Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrives for the morning Liberal cabinet meeting in West Block on Dec. 16, 2024. Trudeau was not in Question Period and issued no comment through the day following Chrystia Freeland’s surprise resignation from cabinet the morning she was set to present her fall economic statement as finance minister.

In the wake of the news, Liberal MP Francis Drouin was one of the first in caucus to say on Monday that Trudeau should step down. “I think he needs to go,” he said.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh used his press conference to call on Trudeau to resign. 

After telling reporters “all options are on the table,” Singh would not say why he was making statements about the Liberal Party’s choice of leader, but not saying whether he has confidence in the government. 

In an afternoon press conference, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said Canadians are seeing the government “spiralling out of control right before our eyes and at the very worst time.”

Poilievre, who read from Freeland’s resignation letter to punctuate his points, said Trudeau “has lost control and yet he clings to power,” and the “chaos,” “weakness,” and “division” do Canada no good as it faces the tariff threat from incoming U.S. president Donald Trump.

He said Canada needs an election before, or within weeks of, Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration so the nation has “a strong prime minister with the brains and backbone” to handle the bilateral relationship.

During Question Period, Government House Leader Karina Gould praised Freeland’s record and said the government still planned to present its fiscal update, which was later tabled in the House of Commons with no accompanying statement or opportunity for a debate, as is typical practice. Opposition MPs rose on a point of order in outcry over the lack of debate tied to the mini-budget.

Treasury Board President Anita Anand called Freeland a “good friend” who she worked with closely in her files. “This news has hit me really hard and I’ll reserve further comment until I have time to process it,” Anand told reporters.

Minister of Indigenous Services Patty Hajdu said she wished Freeland luck, saying the choice to step down represented “difficult and deeply personal decisions.”

Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault was among the ministers keeping mum after the morning cabinet meeting. Caught by reporters as he left, Guilbeault said he had nothing to say and there would be “more to say later.”

National Revenue Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau, who has previously announced plans not to run in the next election, said whether Trudeau stays is “his decision.” Speaking in French, she said it is “a hard blow” to lose Freeland.

Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc was sworn in as finance minister late Monday afternoon after the fiscal update had been tabled in the House of Commons. LeBlanc, who is a close friend of Trudeau’s and accompanied the prime minister on his recent trip to have dinner with Trump, said his conversation with Trudeau Monday was focused on affordability and the threat of tariffs from the incoming Trump administration.

In a scrum after being sworn in, LeBlanc called it “an enormous privilege” to take over the post, saying he would pour his “heart and soul into” the job.

Liberal Members of Parliament meet in Sir John A. Macdonald building for an emergency caucus meeting on Dec. 16, 2024.

Trudeau ends the night at a Laurier Club holiday party at the Museum of History in Gatineau, Que.

Trudeau addresses Liberal Party supporters at the party.

—The Hill Times photographs by Andrew Meade

 

Andrew Meade is The Hill Times’ staff photographer. A native of Fredericton, N.B., Meade has worked at multiple dailies in New Brunswick and has been published by news outlets across the country and internationally. He has been capturing the day to day on Parliament Hill for the paper since 2017. See all stories BY ANDREW MEADE