Federal Government’s 2024 Fall Economic Statement Did Not Include Any Statement From Canada’s Minister of Finance

The federal government’s 2024 Fall Economic Statement is the first edition of its annual economic update that contains no introductory remarks from Canada’s Finance Minister since Chrystia Freeland was first appointed to the job in 2020.

The foreword, which typically provides a personal endorsement of the government’s economic plans and includes Freeland’s signature, is missing from both digital copies of the report as well as a hard copy booklet likely printed days or weeks earlier.

On Monday, only hours before delivering the Fall Economic Statement, Freeland made a surprise announcement and abruptly resigned as Finance Minister.

See my letter to the Prime Minister below // Veuillez trouver ma lettre au Premier ministre ci-dessous pic.twitter.com/NMMMcXUh7A

— Chrystia Freeland (@cafreeland) December 16, 2024

“On Friday, you told me you no longer want me to serve as your Finance Minister,” Freeland wrote. “Upon reflection, I have concluded that the only honest and viable path is for me to resign from the Cabinet.”

Freeland’s resignation letter notes she and Trudeau had been at odds “for the past number of weeks.”

The announcement, which Freeland first tweeted at 9:07 AM as journalists were heading into a media lock-up to read advance copies of the economic statement, appears to have caught Justin Trudeau’s government completely off-guard – confused Finance Canada officials repeatedly delayed releasing embargoed copies of the report for nearly four hours.

Photo: Luke LeBrun (PressProgress)

The report itself is notably missing key features included in past editions of the Fall Economic Statement, raising questions about behind-the-scenes friction leading up to the delivery of the economic update.

Freeland, who was appointed finance minister in 2020, has previously delivered four economic statements between 2020 and 2023 – the report released Monday is the first edition of the Fall Economic Statement since Freeland became finance minister that includes no foreword or introductory remarks from the finance minister.

The 2023, 2022, 2021 and 2020 editions of the Fall Economic Statement all include a two or three page personalized foreword with introductory remarks signed by Chrystia Freeland.

Excerpts from Chrystia Freeland’s past forewords to the Fall Economic Statement (Finance Canada)

Finance Canada officials confirmed to PressProgress that, unlike in previous years, they had no copies of any foreword, introductory remark, press release or advance copies of speeches to distribute and directed questions to the Prime Minister’s Office.

The Prime Minister’s Office did not respond to questions from PressProgress about why this year’s Fall Economic Statement contains no introductory remarks from Canada’s finance minister or further details about when the decision was made to omit Freeland’s foreword from this year’s edition of the economic update.

Printed copies of the Fall Economic Statement booklet were kept under a black cloth guarded by Finance Canada officials for several hours Monday morning.

Luke LeBrun (PressProgress)

USB keys with embargoed copies of the report were removed earlier in the morning and later reappeared when the report was released to journalists at 1:45 PM.

Metadata associated with PDFs that appear on the USB keys show the files were uploaded to the USB keys only half-an-hour before they were released at 1:14 PM, hours after they were originally supposed to be released to journalists.

Questions about whether Finance Canada removed, replaced or revised any content contained on the USB keys during the day also went unanswered by the PMO.

The PDF containing the final version of the Fall Economic Statement report was itself created two days earlier on December 14, one day after Freeland alleges Trudeau approached her about being replaced as finance minister.

Finance Canada

The foreword in the 2023 edition of Freeland’s economic update shared that she was “incredibly optimistic” about the future of Canada’s economy, noting “our economic plan is working.”

“Just as fall turns to winter, so too does winter turn to spring,” Freeland wrote in the foreword to the 2022 Fall Economic Statement. “There are warmer days ahead, and we will reach them together.”

The 2024 economic update notes that Canada’s economic outlook is “unclear” for the foreseeable future due to “high global uncertainty and a complex geopolitical landscape.”

The fall economic statement cites 11 private sector economists surveyed in September 2024 who told Finance Canada they were expecting “stronger growth” for the Canadian economy next year, but the report notes “the department did not re-survey private sector economists following the US election given the continued high levels of uncertainty surrounding the implications for both the North American and global economies.”

Although they say these projections remain “reasonable” for planning purposes, Finance Canada concedes Canada’s “economic outlook nevertheless remains clouded by a number of key uncertainties, which could impact the trajectory of inflation, interest rates and economic growth.”

“Given the importance of trade to the Canadian economy, the uncertainty surrounding North American and global trade policies suggests that the balance of risks to growth are tilted to the downside.”

Update: This story has been updated to note time stamps that appear in the PDF metadata contained on Finance Canada’s USB sticks.