Chrystia Freeland hugs Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
But what does the title Canada’s Special Representative for the Reconstruction of Ukraine entail?
By Marco Levytsky, Editorial Writer
September 16, former Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland announced she is stepping down from cabinet and plans to leave federal politics altogether.
In a social media post, Freeland stated she made the decision “with tremendous gratitude and a little sadness.” She added, “A great strength of democracy is that no one holds political office in perpetuity. After twelve fulfilling years in public life, I know that now is the right time for me to make way for others and to seek fresh challenges for myself.” Those new challenges will come with her new position as Canada’s Special Representative for the Reconstruction of Ukraine.
“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,” said Prime Minister Mark Carney in his statement regarding her resignation. He also thanked Freeland “for her extraordinary service in the Cabinet of Canada’s federal government over the past decade”. Carney added, “Chrystia's versatility, raw intelligence and principled leadership have served Canadians with distinction through extraordinary challenges and changes. Her leadership has helped to secure historic trade negotiations, to guide the response to a global pandemic, to complete early learning and child-care agreements across Canada and most recently, to remove all federal barriers to internal trade all while strongly representing her constituents as the Member of Parliament for University-Rosedale.”
Though her resignation came as a somewhat of a jolt, in retrospect it was not unexpected. Her earlier resignation as former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Deputy Prime Minister came as a bombshell and was the straw that broke the camel’s back leading Trudeau to finally resign. In doing so, it can be argued that she not only saved the Liberal Party from an electoral catastrophe that would have rivalled Michael Ignatieff’s 2011 debacle but also enabled Carney to win the next election with only three seats short of a majority. But, she came in a very distant second to Carney in the Liberal leadership race to replace Trudeau. She was too closely identified with Trudeau and especially some of the government’s most controversial economic decisions. While she remained in Cabinet following the April election, her new position as Transport Minister was a demotion signalling that her time in Canada’s political arena was coming to an end. In a sense, the newly created position as Special Representative for the Reconstruction of Ukraine was almost tailor made for her as a person with special talent. What is more, from the point of view of Canada’s national interest, the newly created position will enable Canada to continue performing its historic role as an honest broker in international affairs, as well as maintain its special relationship with Ukraine. All of this is very close to Freeland’s heart.
Born in Peace River to an English father and a Ukrainian mother, Chrystia became involved with the Ukrainian community very early. After obtaining a USSR press pass based on a letter of accreditation from Ukrainian News in 1989, Chrystia cut her journalistic teeth as a Ukraine-based stringer for the Financial Times, The Washington Post and The Economist. She left journalism to enter politics in 2013, winning a by-election to join the Liberal caucus, then entered government following Trudeau’s 2015 victory. Throughout her ministerial career, she was a staunch and proactive supporter of Ukraine. As trade minister, she successfully negotiated the Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement. Freeland was at the forefront of the Canadian government's response to the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in late February 2022 and was the first to call for sanctions on the Central Bank of Russia, which were eventually imposed. She spoke nearly daily with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and mobilized international support for Ukraine, especially at the G-7 level.
According to Bill Browder, a political activist who has become one of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s fiercest critics, Freeland was the main proponent of the idea of seizing and forfeiting Russia’s financial holdings in Western countries. He said she raised the idea with fellow finance ministers and pushed back when they expressed doubts about its legality. “She was the one who came up with the idea of freezing Russia’s central bank reserves,” he told a September 16 press conference on Parliament Hill. “She had the legal analysis prepared and she was the one who convinced all of the allies that this was the right thing to do. And as a result, $300 billion worth of Russian central bank reserves have been frozen.”
The Ukrainian Canadian Congress has congratulated Chrystia on her new position. “Ms. Freeland is a global leader and a passionate advocate in support of Ukraine and a strong allied response to Russia’s genocidal aggression. Ms. Freeland’s appointment is good news for Canada, Ukraine, and all of Europe. We very much look forward to working closely with Ms. Freeland on securing Ukraine’s victory,” said Alexandra Chyczij, National President of the UCC.
The UCC also identified some key initiatives that need to be taken. Among them:
- Increase military assistance to Ukraine beyond the $2 billion earmarked for this year;
- Substantially increase investment in joint Ukrainian-Canadian defence production;
- Increase support for the Canadian private sector that seeks to invest in Ukraine;
- Invest in domestic energy production and pipelines to grow Canada’s economy and deprive Russia’s war machine of revenue;
- Designate Russia a state supporter of terrorism;
- Substantially increase sanctions on Russia and Russia’s shadow fleet;
- Support an international tribunal to hold Russia accountable for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity;
- Work with allies to seize the $300 billion in frozen Russian assets held in the West.
While this new position appears to be a bold new initiative that can benefit both Canada and Ukraine, we have yet to see any details. We do not know why Chrystia has been unable to respond to inquiries about her appointment and we don’t want to speculate on the reasons. But we look forward to learning more about her position, mandate, and powers in the days and weeks ahead. In the meantime, the Ukrainian Canadian community continues to stand firmly behind her in view of her resolute support of Ukraine’s struggle against Russian revanchism, imperial aggression and never-ending efforts to eliminate all traces of a sovereign, free and independent Ukrainian people and nation-state.
Share on Social Media
