Transport and Internal Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland said Tuesday she is stepping down from cabinet and won’t run in the next federal election, ending a 12-year stint as one of the most prominent faces in Canadian politics.
Freeland made the announcement in a statement posted to social media following what turned out to be her final cabinet meeting in Ottawa.
“With tremendous gratitude and a little sadness, I have decided to step down from Cabinet today and turn the page on this chapter in my life,” she wrote. “I do not intend to run in the next federal election.”
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Freeland and Prime Minister Mark Carney exited Tuesday’s cabinet meeting in Ottawa with their arms around each other and smiling, taking no questions from reporters waiting in the hallway.
Before being appointed to Carney’s cabinet in May, Freeland served multiple high-profile ministerial roles under former prime minister Justin Trudeau, including as his deputy prime minister.
She served as international trade minister, foreign affairs minister and finance minister before resigning from Trudeau’s cabinet in dramatic fashion in late 2024, hours before she was due to present her latest federal budget, in protest of Trudeau’s economic policies.
She then ran in the Liberal leadership race to replace Trudeau after he resigned in January, losing to Carney.
Freeland was first elected to her Toronto-area riding in a 2013 byelection, winning in the next four elections.
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