Freeland believes her resignation led to better outcome for Trudeau, allowing him to exit before likely defeat

Former finance minister and deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland believes her resignation — which spurred Justin Trudeau to step down — was ultimately a good outcome for the former prime minister given his plummeting popularity.

In CBC interview, former finance minister defends her record and says history will look kindly on Trudeau

Darren Major · CBC News

· Posted: Oct 18, 2026 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 15 minutes ago

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Former finance minister and deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland believes her resignation — which spurred Justin Trudeau to step down — was ultimately a good outcome for the former prime minister given his plummeting popularity.

While her book, Unreliable Boyfriend, is meant to be a guide for dealing with U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, it also outlines how her political relationship with Trudeau declined in the final months of his government.

Freeland writes that the prime minister informed her in a Zoom call that he would be replacing her as finance minister just days before she was set to deliver the government's fall economic statement in late 2024.

She abruptly stepped down the same day the statement was to be tabled in Parliament. Trudeau resigned a few weeks later.

• In Unreliable Boyfriend, Chrystia Freeland details the rift between her and Trudeau

Her book outlines how a conversation with former Liberal prime minister Jean Chrétien a month earlier helped her make the ultimate decision to leave.

Speaking to CBC's The Sunday Magazine, Freeland detailed another conversation she had with Chrétien in the wake of the blow-up.

"Prime minister Chrétien said … in resigning, it was ultimately a better outcome for Canada, for the Liberal Party — and also ultimately for prime minister Trudeau because it allowed him not to lead our party to defeat," Freeland told host Piya Chattopadhyay.

"I think that is a very wise observation."

The Conservatives held a huge lead in the polls over Trudeau's Liberals during the final year of his tenure. Mark Carney won the Liberal leadership race to replace Trudeau and led the party to another election win in 2025.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland rises to present the federal budget in the House of Commons in Ottawa as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, lower right, listens on April 16, 2024. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

Freeland defends record as finance minister

Freeland had been a cabinet minister in Trudeau's government since it was first elected in 2015 and served as finance minister from the summer of 2020 until her resignation.

When asked if she felt she bore any responsibility for the fading popularity of the Trudeau government — given that the Conservative surge was driven by their focus on the economy and cost of living — she touted her record as finance minister.

LISTEN | Chrystia Freeland on The Sunday Magazine:

The Sunday Magazine43:02Chrystia Freeland talks Trump, Canada-U.S. trade war and political tenure with Trudeau

As a former cabinet minister, Chrystia Freeland was a central figure in Canada's negotiations with United States President Donald Trump. Now, while Prime Minister Mark Carney sees a rupture in the U.S.-led world order, Freeland isn't giving up on the possibility of a unified Western alliance to keep adversaries at bay. She makes her case for rebuilding it – with America included, and Canada playing a different role – in her new book Unreliable Boyfriend. Piya Chattopadhyay speaks with Freeland about her vision, her time in government with former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and her take on Carney's tack during the current trade war.

"I am very glad that as finance minister, I got us through COVID and I preserved our AAA credit rating while doing that," she said.

"We were able to return to a sustainable fiscal path. Now, that was politically hard to do, but it was absolutely the right thing to do."

Despite their political fallout, Freeland spoke kindly of her early political relationship with Trudeau. And, as she notes in her book, she argued that history will look kindly on Trudeau — but added that she wished he had stepped down earlier.

WATCH | Justin Trudeau and Chrystia Freeland over the years:

Justin Trudeau and Chrystia Freeland over the years

December 24, 2024|

Duration

5:21

Canada's recently resigned finance minister was an integral part of the prime minister's government — until she wasn't.

She insisted multiple times in the interview that Unreliable Boyfriend is "not a book about Justin Trudeau." But she didn't directly answer if she had reached out to her former boss during the writing process.

"I chose what I wrote really carefully. It was important for me to be authentic and to be open. But this really is a book about me and a book about my ideas and my view of where we should go," she said.

"It's not a salacious story."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Darren Major is a senior writer for CBC's parliamentary bureau in Ottawa. He previously worked as a digital reporter for CBC Ottawa and a producer for CBC's Power & Politics. He holds a master's degree in journalism and a bachelor's degree in public affairs and policy management, both from Carleton University. He also holds a master's degree in arts from Queen's University. He can be reached at darren.major@cbc.ca.