Canada Finance Minister Announces His Resignation

Canada’s finance minister Bill Morneau announced his
resignation Monday, on the heels of an ethics scandal and amid a
reported split with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over pandemic
spending.

Morneau, who has held the post since 2015, told a news
conference that he met with Trudeau to inform him that he would not
run in the next election, and that a new finance minister with a
long-term outlook was needed.

“As we move to the next phase of our fight against the pandemic
and pave the road towards economic recovery, we must recognize that
this process will take many years, it’s the right time for a new
finance minister to deliver on that plan for the long and
challenging road ahead,” Morneau said.

“That’s why I’ll be stepping down as finance minister, and as
member of Parliament,” he stated.

Morneau said he would now run for the job of secretary general
of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD).

For the past week, Canadian media have reported on a purported
rift emerging between Morneau and Trudeau on how to reboot the
Canadian economy weakened by the new coronavirus pandemic, as the
government budget deficit soared to more than Can$340 billion
(US$257 billion).

Canada’s ethics commissioner also launched an investigation into
the minister’s ties to a charity tapped by Ottawa to distribute
pandemic aid to young Canadians.

Trudeau is also being probed over his family ties to the WE
Charity, which paid his wife, brother and mother nearly Can$300,000
for speaking engagements in recent years.

The prime minister apologized last month for the affair, saying
he made a mistake in not recusing himself from discussions about
awarding the roughly Can$500 million contract to distribute student
scholarship funds to WE Charity.

The program has been cancelled but the controversy remains.

Scapegoat

Opposition parties had called for Morneau to resign after he
revealed that he had only recently paid back more than
Can$41,000 in travel expenses to the charity, and that one of his
daughters works for WE Charity while a second daughter volunteered
for the organization.

The reimbursement check was meant to cover expenses incurred by
the charity over two humanitarian trips he and his family took in
2017.

The scandal has damaged Trudeau’s minority government in public
opinion polls, but his Liberal party is still positioned well for
an early election, according to recent polls.

The Conservatives and New Democrats on Monday said Morneau’s
departure was a sign of a government “in chaos” and that the former
businessman was being made a scapegoat.

“At a time when Canadians are worried about their health and
their finances, Justin Trudeau’s government is so consumed by
scandal that Trudeau has amputated his right hand to try and save
himself,” Tory leader Andrew Scheer said in a Twitter message.

The finance post is one of the most important in government as
the country goes through the most serious economic crisis since
World War II.

In a statement, Trudeau thanked Morneau for his tireless work to
“create a resilient, fair economy that benefits everyone.”

He said Morneau had led the rollout of emergency benefits for
millions of Canadians who lost their jobs and businesses that were
forced to close temporarily due to a pandemic lockdown.

And, he added, Canada will “vigorously support” Morneau’s bid to
lead the OECD, which “will play a critical role in the global
economic recovery.”

Now the focus will shift to Morneau’s successor.

Deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland, Foreign Minister
Francois-Philippe Champagne and Treasury Board President Jean-Yves
Duclos have been mentioned in the local media as possible
candidates.

The job could also go to former Bank of Canada and Bank of
England governor Mark Carney, who is currently living in Ottawa and
has been informally providing policy advice to the government.

-AFP

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