Chrystia Freeland leaving cabinet to serve as special envoy to Ukraine

Transport and Internal Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland is stepping down from cabinet to serve as Canada’s special envoy to Ukraine, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced Tuesday.

Freeland made no mention of the diplomatic appointment in a statement announcing her resignation, only saying she will not run in the next federal election.

“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.”

The statement was posted to social media following what turned out to be her final cabinet meeting in Ottawa.

Freeland and Prime Minister Mark Carney exited the meeting with their arms around each other and smiling, taking no questions from reporters waiting in the hallway.

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Carney thanked Freeland for her “extraordinary service” to Canada as a cabinet member over the past decade, praising her “versatility, raw intelligence, and principled leadership.”

“I have asked Chrystia to serve as Canada’s new Special Representative for the Reconstruction of Ukraine, in addition to her responsibilities as a Member of Parliament,” he wrote.

“As a former G7 Minister of Finance, Foreign Affairs, and International Trade with deep relationships and understanding of Ukraine and its economy, Chrystia is truly uniquely positioned for this timely and essential work towards a better future for Ukrainians and peace in Europe.”

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.

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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.

British Columbia Premier David Eby said Freeland was a key contact in the federal government for himself and other premiers, and that she will be missed.

“I’m grateful for her public service and the sacrifices she and her family made in order to do that work,” he told reporters at a press conference in Vancouver.

Freeland, who is of Ukrainian descent and speaks the language fluently, worked as a journalist for several years in Moscow before entering politics.

She interviewed Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2000, shortly after he took power, and became a fierce critic of the Russian leader. She called Putin an authoritarian, an autocrat and “really dangerous.”

Freeland was banned from entering Russia shortly after winning her seat in Parliament, one of 13 Canadians hit with sanctions in retaliation for Canada’s sanctioning of Russia following Putin’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.

Freeland later helped lead western efforts to punish Russia for its 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

She frequently used her position to condemn Putin, calling him a “war criminal,” and led a push to freeze Russian assets abroad to be used to fund Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction.

The Russian Embassy in Canada has frequently criticized and mocked Freeland in social media posts over the past decade.

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While serving as Canada’s top negotiator during the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, Freeland also caught the ire of U.S. President Donald Trump, who said “we don’t like their representative very much” in 2018 as the talks were at risk of breaking down.

Trump has continued to criticize Freeland, saying “she will not be missed” after Freeland resigned from Trudeau’s cabinet in 2024. He also called her “a terrible person” while meeting with Carney at the White House in May.

Freeland may now have to deal with Trump once again in her new role advocating for Ukraine as the U.S. president seeks a peace deal with Putin.

European allies, working with Canada and other international allies in the so-called “coalition of the willing,” are also trying to draw up security guarantees for Ukraine to prevent another Russian invasion as part of that future deal.

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Defence Minister David McGuinty praised Freeland as “extraordinary” while heading into Tuesday’s cabinet meeting, and dismissed concerns that she’ll be sidelined by Trump and Putin in negotiations.

“It takes a serious presence, someone with the necessary talent,” he told reporters in French. “The most important thing, I think, is that it’s important to continue to have a dialog.”

McGuinty added strengthening Canada’s relationship with Ukraine through Freeland’s appointment is “very important.”

“I think that we continue to show leadership in the region, and I think we have to remember that the threat landscape in the Ukrainian theater of war is serious, that the Russians are not pulling back,” he said.

“They’re not the most trustworthy of countries. The president there is not trustworthy in terms of his comments. You can’t take much of what he’s saying at face value, and therefore we have to be on guard.”