Canada's Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has resigned from her post, citing disagreements with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on how to respond to incoming President Donald Trump's threat of tariffs.

She announced her resignation in a letter to Trudeau on Monday, in which she said the two have been "at odds about the best path forward for Canada", and pointed to the "grave challenge" posed by Trump's policy of "aggressive economic nationalism".

Freeland said the decision comes after Trudeau informed her last week that he no longer wanted her to be his government's top economic adviser.

Her resignation came hours before she was due to provide an annual fiscal government update in parliament.

The move may push Trudeau's already shaky minority government to the brink .

After nine years in power, the prime minister has faced growing calls to resign over concerns he is a drag on his party's fortunes. The Liberal leader's approval rate has plummeted from 63% when he was first elected to 28% in June of this year, according to one poll tracker.

Following Freeland's departure on Monday, five siting Liberal MP publicly called on Trudeau to step down. 

"Let's put it this way - firing the minister of finance who has served you extremely well is not what I'd call a trustworthy move," Helena Jaczek, an MP from Markham-Stouffville in Ontario, told reporters, before saying that Trudeau should resign. 

An emergency Liberal caucus meeting was set for 1700 local time (22:00 GMT). 

Within hours of Freeland's announcement, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc was sworn in as her replacement. LeBlanc, who has been close friends with the prime minister since childhood, is considered one of his most loyal allies. 

Trudeau was present at the swearing-in - his first appearance in front of media since Freeland's announcement - but he did not provide any statements. His office and the finance department both did not respond to the BBC's request for comment. 

In her publicly-shared resignation letter, Freeland said Canada needs to keep its "fiscal powder dry" to deal with the threat of sweeping tariffs from US President-elect Donald Trump.

She added this means "eschewing costly political gimmicks" that Canada cannot afford.

Trump has promised to impose a levy of 25% on imported Canadian goods, which economists have warned would significantly hurt Canada's economy.

Referencing the tariffs, Freeland called them a "threat" that needs to be taken "extremely seriously".

She added that this means "pushing back against 'America First' economic nationalism" and working with unity in response to these tariff threats.

When the fall economic statement was released on Monday afternoon, it revealed a C$60b deficit ($42bn; £33bn) - far exceeding Freeland's C$40bn target. 

She and Trudeau were reportedly also in disagreement over a series of recently-proposed policies by the prime minister designed to address the country's cost-of-living crisis.

Among them is a cheque of C$250 that the government wanted to send to every Canadian earning less than C$150,000 annually. These cheques were expected to cost the federal government a total of C$4.68bn.

Another is a temporary tax break on essential items during the holidays which is anticipated to cost C$1.6bn in lost tax revenue. 

Freeland's office had reportedly been concerned about the price of these two policies, saying they are economically unwise at a time when the country's deficit is growing. 

The tax holiday has since been approved in the House of Commons, but the C$250-cheques hit a hurdle when the New Democratic Party (NDP) - a centre-left party in parliament - signalled it would not lend its support to the policy unless it is expanded.

A poll by the Angus Reid Institute showed that four out of five Canadians viewed the cheques as a political move designed to win public goodwill as Trudeau's popularity plummets.

In response to Freeland's exit, Pierre Poilievre, leader of the opposition Conservative Party of Canada, called for a federal election as soon as possible. 

"Everything is spiralling out of control. We simply cannot go on like this," he said, adding that her resignation comes "at the very worst time".

NDP leader Jagmeet Singh called on Trudeau to resign. But Singh, whose party has propped up Trudeau's minority government thus far, stopped short of committing to a vote of non-confidence, which would effectively force a federal election. 

Freeland, who also holds the position of deputy prime minister, has long been one of Trudeau's closest allies within his Liberal party. She has held the key role of Canada's finance minister since 2020, helping to lead the country through the pandemic and its aftermath.

Other members of the Liberal party's cabinet have since reacted to her resignation.

Minister of Transport Anita Anand described Freeland as a "good friend," and added: "This news has hit me really hard and I'll reserve further comment until I have time to process it."

In a statement, the Business Council of Canada called Freeland's resignation "deeply troubling" and said the concerns that she raises put into question "whose interests the federal government is looking out for". 

Canada's public broadcaster CBC reported that Freeland's decision to quit was not expected today, citing a senior federal government source.

Freeland said she intends to stay on as a Liberal member of parliament, and that she will run again in Canada's upcoming election, which must be held on or before October.

Her resignation comes after another cabinet member, housing minister Sean Fraser, announced he will not be seeking re-election, saying he wants to spend more time with his family.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2elggj813o

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YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

PLEASE DO NOT BLAME RUSSIA IF WW3 STARTS. BLAME YOURSELF.

Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s finance minister and deputy prime minister, resigned from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet on Monday, citing policy disagreements and growing concerns over his economic direction. Her resignation comes in the wake of new controversy surrounding her family’s past, particularly her grandfather’s ties to Nazi collaboration in Ukraine.

Freeland, who has served in top roles within Trudeau’s Liberal government since 2013, delivered a critical resignation letter accusing the prime minister of prioritizing “costly political gimmicks” over prudent fiscal management amid looming US tariff threats. She specifically opposed Trudeau’s proposed sales tax holiday and $175 direct payments to Canadians, calling them unaffordable.

“We need to take [U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s] tariff threats seriously,” Freeland wrote. “That means keeping our fiscal powder dry… and avoiding wasteful spending that undermines Canadians’ trust in our leadership.”

Trudeau quickly appointed longtime ally Dominic LeBlanc, then public safety minister, as Freeland’s replacement. He was sworn in the same day and vowed to tackle inflation and ease strained U.S.-Canada relations.

However, Freeland’s departure has reignited scrutiny of her family’s wartime past. Her maternal grandfather, Michael Chomiak, edited a Nazi-controlled Ukrainian newspaper that disseminated anti-Semitic propaganda during World War II. Despite public records confirming his role, Freeland long dismissed the reports as Russian disinformation.

The controversy first surfaced in 2017, when historical investigations revealed Chomiak’s Nazi collaboration. Freeland insisted her grandfather fled Soviet persecution, but multiple sources, including Canadian and international media, exposed his complicity in Holocaust-era propaganda.

A new book by award-winning author Peter McFarlane is said to “blow the lid off the attempts to whitewash Chomiak’s Nazi past.” Called “Family Ties: How a Ukrainian Nazi and a living witness link Canada to Ukraine today,” it was published this fall. 

Freeland has never directly addressed the full extent of her grandfather’s wartime activities, maintaining that her family’s story reflects “the complex history of Europe in the 20th century.” Critics argue that her denials have damaged her credibility.

Her resignation comes as Trudeau’s popularity wanes amid economic troubles and internal party unrest. With inflation rising and his government’s policies under fire, opposition leaders and some Liberal MPs have urged him not to seek a fourth term.

Freeland stated she intends to continue serving as a Liberal MP and run for re-election in Toronto.

https://www.rt.com/news/609461-canada-finance-minister-resigns/

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YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

PLEASE DO NOT BLAME RUSSIA IF WW3 STARTS. BLAME YOURSELF.

A few days before Remembrance Day, November 11, 2024, the Government of Canada announced that it will not release that portion of a report produced by the Commission of Inquiry into War Criminals in Canada (Deschênes Commission) that names 900 Canadians accused of war crimes committed on behalf of the Nazis.

Canada admitted these people and others after the Second World War, including many former members of the Waffen SS Galizien (Ukrainian).

We then learned that it was Global Affairs Canada which prevented Library and Archives Canada (LAC) from granting an access to information request to make these names public. According to the LAC spokesperson, the decision to keep the list sealed “was based on concerns regarding risk of harm to international relations.”

The Globe and Mail, which along with others filed the access to information request, explained the decision this way: “Global Affairs has repeatedly warned about Russian President Vladimir Putin using disinformation to justify his invasion of Ukraine.”

Should we remind Global Affairs Canada that during the Second World War, these 900 people were fighting for the Nazis, and therefore against our parents and grandparents! Do we have to inform them that 1.2 million Canadians fought against the Nazis, 45,000 of whom never returned?

Fortunately, there are authors and journalists who are keeping a close eye on things, one of whom is Peter McFarlane, author of the excellent new book, Family Ties: How a Ukrainian Nazi and a living witness link Canada to Ukraine today (Toronto: James Lorimer, 2024).

McFarlane’s starting point is the double ovation the Canadian parliament granted former Waffen SS Galizien member Yaroslav Hunka in September 2023—a shining case of Canadian governmental amnesia.

But above all, it was the hearty applauding Chrystia Freeland, former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Canada and current Member of Parliament with the Liberal Party, whose grandfather, Mykhailo Chomiak, was a Nazi collaborator. Though Freeland cannot be held responsible for her grandfather’s crimes, she could at least recognize them and distance herself from them, which she has never done.

The author follows the journey of two families from the same region of Ukraine, then known as Galicia, who arrived in Canada in the wake of the Second World War.

On one hand, there is the family of Mykhailo Chomiak, who was the editor of the Ukrainian-language Nazi newspaper Krakivski Visti from 1940 to 1945. This newspaper, which had nothing to envy from Der Stürmer, promoted Adolf Hitler, the Nazis, the SS and, in particular, the Waffen SS Galizien (Ukrainian) and their murderous campaign against Jews, the “Judeo-Bolsheviks,” the Poles and all those they considered subhuman.

In parallel, McFarlane traces the journey of Montreal writer Ann Charney, born Ann Korsowar in Brody in 1940, a city northeast of Lviv in western Ukraine, and very close to the birthplace of the Chomiak family. Brody was a small town of about 24,000 people, 40% of whom (about 10,000) were Jews when Ann Charney was born.

Family Ties is divided into three parts. The first, entitled “Murder in Galicia,” covers the history of Galicia up to 1945 where Lviv (Lemberg, Lwow, Lvov—depending on the period) is the most important city. It was while traveling in the region for a book on another subject that the author developed this part of the story, with the help of, among others, members of the Chomiak family who had remained there after 1945.

The second part, “The Most Ukrainian of Countries,” focuses on Canadian citizens of Ukrainian origin, their deep political divisions, and their role in the politics of their country of origin and of Canada since 1945, again with the families of Mykhailo Chomiak and Ann Charney as a common thread.

The third part, “The Return of the True Believers,” concentrates mainly on the last ten years, showing in particular how the past, especially from the 1920s to the 1950s, has shaped today’s politics in both Ukraine and Canada. This part also includes a trip to Ukraine (to Lviv, Brody, and elsewhere) in 2022, after the war with Russia began.

The contrast between the two families’ stories is striking. Through his research, travels and interviews, the author allows us revisit the birth and development of the murderous fanaticism of the former, who chose to join Hitler’s hordes. He also has the reader grasp the terror suffered by millions of Jews, Poles, Russians, anti-fascist Ukrainians, and anyone who refused to adhere to the Nazi ideology.

For example, the author, who visited all the places inhabited by both, demonstrates how comfortable Chomiak lived from 1940 to 1945, especially in Krakow, the capital of the Nazi-occupation government of Poland. This comfort is illustrated in terms of the salary he was paid to edit the Nazi newspaper Krakivski Visti and the offices and equipment needed to do this work, which were confiscated from Jewish owners, but also his lodgings, seized from a Jewish family whose “filth” and “vermin” Chomiak complained about to his German employers.

In contrast, Ann Charney, her mother Dora, and her aunt Regina took refuge during the war in a barn loft a few kilometers from Brody. For two-and-a-half years, they could only rarely leave their hiding place, fearing death at the hands of German soldiers or Ukrainian collaborators, who were sometimes their neighbors from Brody. They were at the mercy of Manya, a Ukrainian woman who, in return for a few pieces of bread, extorted from them everything they had brought with them in terms of money or jewelry.

Liberated by the Red Army and in particular by a young soldier named Yuri in the summer of 1944, they could barely walk due to extreme hunger and atrophied muscles. Ann was four years old.

Peter McFarlane was inspired by Ann Charney’s memoir Dobryd (Brody) first published in 1973 (published in French in 1996) and compared by critics to that of Anne Frank. Unlike what she calls “the Holocaust industry” or “Holocaust porn,” Ann Charney, an award-winning Montreal writer and journalist, refuses to stoop so low. For her, that way of approaching these crimes dehumanizes the victims by making them objects, when there are verifiable facts and where ordinary humans attack other ordinary humans.

In Brody, the German army and the Ukrainian militias first rounded up all the Jews in a ghetto surrounded by barbed wire and guarded by Ukrainian collaborators, often residents of Brody themselves. Then came deportation, in particular to the first Nazi extermination center in Belzec, northwest of Lviv, which Heinrich Himmler established in early 1942.

Ann, her mother, her aunt and her cousin managed to escape the ghetto and take refuge in the barn in time to avoid the fate of the others. They were thus among the 88 survivors of Brody, out of a Jewish population of nearly 10,000 in 1939.

The two visits that Peter McFarlane made to the Museum of History and Local Lore in Brody are the most revealing as to both what happened at that time and the current state of mind of many Ukrainians in that part of the country. McFarlane describes his arrival at the Brody Museum in 2022 as follows:

“The road to Brody was a memory lane for the SS Galizien….there is a roadside chapel surrounded by five hundred white crosses that Ukrainian SS veterans had erected in 1994 as a memory to their comrades who had fallen in the battle of Brody….”

Of the current exhibits, he adds:

“They were much the same as the previous year—still with the final room celebrating the Galizien division with photos and weapons and uniforms and maps from the battle of Brody. They had added a photo of Yaroslav Stetsko and included his declaration of independence of Ukraine ‘under the leadership of Adolf Hitler.’”

On his first visit to the Brody Museum, McFarlane had immediately noticed that there was no mention of the Jews of Brody, who had founded the town and who, in the 1880s, made up 80% of the population. He reminded the museum director of this fact, who acknowledged that it was true. The author then asked why the museum had no record of the presence of Jews. The director responded, “There were no more Jews after 1943, so they left our history,” waving his hand like a magician.

The journey of these two families during and after the war and their arrival in Canada presents a damning portrait of Canada and of the leaders of the Ukrainian Canadian community, many of whom were also Nazi sympathizers and with whom the Canadian government worked at the time. The fact is that Canada rolled out the red carpet for thousands of Nazi collaborators, including Mykhailo Chomiak.

At the same time—and this makes the portrait all the more damning—Ottawa was subjecting real refugees from the Nazi war to a cruel obstacle course as they sought to immigrate to Canada. That was the case of Ann Charney and her family.

The criticism of Canadian policy does not stop there. In a clear, factual and hyperbole-free style, the author demonstrates how Canada has pursued, to this day, a policy of support for this fringe of Ukrainians who today openly and proudly herald and emulate fighters of the SS Galizien and who are very influential in the current government in Kyiv.

Family Ties is a remarkable book on a period of history—the Second World War, before and after—that continues to haunt us. It is also a powerful antidote to Canadian amnesia and especially to the attempts to rewrite the history of that war to justify the warmongering provocations of Washington, Ottawa, London, Paris and other NATO countries.

https://covertactionmagazine.com/2025/01/16/canada-and-ukraine-the-suppression-of-a-shameful-history/

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YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

HYPOCRISY ISN’T ONE OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS SINS.

HENCE ITS POPULARITY IN THE ABRAHAMIC TRADITIONS…