Former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney speaks to reporters at the Liberal caucus retreat in Nanaimo, B.C., on Sept. 10.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
Conservatives accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of throwing Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland under the bus just days before she is set to table the fall economic update, as he tries to recruit former central banker Mark Carney into his government.
The minority Liberals faced a deluge of questions from the Conservatives on Thursday over a Globe and Mail report that Mr. Trudeau is again in talks with Mr. Carney. Tensions between the Prime Minister’s Office and Ms. Freeland’s have risen recently over increased spending on political strategies that risk her own self-imposed spending goals.
Question Period descended into shouting and chaos as the Official Opposition and Liberals took turns accusing each other of being “fake feminists.” While Liberals were quick to defend the government’s feminist credentials they were largely quiet on Ms. Freeland’s role as Finance Minister.
“After months of reports that the Prime Minister wanted to turf Canada’s first female finance minister, we find out today that he’s in talks to put an unelected, conflict-of-interest-riddled-man into the role,” charged Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner.
Her comments came on the heels of several other Conservative colleagues accusing Mr. Trudeau of being a “fake feminist Prime Minister” and led Liberal House Leader Karina Gould to throw the opposition’s talking points back at them, saying “the real fake feminists are those folks on the other side.”
“The questions coming from the opposition today speak more about their opposition to feminism than it does our commitment to feminism,” she rebutted, as she accused the Conservatives of undermining women’s reproductive rights.
Both the Prime Minister and Ms. Freeland were absent from the House of Commons.
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The Globe reported on Thursday that three sources had confirmed talks between the former governor for both the banks of Canada and England and the Prime Minister’s Office are back on, after an unsuccessful attempt in the summer. Two of the sources characterized the discussions as serious and said they have crystallized over several weeks. While one of them cautioned that no specific offer had been made, the two other sources said Mr. Trudeau and his inner circle believe the finance post would be the only job Mr. Carney would accept.
The Globe and Mail is not identifying the sources who were not authorized to discuss the private talks.
Earlier this week the Finance Minister gave her strongest signal yet that her government’s spending will blow past the benchmarks she set for herself in April.
Among those promises was that last year’s deficit would come in under $40.1-billion. After Ms. Freeland declined repeated attempts by reporters to confirm that the government would meet its own target, a BMO Economics report concluded that “Ottawa’s deficit targets are toast.”
The final numbers are expected in Monday’s fall economic statement.
In September Mr. Carney agreed to head a Liberal Party task force on economic growth, seen by many as a rebuke of Ms. Freeland. The former central banker is widely seen as a possible contender for Liberal leader should the position open up. But while Mr. Carney last year said he hasn’t ruled out a run, he has been careful not to publicly declare any ambition.
“The fake feminist Prime Minister is setting up Canada’s first female finance minister to take the hit for his reckless spending,” said Conservative MP Rosemarie Falk in Question Period. “Why is the Prime Minister bullying the Finance Minister into breaking her $40-billion deficit guardrail promise and forcing her to deliver Carbon Tax Carney’s Fiscal Update?”
“While the Conservatives are focused on this soap opera, Parliament Hill grapevine-gossip, Mr. Speaker, our Liberal government has been focused on the pocketbooks of Canadians,” replied Ms. Freeland’s parliamentary secretary Rachel Bendayan, as she reminded the House that inflation is in the target range and the Bank of Canada again cut interest rates this week.
Only Fisheries Minister Diane Lebouthillier explicitly came to Ms. Freeland’s defence, describing the Conservatives’ questions as a “disgrace” and asking how the opposition dared attack Ms. Freeland who has championed child-care policies and the child benefit.
Mr. Carney is a board member of the Stripe financial-services company. Its CEO, Patrick Collison, had an unrelated House of Commons committee appearance Thursday and told MPs that Mr. Carney had not disclosed to him that he was in talks about joining the government.
With a report from Bill Curry and Stephanie Levitz.