Chrystia Freeland to remain as Finance Minister

Chrystia Freeland will continue to serve as Canada’s finance minister and deputy prime minister, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Tuesday.

Trudeau also said he will reveal his new cabinet next month — which will be gender-balanced — and convene Parliament by the end of the fall.

Trudeau said his government’s first priority post-election will be to move ahead with plans to require travellers to be fully vaccinated before getting on a plane or train. He also said the government will move ahead with rules for federal workers to be fully vaccinated.

The Liberals won another minority mandate in the Sept. 20 election. Tax experts suggested this government could take a more aggressive approach to raising tax revenue than outlined in the Liberal platform, as the party will need opposition support for spending programs and to manage the deficit.

Freeland was named finance minister in August 2020. She is a former journalist and has written extensively about the global economy, including the best-selling book Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else.

The Finance Department’s regular fiscal monitor found the budgetary deficit between April and July was just under $48.5 billion, down from the almost $148.6 billion recorded over the same months in 2020 when Covid-19 first struck.

Staff, with files from The Canadian Press

The Canadian Press is a national news agency headquartered in Toronto and founded in 1917.