You Have to Be Prepared to Act

To repair the economic damage wrought by the pandemic, Freeland says she’s using lessons from her journalism career and the collapse of the Soviet Union

- STEPHANIE FLANDERS

When Chrystia Freeland became Canada’s minister of finance in August, she had a mandate from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to aggressively pursue economic growth. She was already Trudeau’s deputy and had led the government’s international trade and foreign ministries, making her a leading candidate to eventually succeed Trudeau even though she’d been a politician for less than a decade. She’s spent plenty of time thinking and writing about economics and government as a journalist at the Financial Times, the Globe and Mail, and Thomson Reuters Corp. and as the author of books about Russia and the rise of the global super rich. Freeland, 52, spoke with Bloomberg Markets in late April—soon after she presented her first budget—about spending, deficits, taxation, globalization, China, and which workers are really essential. She also talked about Mark Carney, the former Bank of Canada and Bank of England governor who’s become an economic adviser to Trudeau—and a potential rival to her as Trudeau’s successor. The interview was edited for clarity and length.

STEPHANIE FLANDERS: We have lots to talk about, but we should touch first on your first budget, which passed [in April]. There’s more spending in there and more borrowing, much of it in response obviously to the Covid pandemic. Canada’s debt as a share of GDP will have risen through this period from 30% to 50% of GDP. Is that it, as far as you’re concerned?

CHRYSTIA FREELAND: What we said in the budget was that now is the time that we need to finish the fight against Covid, and that does cost money.