Chrystia Freeland now claims to be running against the establishment? She IS the establishment!
Does she think we have already forgotten her years as a very loyal and prominent member of the Liberal elite?
Harvard, Oxford, then years with the Financial Times, The Economist, the Washington Post, Reuters, and the Globe and Mail. Could she be more deeply embedded in the establishment?
Trudeau, Peña Nieto, and a certain American autocrat signing the appalling "New NAFTA" in 2018. Freeland is standing closer to Trump than anyone else!
.jpg){kind=link}
“President Trump, Canadian President Trudeau, and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto sign the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement during a ceremony in Buenos Aires, on the margins of the G-20 Leaders' Summit on November 30, 2018. [State Department photo by Ron Przysucha / Public Domain]”
[Presumably the writer intended to write "Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau". Or maybe not!]
December was a time of excitement and then exhilaration for Chrystia Alexandra Freeland. (No, I didn't know her middle name either, but here it is), culminating in her departure from Trudeau's cabinet on 16 December. Here is an extract from her letter of resignation:
Dear Prime Minister,
It has been the honour of my life to serve in government, working for Canada and Canadians. We have accomplished a lot together.
On Friday, you told me you no longer want me to serve as your Finance Minister and offered me another position in the Cabinet.
Upon reflection, I have concluded that the only honest and viable path is for me to resign from the Cabinet.
And that was that. After all those years she was gone! An uproar followed, and at the Liberal caucus holiday party on Tuesday 17 December the selfie lineup for Chrystia Freeland was longer than that for Justin Trudeau!
Trudeau gave a speech to the Liberals' holiday party — but Freeland stole the show
All evening long, party faithful lined up to have their photos taken with Freeland
...She sat in the front row at the event, to the right of the stage. Others at her table included Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association, and Liberal MP Ryan Turnbull.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/freeland-trudeau-liberal-1.7414053
The mention of Flavio Volpe is important.
Throughout the New NAFTA catastrophe I used to wonder why the government was lavishing such attention on car parts manufacturing, but doing nothing to protect Canada's farmers, or to protect our rights to the public domain, the cultural heritage we hold in common with our fellow Canadians, present and future. Chrystia Freeland's choice of dinner companions confirms that she is very much part of Canada's business establishment. Flavio Volpe has been effusive in his praise of the New NAFTA:
"This actually was the most open negotiation ever conducted, or at least since I've been alive … by a Canadian government," he said. "Industry was invited to every round. Between the rounds, we worked with officials around the clock."
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/expert-says-new-nafta-means-more-work-more-security-1.5442624
Industry may have been invited to every round, but the rest of us certainly were not: Canadian farmers wishing to sell to foreign markets, ordinary Canadians seeking to keep their access to Canada's public domain, and Canadian citizens wanting to stop American interference in Canadian lawmaking.
I have always wondered why the auto industry continues to have such enormous power over our political parties. It is much smaller than formerly, survives only in Ontario, sucks up enormous government subsidies, and is bad for the environment. None of the big manufacturers are Canadian. The excessive deference the federal government shows them is impossible to explain, particularly to people from the other provinces, that is, most of the country.
The presence of Flavio Volpe at Freeland's table only confirms what we already knew: she is at the very centre of the Canadian establishment, not surprising in view of her education at Harvard and Oxford and her subsequent career. All this makes her recent claims that she is an outsider even stranger:
Chrystia Freeland says she's running against the 'Ottawa establishment' in Liberal leadership race
Freeland suggests Mark Carney is the top choice of the Prime Minister's Office
Liberal leadership hopeful Chrystia Freeland says she's running against the "Ottawa establishment" as more federal cabinet ministers rally around her top rival, former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney.
"It's central to my campaign to see this is not about Liberal elites deciding. This is about the grassroots," Freeland said in an interview on CBC's The House that will air on Saturday.
"I am really happy to be running against the Ottawa establishment. I think we need a change," Freeland told host Catherine Cullen.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/chrystia-freeland-interview-the-house-1.7440595
I have met Chrystia Freeland, and immediately liked her: most people do, I think. But someone who was Trudeau's deputy prime minister until only yesterday can hardly claim to be running against the Ottawa establishment, unless she has magically found a way to run against herself.
Has she no shame?
Leaders are elected by party members, not by caucus members, but it may be signiicant that Mark Carney so far has a considerably higher number of endorsements among MPs. Freeland's relative weakness in the leadership race so far should be a surprise to no one: she cannot possibly represent change, since Justin Trudeau brought her into politics years ago and catapulted her to a very senior position very early on. So anyone wishing to turn the page on the Trudeau era will not be enthusiastic about her.
And presumably many Liberals will consider her behaviour towards Trudeau to be disloyal.
Who knows what Mark Carney will be like, really? His Harvard/Oxford background is not all that different from Freeland's, and they certainly know each other, since he is her son's godfather.
But he was never a member of the Trudeau government, and is therefore the only candidate not compromised by the New NAFTA catastrophe. That in itself is enough reason to choose him over Freeland.
Trump's behaviour since the inauguration has been so extreme that we can legitimately hope that Carney stands firm, rejects Trump's bullying and perhaps even reestablishes Canada as a sovereign country, not an American colony.
By doing this he would earn undying fame and the gratitude of his nation. Perhaps many nations.
Miracles can happen. But they're less likely to happen with Freeland than with Carney.
"Downtown Peace River, Alberta (Chrystia Freeland's home town) as viewed from west Peace River"
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Downtown_pr.JPG
Wikimedia Commons photo not later than 27 September 2010 by Mhalifu