Is Freeland’s exit a sign of a turn away from Washington?

 

Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, Madame Freeland.

Chrystia Freeland’s resignation from cabinet is a small win for all those who wish Canada would take a more independent foreign policy and not simply toady to the Americans.

A year after becoming prime minister, Justin Trudeau replaced foreign affairs minister Stéphane Dion, who represented a less pro-military and Washington faction of the Canadian elite, with Freeland. When she became foreign minister, the US embassy in Ottawa sent a memo to the State Department in Washington entitled “Canada Adopts ‘America First’ Foreign Policy.” Uncovered through a freedom of information request by Jay Watts, the largely redacted cable concluded that Trudeau promoted Freeland “in large part because of her strong U.S. contacts” and that her “number one priority” was working closely with Washington.

Coordinating the bid to overthrow Venezuela’s government was the highest profile example of Freeland’s “America First” policy. In 2020 Venezuelan foreign affairs Minister Jorge Arreaza pointed out that the Trudeau government’s Venezuela policy took a sharply belligerent turn after Freeland replaced Dion in January 2017. Freeland helped establish the Lima Group and participated in a half dozen meetings of the anti-Venezuelan government coalition. As the Globe and Mail reported, “Freeland spoke with Juan Guaidó to congratulate him on unifying opposition forces in Venezuela, two weeks before he declared himself interim president” in January 2019.

As part of her pro-Washington policy in the Hemisphere, Freeland also supported the ouster of Bolivia’s first indigenous president. Hours after the military command forced Evo Morales to resign on November 10, 2019, Freeland released a celebratory statement declaring, “Canada stands with Bolivia and the democratic will of its people.”

Ottawa provided significant support for the Organization of American States’ effort to discredit Bolivia’s 2019 vote, which fueled opposition protests and justified the coup. “Canada commends the invaluable work of the OAS audit mission in ensuring a fair and transparent process, which we supported financially and through our expertise”, noted Freeland at the time. But the OAS audit mission was designed to precipitate Morales ouster. A slew of studies demonstrated the partisan nature of the OAS audit mission and a year later Morales’ former finance minister, Luis Acre, won 55% of the vote for president and his MAS party took a large majority in the Congress.  (more...)

Is Freeland’s exit a sign of a turn away from Washington?