Chrystia Freeland is a controversial figure here in Canada. Since her election to federal parliament in 2015, she has served as our minister of international trade, then our minister of foreign affairs, then until very recently our deputy prime minister and minister of finance, the first time a woman has held the latter position. A few weeks ago, shortly before the publication of this biography (which was published 2 months earlier than expected due to the movings and shakings in the government), she infamously resigned from Prime Minister Trudeau’s cabinet, citing disagreements over the budget. This move prompted Trudeau to resign as leader of the Liberal party (and thus as prime minister), and now Freeland is campaigning to take his place.

Interestingly, this unauthorized biography, while giving us a fair and balanced look at Chrystia Freeland’s life and accomplishments, almost works as an argument against choosing her as our next prime minister. Don’t get me wrong, I have always admired Chrystia Freeland, and I get the feeling that the author of this biography (Catherine Tsalikis) does, too. Chrystia grew up in rural Alberta, where she learned the value of hard work and determination from her farmer/lawyer parents. Whip-smart, she earned a place in an exchange program with Italy in high school, a Harvard undergraduate education, and a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford. She worked as a translator and journalist in Ukraine before and during its independence, earning her lifelong distrust from the KGB and President Putin himself. At 26, she became the youngest-ever journalist appointed to run the Moscow bureau of the Financial Times. During 9/11, she effectively ran the Globe and Mail newsroom in Toronto while the editor was stranded in London. She later ran the Financial Times‘ New York office, becoming a master networker who met everybody who was somebody, making connections that would serve Canada well a few years later. In short, she had an illustrious and exciting journalism career before her political career began.

However, her last job in journalism was as the head of the digital division of Reuters, which she left in the lurch in the middle of big changes when she was head-hunted to join Justin Trudeau’s Liberal campaign team. The author suggests that, since Chrystia wasn’t getting the big promotion to senior editor of a major paper that she felt she had earned, she was ready to start a new career path and didn’t seem to care that she was abandoning her post. In a way, this move echoes her sudden resignation as finance minister and subsequent campaign for a bigger, better position. In fact, this biography notes several times that Chrystia has left colleagues in her wake on her move to the top, “more interested in advancing her own career than supporting them in theirs” (p. 124). While, yes, this is typical of most major players in politics as well as in any big business, and while most of Chrystia’s colleagues, friends, and family members have nothing but glowing things to say about her, her work ethic, and her treatment of others, it does seem to explain why the undying loyalty to Trudeau that the conclusion of this biography praises suddenly disappeared.

Additionally, this biography points out how deeply Chrystia is loathed by both Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. While I fully admire her for the reasons she has drawn their ire – her work towards Ukraine’s freedom and her tactics during the renegotiation of NAFTA/USMCA, along with her tendency to call out injustice even when it means poking the bear – it does not bode well for Canada-US relations in the coming weeks if she becomes our prime minister. Whatever criticisms we all may have of Justin Trudeau, President Trump does at least show some willingness to meet with him and work with him, and even professes to like him as a person. It’s hard to imagine him showing the same professional courtesy towards Chrystia Freeland.

I admire Chrystia Freeland. As a woman in the male-dominated worlds of journalism and politics, she has done amazing things, broken several glass ceilings, and managed it all while also being a dedicated wife and mother. I was inspired by her tenacity on behalf of Canada during the NAFTA renegotiations, the crowning jewel of her political career that has sadly now tarnished under Donald Trump’s second term. And she saved a lot of Canadian lives during the pandemic by working around the clock to get us the supplies and equipment our hospitals needed. I believe she still has great things coming her way – for all she has accomplished, she’s still only 56 years of age and full of boundless energy and ambition. I don’t know whether we will ever see her hold the office of prime minister, since the timing of her campaign couldn’t be worse, but she is highly respected on the world stage outside of Putin and Trump’s circles, and I expect that her abilities and experience will carry her far.

I really enjoyed this biography. It’s excellently researched, beautifully written, and fairly analyzed. I highly recommend it.

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