Canada's former deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland has said she will leave parliament to accept a job as adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Freeland said her role as an economic development adviser for Ukraine would be unpaid. In July, she will also take on a position to lead the Rhodes Trust, an educational charity, in the UK.
She was elected in 2013 and served in key roles such as finance, foreign affairs, and international trade minister under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Freeland broke from Trudeau in late 2024, accusing him in a public resignation letter of failing to take the threat of US tariffs seriously, which helped force his political exit.
Freeland posted on X on Monday: Ukraine is at the forefront of today's global fight for democracy, and I welcome this chance to contribute on an unpaid basis as an economic adviser to [Zelensky].
In the coming weeks I will also leave my seat in Parliament. I want to thank my constituents for their years of confidence in me. I am so grateful to have been your representative.
As well as stepping down as an MP for Toronto's riding of University-Rosedale, a Liberal safe seat, she said she would quit her other role as Canada's special representative for the reconstruction of Ukraine.
Earlier on Monday, Zelensky announced on X that Freeland would be taking on the role as adviser. The Ukrainian president praised her extensive experience in attracting investments and implementing economic transformations.
Zelensky's announcement spurred calls from opposition politicians for her to step down. Conservative foreign affairs critic Michael Chong stated, one cannot be a Canadian MP and an adviser to a foreign government and demanded that she choose one role.
In November, it was announced that Freeland would become CEO of the Rhodes Trust, which administers Rhodes scholarships to Oxford University this summer. In September, she resigned from her position as minister of transport and internal trade to assume her new role as Canada’s special envoy to Ukraine, announcing she would not run in the next federal election.
A former journalist of Ukrainian heritage, Freeland has been a vocal supporter of Kyiv in its conflict with Russia. In 2014, she was placed on a Kremlin list of Westerners banned from entering Russia in response to sanctions against Moscow.
In 2020, she became the first woman appointed as Canada’s finance minister, overseeing the country's financial response to the COVID pandemic. She is also credited with helping renegotiate the free trade agreement between Canada, the US, and Mexico during President Donald Trump's first term in 2018, which Trump later called toxic. The USMCA trade deal, known as CUSMA in Canada, has been credited with allowing Canada to largely avoid a stiff 35% tariff rate imposed by Trump, as Canada received an exemption for goods under the free trade agreement. This deal is now up for renegotiation.
