Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Finance of Canada

Audio 04:07

Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland at a press conference in Parliament, Ottawa, April 19, 2021 © REUTERS - PATRICK DOYLE

By: Agnieszka Kumor

10 mins

G7 finance ministers are meeting on June 4 and 5 in London to prepare for the summit of heads of state and government.

On the menu of their discussions: the project of international taxation of companies.

The opportunity to talk about the Canadian Minister of Finance who is participating in these negotiations.

Who is Chrystia Freeland who became in August 2020, in the midst of the Covid crisis, the first woman to hold this position in her country?

Since 1867, this is the first time that the Ministry of Finance has been entrusted to a woman.

Publicity

Brown hair, straight eyes, a broad smile and a strong character, Christina Alexandra Freeland, known as Chrystia, has a career that is atypical to say the least.

Born 53 years ago in Alberta, the future Deputy Prime Minister first pursued a career as a journalist.

Graduated from Harvard University, she went to Ukraine, where her mother's family came from, then to Moscow where she worked as a correspondent for the 

Financial Times

The Globe and Mail

 and a Canadian-British press agency

Thomson Reuters.

.

Chrystia Freeland has no tongue in her pocket

Back in Canada, Chrystia Freeland works for several media and writes. In her second, twice-award-winning book entitled 

Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall od Everyone Else

, edited by Penguin Books, 2012 (not translated into French), she denounces income inequalities. In a

heated TED talk

in 2014, she explains: “ 

Take Amazon, Apple, Google, Starbucks.

These companies are some of the most admired, celebrated and innovative in the world.

They also happen to have a special talent for influencing the international tax system to lower their taxes dramatically.

And why settle for exploiting the systems as they exist for the greatest profit?

Once you have the enormous economic power that you see at the top of the income pyramid, and the political power that it inevitably breeds, it becomes terribly tempting to start trying to change the rules of the game. your advantage.

 "

A fine negotiator

Taxing multinationals becomes Chrystia Freeland's hobbyhorse. The former journalist entered politics in 2013 and quickly moved from the House of Commons to the government of Justin Trudeau. Having become Minister of International Trade, then Minister of Foreign Affairs, she distinguished herself in the renegotiation of the United States-Canada-Mexico free trade agreement. The opportunity for this discreet woman to make herself known internationally, believes Stéphanie Chouinard, professor of political science at the Royal Military College and at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada: " 

She is someone who has a lot of spirit, a lot of tact, but who is also a fine negotiator. When we talk, for example, of the negotiations with the United States under the Donald Trump regime, it was not an easy time for Canada. Canada, economically speaking, is hugely dependent on its relationship with the United States. The renegotiation of the NAFTA agreement was therefore a crucial moment. Chrystia Freeland was in many ways a hidden card up the sleeve of Canada. I think she has earned the respect not only of Canadians but also of her political opponents on the other side of the House of Commons.

 "

Having become persona non grata in Russia because of her opposition to the annexation of Crimea, the Canadian minister holds political positions that are tense.

This will earn him a campaign of discredit by the Russian media on the past of his maternal grandfather.

During the occupation of Ukraine by the Germans 

Michael Chomiak worked as editor-in-chief of a Ukrainian pro-Nazi newspaper.

A new star on the political scene in Canada

Chrystia Freeland's convictions are disturbing.

As in 2018 when she called for the release of two human rights activists detained in Saudi Arabia.

It is no coincidence that in 2019 it was ranked 37th among the world's greatest leaders by Forbes magazine.

For Stéphanie Chouinard: “ 

He is not a rising star, he is simply a star on the Canadian political scene. On the other hand, we can blame him for having been less present on the issue of relations with China. Canada is in extremely tense relations with China because of two prisoners, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, imprisoned in China for more than two years. [Editor's note: Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were arrested in 2018 in retaliation for the detention in Canada of the Huawei group's chief financial officer.] But as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance things have been going quite well so far. now. Its first budget tabled a few weeks ago was eagerly awaited and it was well received. She is a woman who is already making her mark on Canada, and who gives the impression thatshe is trying to position herself for the leadership race of the Liberal Party within a few years.

 "

The challenge of this G7 meeting will be to know, according to the expert, whether Canada opts for a higher taxation of multinationals than the 15% minimum proposed by the United States.

Read also:

Trial of two Canadians in China: a means of pressure for Beijing in the Huawei case

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