Amid the news Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has resigned from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet, the Department of Finance has begun handing out embargoed copies of the long-anticipated fall economic statement.
The document — delivered to media in the lockup nearly four hours later than planned — is expected to detail the state of the country’s finances.
It remains unclear who from the federal government will actually deliver the fiscal update to Parliament, in Freeland’s absence.
Less than an hour before reporters and economic experts were set to enter a six-hour embargo to read the document, Freeland announced in a letter posted to social media she was resigning from cabinet, postponing the fiscal update’s lockup.
Freeland and Trudeau have found themselves “at odds about the best path forward for Canada,” the former wrote, an assertion she’s sought to downplay in recent days as reports of fraying tensions between the two top Liberals re-emerged.
The latest round of frustration between their two offices was reportedly connected to disagreements over measures such as the two-month GST/HST pause and the in-limbo $250 workers’ benefit cheques, as well as the government’s ability to abide by its fiscal anchors.
The release of the fall economic statement, meanwhile, is already coming later in the year than is typical.
With files from CTV News National Correspondent Rachel Aiello