministers and MPs were privately shaking their heads at the incompetent way the deputy prime minister and finance minister was terminated.
They also wondered exactly what the prime minister’s office was doing on the weekend to prevent expected fallout from the Chrystia Freeland departure.
Chief of Staff Katie Telford was busy posting on social media, but not about politics. “We got away and spent a holiday season weekend in New York City! It was the best. We saw the lights, some stars (on stage!) and did a lot of walking and talking. Thanks to those who tried to minimize the phone calls….”
Lovely for her family. Not so lovely for the country.
The chief of staff should have realized that after her boss fired Chrystia Freeland, there would be pushback from the minister. Freeland is not the first finance minister to be fired, nor will she be the last.
With zero prime ministerial strategy, Freeland was able to pen her version of the exit, seizing the narrative, and dealing a deadly blow to Trudeau’s future. The Prime Minister’s Office is solely responsible for the crisis.
When then-prime minister Jean Chrétien fired Paul Martin from the finance portfolio, the move actually averted a major financial crisis.
At the time, Martin and his caucus supporters were working internally to force Chrétien’s resignation.
The two had run against each other for the top job, and Martin kept his leadership ambition active by taking over the party apparatus, including the installation of a party president who spent most of his time attacking the leader.
But Chrétien was not about to be moved, and to be fair, his personal popularity and polling numbers were robust enough that most of the caucus did not join in moves to destabilize his leadership.
Martin was getting impatient, and so his team hatched a plan to announce his resignation as finance minister at a Montreal meeting of the International Monetary Conference, including senior global banking officials and finance ministers in June 2002.
His intention was to drop the financial bomb on the world, and cause a run on the Canadian dollar to force the prime minister out.
Chretien got wind of the plot on a Saturday when a truck was seen at the department of finance exporting shredded documents from the minister’s office.
Chretien’s riposte was to get ahead of the Martin narrative, and to fire him.
Martin was informed that Sunday that he was fired, and he expressed absolute surprise at the decision.
But, in the end, the Monday meeting was chaired by newly-minted finance minister John Manley, whose fiscal rectitude and legal tax experience calmed international waters.
Martin’s attempted coup was foiled by the Prime Minister’s Office. As soon as they got wind of the shredders at Finance, instead of waiting, they elevated it to a firing offence.
Chinese military general Sun Tzu is said to be the originator of the proverb “keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”
It is the job of the prime minister’s inner circle to keep enemies close. In the case of Freeland, she had been one of Trudeau’s most loyal defenders, so her visceral and very public reaction to the firing could have been predicted.
Caucus members know that Freeland was previously viewed by the PMO as a potential future replacement for Trudeau.
Other ministers are now wondering if the prime minister could treat the most senior minister this way, what could happen to them?
As soon as the proposed cabinet shuffle occurs, there will be more public declarations from those who have been passed up for the top jobs.
What should have been a year-end celebration of some big wins on the social policy and housing fronts is instead a crisis of unprecedented proportions inflicted by the incompetency of the prime minister’s inner circle.
At one time, several caucus members called for the firing of the chief of staff. That call went unheeded.
It took more than two years for caucus to convince the PMO that the government needed to support its climate change strategy with paid advertising.
PMO’s refusal to brief caucus or seek ministerial advice before promoting issues like the ill-conceived GST holiday created this crisis.
Trudeau will pay the price for an inner circle that has lost its way.
Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.
