PM Justin Trudeau appoints Dominic LeBlanc as Canada's new Finance Minister

Ottawa (The Uttam Hindu): Canada's Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc was appointed as the new Finance Minister on Monday in a swearing-in ceremony held at the Rideau Hall in Ottawa. The new Finance Minister said after the ceremony that his top priority will be lowering the cost of living for Canadians and strengthening ties with the United States.

LeBlanc, a personal friend of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau since childhood, joined Trudeau for dinner with US President-elect Donald Trump at the Mar-a-Lago resort recently. The 57-year-old New Brunswick MP, first elected in 2000, is the son of former Governor-general Romeo LeBlanc. LeBlanc said he will keep the post of Minister of Inter-governmental Affairs.

Chrystia Freeland abruptly resigned as the Finance Minister on Monday morning in a letter to Trudeau, saying they were at odds about the best path forward for the country. The Liberal government's economic update was released Monday noon, revealing that the deficit was much larger than the target for the fiscal year that ended March 31. The update put the figure at 61.9 billion Canadian dollars ($43.5 billion) against the target of 40.1 billion Canadian dollars ($28.2 billion).

Chrystia Freeland resigned in a blow to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is facing declining approval ratings and opposition from within his own party, as well as the prospect of a trade war with the US. In her resignation letter, which was posted on X on Monday, Freeland revealed that Trudeau had informed her last week that he no longer wanted her to serve in the role and would instead offer her another cabinet position. Trudeau did not immediately respond to the resignation, which comes just days after he met with Canada’s provincial leaders to outline his plans to respond to threats of a trade war with US President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office on January 20. Trump has vowed to impose 25 per cent tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico if the neighbouring countries do not stop what he called an "invasion" of undocumented migrants and drugs.

The Trudeau government has reportedly been developing plans to invest in increased border security and monitoring in response, but has faced mounting pressure to take a harder line on Trump. The government was set to further present details of the border plan to the Parliament of Canada on Monday, in an economic update that was to be delivered by Freeland. Freeland also had her differences with Trudeau on government spending and details of the update emerged after she tendered her resignation. The updates come as Trudeau’s Liberal Party has been preparing for elections which must be held before the end of October next year. Trudeau has said he plans to stay at the party's helm. Because Liberals do not hold an outright majority, if the allied New Democratic Party were to pull its support, this would trigger a new election at any time.

Meanwhile, Trump's victory has driven home concerns that Canada could be subject to global anti-incumbency trends that could see the Conservative Party, led by populist Pierre Poilievre, take power for the first time since 2015. After nearly a decade in power, Trudeau in September saw his approval rating dip to just 33 per cent.