OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with a former Bank of Canada Governor last week about eventually joining his Liberal government, days after the Liberal leader reassured Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland that her job was safe, a newspaper reported on Thursday.
After Trudeau’s Liberals were upset in a by-election last month, speculation has swirled that Freeland, who also serves as deputy prime minister, might lose her finance portfolio because of the perception that her economic policies were failing to win over the electorate.
Mark Carney, who served as bank governor from 2008 to 2013, and later served as Bank of England governor, has been frequently mentioned as a possible replacement for Freeland in the finance ministry.
During his talk with Trudeau, Carney was not immediately offered the post of finance minister or any other cabinet position, the newspaper said, adding that the prime minister has privately assured Freeland that she will not be removed.
Carney could become a member of the government through a by-election or wait until the next general election, scheduled for October 2025, the Globe and Mail reported, citing four sources that it did not identify as they were unauthorized to speak on the record.
The prime minister’s office and the office of the finance minister did not respond to requests for comment.
The Globe and Mail also reported that the prime minister would also hold a virtual cabinet meeting on Friday, without specifying an agenda.
Talk of a reshuffle surfaced after Trudeau’s Liberal party last month lost the coveted Toronto-St Paul’s constituency to the opposition Conservatives for the first time since 1998. The victory marked the first time since 2015 that the Conservatives have taken any seat in Toronto, the country’s largest city and key to Trudeau’s hold on power.
The election loss also raised calls for Trudeau, who have been in power since November 2015, to step down. His approval ratings currently are below 30% for the first time in his nine years in power, according to a poll by Angus Reid Institute.
During a press conference last week, Trudeau called Freeland “a close friend and an ally” and said he had full confidence in her abilities and on the work they were doing together.
When asked if he was in touch with Carney, he said he had been talking to him for years to get him to join federal politics.
(Reporting by Promit Mukherjee in Ottawa; Editing by Frank McGurty and David Evans)
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