‘A complete mess’: B.C. politicians react to Chrystia Freeland’s resignation

Ottawa may be 4,400 kilometres away from Metro Vancouver but the aftershocks of Chrystia Freeland’s resignation are acutely felt in B.C.

“We are in a complete mess and we have a Parliament that is dysfunctional, a government that has lost confidence of its own backbenchers,” James Moore, a former Conservative cabinet minister, told Global News.

“And now the senior cabinet minister, most senior cabinet minister to Justin Trudeau.”

West Vancouver – Sunshine Coast – Sea to Sky Country MP Patrick Weiler called on Trudeau to resign on Monday and said the political drama reinforces this call.

“There is a fatigue with Justin Trudeau,” Weiler said. “That’s abundantly clear. But the policies, many of the policies we’ve brought in are very popular and people are very concerned about what a Pierre Poilievre government would be.”

Former MPs from British Columbia piled on the political pressure on Monday. Jody Wilson-Raybould posted on X that when the general is losing his most loyal soldiers on the eve of a tariff war, the country desperately needs a new general.

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President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico, which has been the subject of meetings with premiers across Canada.

5:41 Trudeau government in turmoil after Chrystia Freeland’s departure

B.C. Premier David Eby said he is trying to block out the chaos.

“There’s an election, if there’s not an election, if someone resigns, if they don’t resign in Ottawa, what matters to us is looking after our people in our provinces and looking after Canadians, and that’s what we’re going to do,” Eby said.

However, economic uncertainty reigns.

B.C.’s business community is worried about the impacts of both governing chaos and tariff threats on mining, forestry, natural gas and beyond.

“Businesses need certainty,” Bridgitte Anderson, CEO of the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade, said.

“There is a lot of concern about the political instability that is occurring right now.”

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct the name of the West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast MLA.