Canadian finance minister quits after clash with PM over Trump tariffs

Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland quit on Monday after clashing with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on issues including how to handle possible U.S. tariffs, dealing an unexpected blow to an already unpopular government.

In a resignation letter, Freeland dismissed Trudeau's push for increased spending as a political gimmick that could hurt Ottawa's ability to deal with the 25 percent import tariffs U.S. President-elect Donald Trump says he will impose.

The resignation by Freeland, 56, who also served as deputy prime minister, is one of the biggest crises Trudeau has faced since taking power in November 2015. It also leaves him without a key ally when he is on track to lose the next election to the official opposition Conservatives.

Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc – a member of Trudeau's inner circle – was quickly named finance minister.

The national Liberal caucus is due to meet later on Monday, CBC said, but gave no details. Two Liberal legislators renewed their calls for Trudeau to step down.

Freeland quit just hours before she was due to present a fall economic update to parliament. The document showed the minority Liberal government had run up a 2023/24 budget deficit of C$61.9 billion ($43.4 billion), much higher than predicted.

Trudeau also came under pressure to go from the New Democrats, the smaller opposition party which earlier this year pulled its unconditional support for him but has continued to back the prime minister on some legislation through parliament.

"I'm calling on Justin Trudeau to resign. He has to go," party leader Jagmeet Singh told reporters, the first time he has unequivocally called on the prime minister to quit.

Singh did not respond directly to questions about whether he would continue to prop up Trudeau, saying that all options were on the table.

Trudeau can be toppled if the opposition parties unite against him on a vote of no confidence, though that cannot happen until next year.

Parliament is due to break for Christmas on Tuesday and not return until January 27.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said the government was spiraling out of control.

"We cannot accept this kind of chaos, division, weakness, while we're staring down the barrel of a 25 percent tariff from our biggest trading partner," he told reporters.

Freeland said she was quitting in the wake of a meeting last Friday with Trudeau, who asked her to take on a lesser post after the two had argued for weeks over spending.