Chrystia Freeland Is Trying to Supercharge Canada’s Growth
To repair the economic damage wrought by the pandemic, the finance minister is using lessons from her journalism career and the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Freeland.
Photographer: John Kealey for Bloomberg Markets
When Chrystia Freeland became Canada’s minister of finance in August, she had a mandate from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to aggressively pursue economic growth. She was already Trudeau’s deputy and had led the government’s international trade and foreign ministries, making her a leading candidate to eventually succeed Trudeau even though she’d been a politician for less than a decade. She’s spent plenty of time thinking and writing about economics and government as a journalist at the Financial Times, the Globe and Mail, and Thomson Reuters Corp. and as the author of books about Russia and the rise of the global super rich.
Freeland, 52, spoke with Bloomberg Markets in late April—soon after she presented her first budget—about spending, deficits, taxation, globalization, China, and which workers are really essential. She also talked about Mark Carney, the former Bank of Canada and Bank of England governor who has advised Trudeau on economic issues and who is seen as a potential rival to her as Trudeau’s successor. The interview was edited for clarity and length.