OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will tap Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, a former journalist and his most trusted ally, to be his new finance minister after Bill Morneau resigned on Monday, Canadian media reported.
Freeland, 52, would be the first woman to hold the role, and she will keep her post as deputy prime minister, CTV and the Canadian Broadcasting Corp said. Trudeau’s office declined to confirm the reports, while Freeland’s did not immediately respond.
Morneau held an impromptu news conference late on Monday to announce his resignation amid friction with Trudeau over spending policies, and after coming under fire for his ties to a charity tapped to run a student grant program.
Freeland was a key player during the renegotiation of a new North American trade deal as Canada’s foreign minister and minister for international trade in Trudeau’s previous cabinet.
Now she will be tasked with reviving an economy crippled by the COVID-19 pandemic, with the budget deficit this fiscal year already forecast to hit C$343.2 billion ($253.4 billion), which would be the largest shortfall since World War Two.
Before entering politics in 2013, Freeland worked with several media companies, including the Financial Times, the Globe and Mail, and Reuters News.
(Reporting by Steve Scherer; Editing by Alex Richardson and Paul Simao)
