Former finance minister will advise Zelenskyy on postwar reconstruction
Canada’s former finance minister Chrystia Freeland resigned as MP for University-Rosedale, Ont., on Jan. 9 to accept a volunteer position as an advisor on economic development to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
On Jan. 5, Zelenskyy announced on X that Freeland would join his government. Freeland announced later that day she would step down from Parliament. In a Jan. 7 post on X, Freeland said she would take on the role of “unpaid advisor on economic issues to the President of Ukraine,” adding she had “consulted throughout with the Ethics Commissioner and followed his advice.”
Freeland originally planned to leave Parliament later in January, but handed in her resignation on Jan. 9 following criticism from opposition over what many saw as a conflict of interest. Conservative MP Michael Chong said Freeland “cannot be a Canadian MP and an adviser to a foreign government,” and she “must do one or the other.” In a social media post, interim NDP leader Don Davies called for Freeland’s immediate resignation. “While I respect Ms. Freeland, one cannot serve Canada and another country at the same time,” he said.
At a press conference in Paris on Jan. 6, Carney said he “welcomed” Freeland’s resignation. “My judgment was that taking that role would be consistent with resigning as an MP,” he said.
Freeland’s resignation makes the possibility of a majority Liberal government less likely. Former Conservative MP Chris d’Entremont crossed the floor to join the Liberals in November, followed by his colleague Michael Ma in December, bringing the party within one seat of a majority. With Freeland vacating her seat, the Liberals now need two more members to form a majority government. Carney has 180 days to call a byelection for University-Rosedale, which is seen as a fairly safe riding for the Liberals.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Freeland has pushed for international aid to Ukraine from Canada and other Western countries. In late 2025, she resigned from Carney’s cabinet to take on the position of Canada’s special envoy to Ukraine. The role, which focused on aiding reconstruction in the war-ravaged country, was created for her.
Before joining politics, Freeland worked as a journalist and editor at the Financial Times, Reuters, and The Globe and Mail. She was first elected in 2013 as a Liberal MP in a riding in central Toronto. Under former prime minister Justin Trudeau, Freeland held several cabinet roles, as well as serving as deputy prime minister. Her falling out with Trudeau and resignation from the role of finance minister in December 2024 was generally seen as the catalyst for Trudeau’s resignation less than a month later. Under Prime Minister Mark Carney, who beat Freeland in the Liberal leadership election, she became the minister of transport and internal trade. Last September, she said she would not run in the next federal election. In the summer of 2026, Freeland will also become CEO of the Rhodes Trust, the organization that grants Rhodes scholarships to Oxford University.
Freeland, who is partially of Ukrainian descent, has long advocated for Ukraine internationally. While in university, Freeland took an exchange to Ukraine and became involved with the then-Soviet state’s independence movement. Her activism gained her the attention of the KGB, eventually forcing her to leave the country. In the 1990s, Freeland reported from post-Soviet Russia for the Financial Times. She continued to support Ukraine’s independence, leading the Russian government to ban her from entering Russia in 2014.