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Ottawa provides great daytime television

Who says daytime TV sucks? Let me tell, you I was glued to the television Monday morning watching drama that even Taylor Sheridan couldn’t write, unfold.

(Don’t tell Pierre, but I was watching the CBC.)

In case you missed it, Chrystia Freeland announced her resignation as federal finance minister Monday morning, just hours before she was scheduled to table the government’s Fall Economic Statement in the House of Commons.

This is big. Of all the childish antics that go on in Ottawa, Freeland was usually the adult in the room. In addition, she was pretty much the smartest person in the room, regardless of which room she was in.

For her to step away is very, very significant. In addition, Freeland pulled no punches in her resignation letter:

“To be effective, a Minister must speak on behalf of the Prime Minister and with his full confidence,” she wrote. “In making your decision, you made clear that I no longer credibly enjoy that confidence and possess the authority that comes with it.”

Freeland said Canada faces a huge challenge from our biggest and oldest ‘friend,’ the gold ol’ U. S. of A. and Donald Trump.

“We need to take that threat extremely seriously,” she said. “That means keeping our fiscal powder dry today, so we have the reserves we may need for a coming tariff war. That means eschewing costly political gimmicks, which we can ill afford and which make Canadians doubt that we recognize the gravity of the moment.”

In what will undoubtedly go down as one of the greatest political blunders of all time, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told her on Friday he was moving her out of the finance portfolio but expected her, on Monday, to put on a happy face and deliver the Fall Economic Statement.

It appears neither Trudeau, nor anyone in his office, thought that would be problematic. It also appears Trudeau fired the country’s finance minister without a replacement ready to step in (Dominc LeBlanc was quickly moved into the portfolio as a ‘placeholder’ finance minister).

Over the past few months there have been many calls, including from Liberals, for Trudeau to step down, the embattled PM now doesn’t need to take a walk in the snow. He only needs to look down his caucus table to see he has lost the confidence of Canadians. (As of writing this, as many as 60 Liberal MPs have called for him to step down. Stay tuned, as things are changing by the minute.)

Conservative leader Pierre Polievre (who probably peed his pants at the news this morning), has called for an election. New Democrat leader Jagmeet Singh (ever the fence-sitter), called for Trudeau to resign but fell short of saying he would bring down the government. Bloc Quebecois leader Yves-François Blanchet said Trudeau should walk over to the Governor General’s office and ask her dissolve parliament in the New Year.

After all this, it’s hard to imagine Trudeau and the Liberals will survive this self-inflicted wound. By the time you read this, things will likely have changed again, so stay tuned.

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