Chrystia Freeland will resign as an MP on Friday to take up a role in Ukraine – nationally
Chrystia Freeland says she will leave her seat in the House of Commons on Friday as she prepares to take up her new role as an unpaid economic development adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Freeland made the announcement Wednesday amid concerns raised by opposition parties, the Conservatives and the NDP, calling for him to resign immediately after accepting a foreign government advisory role.
“On Monday, I announced my intention to leave the House of Commons in the coming weeks,” Freeland wrote in a post to X.
“Today, I wrote to the Speaker to confirm that I will leave my seat starting Friday, Jan. 9.”
Freeland said he consulted with the ethics commissioner “throughout the process” of accepting an advisory role in Ukraine “and followed his advice.”
Prime Minister Mark Carney now has 180 days to call a by-election in the Toronto seat of University-Rosedale, which Freeland has represented as a Liberal MP since 2015.
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Carney told reporters in Paris on Tuesday that he expects to call for a “by-election” soon but did not give a timeline.
He said he did not ask Freeland to continue as an MP to ensure stability in his small government, adding that he believed accepting a new position in Ukraine meant he had to leave his position.
“My decision was that taking that position would be accompanied by my resignation as a Member of Parliament, and I welcome him to do so,” said Carney.
Conservative MP and ethics critic Michael Barrett said on Tuesday Freeland may have received sensitive information while advising foreign governments at high levels.
“Besides that working for Canadians is not a part-time job, the position he has accepted in a foreign government, paid or unpaid, raises the question of whose interests will be put first,” he wrote on social media.
“It’s important for the Prime Minister to protect Canada’s interests and uphold high standards of ethics and integrity. And he shouldn’t wait for someone to tell him to.”
Other opposition MPs, including Conservative Foreign Affairs critic Michael Chong and interim NDP leader Don Davies, also said Freeland should have resigned as an MP before taking a job with another nation’s leader.
The resignation marks the final act in Freeland’s gradual exit from Canadian politics. He was first elected to Parliament in the 2013 by-election.
He served in a number of senior cabinet positions under former prime minister Justin Trudeau, eventually rising to deputy prime minister before stepping down in December 2024.
He was later appointed as transport minister by Carney after running against him for the Liberal leadership last spring.
Freeland announced in September that he would leave the Cabinet to serve as Carney’s special envoy to Ukraine, focusing on reconstruction efforts in the war-torn country. He also said that he will not contest the next election.
He said on Monday that he will leave this position and become Zelenskyy’s adviser.
“Moving forward, I will continue to support and help build Canada in every way I can, while fighting for the brave fight of the Ukrainian people, a cause I have committed to for the rest of my life,” he wrote on Wednesday.
Freeland will become CEO of the Rhodes Trust, an international charity based in Oxford, England, effective July 1.
-From files from The Canadian Press
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