Chrystia Freeland

The Honourable
Chrystia Freeland
PC MP
Minister of International Trade
Assumed office
November 4, 2015
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
Preceded by Ed Fast
Member of the Canadian Parliament
for University—Rosedale
Assumed office
October 19, 2015
Preceded by Riding Established
Member of the Canadian Parliament
for Toronto Centre
In office
November 24, 2013 – October 19, 2015
Preceded by Bob Rae
Succeeded by Bill Morneau
Personal details
Born Christina Alexandra Freeland[1]
(1968-08-02) August 2, 1968
Peace River, Alberta, Canada
Citizenship Canadian
Political party Liberal
Spouse(s) Graham Bowley
Children 3
Residence Rosedale, Toronto, Ontario
Alma mater Harvard University (A.B.)
St Antony's College, Oxford (M.St.)
Occupation Journalist, author

Christina Alexandra "Chrystia" Freeland PC MP (born 8 February 1968) is a Canadian writer, journalist, and politician. Currently Freeland is serving as the federal Minister of International Trade. She worked in a variety of editorial positions at the Financial Times, The Globe and Mail and Thomson Reuters (where she was the managing director and editor for consumer news), before announcing her intention to run for the Liberal Party nomination in the by-election to replace Bob Rae as the Member of Parliament for Toronto Centre. After winning the Liberal nomination on 15 September 2013 she was elected to parliament in the 25 November 2013 by-election. Appointed to the Cabinet of Canada as Minister of International Trade on 4 November 2015, Freeland was named that month as one of Toronto's 50 most influential by Toronto Life magazine.[2]

Freeland is the author of Sale of the Century, a 2000 book about Russia's journey from communism to capitalism[3] and Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else in 2012.[4][5] Plutocrats was a New York Times bestseller, and the winner of the 2013 Lionel Gelber Prize for non-fiction reporting on foreign affairs.[6] It also won the 2013 National Business Book Award for the most outstanding Canadian business-related book.

Early life

Freeland was born in Peace River, Alberta.[7][8] Her father, Donald Freeland, was a farmer and lawyer and a member of the Liberal Party of Canada,[9] and her mother, Halyna (Chomiak) Freeland (1946–2007), was also a lawyer who once ran for election in Edmonton-Strathcona, representing the New Democratic Party.[10][11] Her paternal grandfather, Wilbur Freeland, was a farmer and lawyer who rode in the Calgary Stampede, and whose sister, Beulah, was the wife of federal MP Ged Baldwin.[12]

Her paternal grandmother, Helen (Caulfield) Freeland, was a WWII war bride from Glasgow,[13] while her mother was born in a displaced persons camp in Bad Wörishofen, Germany, to Ukrainian Catholic parents, Mykhailo Chomiak and Alexandra (Loban) Chomiak.[10][14] Freeland attended the United World College of the Adriatic.[15] She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Russian history and literature from Harvard University and a Master of Studies degree in Slavonic Studies from St Antony's College, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar in 1993.[3][16]

Journalism career

Freeland started her journalism career as a stringer for the Financial Times, The Washington Post and The Economist while working in Ukraine.[17] Freeland later worked for the Financial Times in London as a deputy editor, and then as an editor for its weekend edition, FT.com, and UK news.[17] Freeland also served as Moscow bureau chief and Eastern Europe correspondent for the Financial Times,[17]

From 1999 to 2001 Freeland served as the deputy editor of The Globe and Mail.[17] Next she worked as the managing director and editor of consumer news at Thomson Reuters.[18] She was also a weekly columnist for the Globe and Mail.[19] Previously she was editor of Thomson Reuters Digital, a position she held since April 2011.[20] Prior to that she was the global editor-at-large of Reuters news since March 1, 2010,[21] having formerly been the United States managing editor at the Financial Times, based in New York City.

Published works

She is the author of Sale of the Century, a 2000 book about Russia's journey from communism to capitalism[3] and Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else in 2012.[4][5]

Plutocrats was a New York Times bestseller, and the winner of the 2013 Lionel Gelber Prize for non-fiction reporting on foreign affairs.[6] It also won the 2013 National Business Book Award for the most outstanding Canadian business-related book.

Personal life

Freeland is married to Graham Bowley, a British writer and New York Times reporter.[22] They have three children,[23] Natalka, Halya, and Ivan. She has lived in Toronto since the summer of 2013 when she returned from abroad to run for election.[17][24][25] She speaks Ukrainian at home with her children, English, and is conversant in French.[26] She also speaks Russian,[27] Polish, and Italian, and is the co-owner, with her sister, of an apartment which overlooks the Maidan square in Kyiv.[28]

Political career

On July 26, 2013 she left journalism to enter Canadian politics as a candidate for the nomination of the Liberal Party in the riding of Toronto Centre. On September 15, 2013 she won the nomination,[29] with an opportunity to replace outgoing MP Bob Rae in the November 25, 2013 by-election.[25] During the campaign she received criticism for purchasing a 1.3 million dollar home, although the price was consistent with Toronto's home prices.[30][31] Freeland won 49% of the vote and was elected.[32]

As the Liberal Party of Canada's trade critic,[33] Freeland interviewed noted economist Larry Summers in a formal event at the 2014 Liberal Party convention;[28] the interview is available on YouTube and the party website. Freeland wrote an op-ed in The New York Times, in which she contraposed the rise of the plutocrats with the popularity of the television series Downton Abbey.[34]

On January 27, 2014, Freeland wrote an op-ed for The Globe and Mail, in which she excoriated the government of Viktor Yanukovich, who later was ousted as during the 2014 Ukrainian revolution.[35] She is a proponent of personal asset seizures and travel bans as part of programmes of economic sanctions.[28] Later, at the beginning of March, Freeland visited Ukraine on behalf of the Liberal Party, and tweeted her progress in meeting community leaders and members of the government in Kyiv. She lunched with the chief rabbi of Kyiv, met with Mustafa Dzhemilev, leader of the Crimean Tatars and an MP, and with Vitaly Klitchko, who is leader of the Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform party, and with Ukrainian MP Petro Poroshenko, who was subsequently elected President of Ukraine in May 2014,[27] Ukrainian presidential elections.

Freeland was one of thirteen Canadians banned from travelling to Russia under retaliatory sanctions imposed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in March 2014.[36] She replied through her official Twitter feed, "Love Russ lang/culture, loved my yrs in Moscow; but it's an honour to be on Putin's sanction list, esp in company of friends Cotler & Grod."[36]

In the riding redistribution of 2012 and 2013, much of Freeland's base was shifted from Toronto Centre to the new riding of University-Rosedale, while seemingly making Toronto Centre less safe for her. Freeland opted to run in University-Rosedale, and defeated NDP challenger Jennifer Hollett.[37]

On November 4, 2015, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau chose Freeland as Minister of International Trade.[38]

Freeland with Jordanian Minister of Industry Maha Ali in December 2015.

During negotiations leading up to the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement she was described as having shed "public tears of disappointment"[39] which opposition critic Gerry Ritz described as a meltdown.[40] After it was signed 30 October 2016, Freeland made comments about "buildings bridges and not building walls".[41]

Media appearances

Freeland appeared several times between 2010 and 2015 as a panelist on Real Time with Bill Maher.[42] She has also made appearances on The McLaughlin Group, The Dylan Ratigan Show, Imus in the Morning, Fareed Zakaria GPS, and The Colbert Report. She is a frequent guest on public radio's political debate program Left, Right & Center, produced by KCRW. In addition, Freeland was featured on a panel discussion on Tom Ashbrook's On Point regarding inequality and democracy in the United States.[43] In June 2013 she gave a speech at the TED Talks, speaking on the subjects of economic inequality, plutocracy, globalization,[44] and "the growing gap between the working poor and the increasingly disconnected mega-rich."[45]

References

  1. ↑ Linda Diebel (November 29, 2015). "How Chrystia Freeland became Justin Trudeau's first star". The Star. Retrieved January 17, 2016.
  2. ↑ "Toronto's 50 Most Influential People: Chrystia Freeland | Toronto Life". Toronto Life. Retrieved December 2, 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 "Chrystia Freeland." The Financial Times biography. 3 Feb 2004; 26 May 2007.
  4. 1 2 Plutocrats: the rise of the new global super-rich and the fall of everyone else. New York: Penguin. 2012. ISBN 9781594204098. OCLC 780480424.
  5. 1 2 Ezra Klein (November 28, 2012). "Romney is Wall Street's worst bet since the bet on subprime". The Washington Post. Interview with Chrystia Freeland.
  6. 1 2 "Plutocrats author Chrystia Freeland wins $15,000 book prize for international affairs". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. March 25, 2013.
  7. ↑ "Home - Little PINK Book".
  8. ↑ Marco Levytsky. "Shevchenko Lecture focuses on Ukrainians and the media".
  9. ↑ "Halyna Freeland's quest to 'change the world' influenced feminism in Alberta and Ukraine, and left a mark on her family and friends". Canada.com. July 14, 2007. Retrieved September 26, 2013.
  10. 1 2 "Obituary: Halyna Chomiak Freeland". Edmonton Journal. Retrieved September 26, 2013.
  11. ↑ LeBlanc, Daniel (July 27, 2013). "Journalist Chrystia Freeland to seek Liberal nod for Toronto Centre". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved September 6, 2013.
  12. ↑ "Peace River Woman Set to Join Trudeau Liberal Government as a Toronto MP". AM 610 Newsroom. October 23, 2015. Retrieved November 29, 2015.
  13. ↑ "An audit of affluence". Financial Times. Retrieved November 16, 2014.
  14. ↑ Rebecca Wetherbee (May 20, 2013). "Chrystia Freeland – U.S. Managing Editor, Financial Times". Little Pink Book.
  15. ↑ "Chrystia Freeland". United World College of the Adriatic. Retrieved October 21, 2012.
  16. ↑ "My Oxford". Oxford Today.
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 "Chrystia Freeland". Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Development Canada (DFAIT). April 25, 2013. Retrieved July 29, 2013.
  18. ↑ "'Journalistic excellence paramount' in the new Reuters". The Baron. December 19, 2012.
  19. ↑ "Chrystia Freeland's Plutocrats wins National Business Book Award". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. May 28, 2013.
  20. ↑ Saba, Jennifer (April 7, 2011). "Chrystia Freeland named Thomson Reuters Digital editor". Thomson Reuters. Retrieved December 6, 2012.
  21. ↑ "Chrystia Freeland Joins Reuters as Global Editor-at-large" (Press release). 1 March 2010. Retrieved October 21, 2012.
  22. ↑ http://www.nowaydownthebook.com/about-the-author/
  23. ↑ Weisblott, Marc (July 29, 2013). "Chrystia Freeland to make U.S. Media Party care about Canadian politics". Canada.com. Retrieved September 6, 2013.
  24. ↑ Semeniuk, Ivan (September 15, 2013). "NDP's McQuaig, Liberals' Freeland to face off in battle for Toronto Centre". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved November 13, 2013.
  25. 1 2 Gustin, Sam (July 29, 2013). "Prominent Journalist Chrystia Freeland in Surprise Canadian Political Bid". Time. Retrieved July 29, 2013.
  26. ↑ "Parliament: Speaking a language all its own". The Star. February 7, 2014. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
  27. 1 2 "Government to send military observers to Ukraine". CBC news. CBC. March 5, 2014. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
  28. 1 2 3 "Liberal MP Chrystia Freeland on Ukraine". macleans.ca. February 20, 2014. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
  29. ↑ Mok, Tanya (September 15, 2013). "Liberals choose Chrystia Freeland to face NDP candidate Linda McQuaig in upcoming byelection in Toronto Centre". National Post. Retrieved September 15, 2013.
  30. ↑ Glen McGregor (11 October 2013). "Slumming in Summerhill: LPC candidate Freeland now a Toronto homeowner". Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved 15 October 2013. The Liberal Party’s star Toronto candidate, who has promised to advocate for the interests of Canada’s middle class, had to get her parents to co-sign a mortgage on a $1.3-million home in an affluent Toronto neighbourhood. Chrystia Freeland on Friday closed on the purchase of a three-storey townhouse in Summerhill, in the Toronto Centre riding.
  31. ↑ Siekierski, BJ (15 October 2013). "Chrystia Freeland defends $1.3-million home purchase". With the Ottawa Citizen’s Glenn McGregor reporting on Friday that Chrystia Freeland and her husband recently bought a $1.3-million townhouse in Toronto’s distinctly upper-class Summerhill neighborhood, it was only a matter of time before the Toronto-Centre Liberal candidate was asked how she reconciled that with her and the party’s ‘struggling middle-class’ mantra.
  32. ↑ "Complete results from Toronto Centre and three other federal by-elections". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. February 24, 2014. Retrieved November 26, 2013.
  33. ↑ "Conservative report calls middle-class dreams a 'myth'". The Star. February 23, 2014. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
  34. ↑ (Freeland), "Sympathy for the Toffs". The New York Times. January 24, 2014. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
  35. ↑ "Why Canada should support Ukraine's democratic protesters". Globe and Mail. January 27, 2014. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
  36. 1 2 Susana Mas (March 24, 2013). "Russian sanctions against Canadians a 'badge of honour'". CBC News. CBC. Retrieved March 24, 2014.
  37. ↑ Otis, Daniel (October 20, 2015). "Liberal Chrystia Freeland wins in University-Rosedale". The Star. Retrieved October 25, 2015.
  38. ↑ "Full list of Justin Trudeau's cabinet". CBC. November 4, 2015. Retrieved November 4, 2015.
  39. ↑ Bonokoski, Mark (27 October 2016). "Chrystia Freeland deserves a daytime Emmy". Toronto Sun. It was a rather uncomfortable little soap opera that was played out in Brussels, complete with very public tears of disappointment coming from Canada’s International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland
  40. ↑ Maloney, Ryan (24 October 2016). "Gerry Ritz Suggests Chrystia Freeland Needs 'Adult Supervision'". Huffington Post. Canada’s international trade minister defended her toughness Monday after a Conservative critic accused her of having a “meltdown” and suggested to the House of Commons she needed “adult supervision.”
  41. ↑ Isfield, Gordon (31 October 2016). "Chrystia Freeland urges 'building bridges, not walls' to trade following Canada-EU agreement". Financial Post.
  42. ↑ "Real Time with Bill Maher". HBO. Retrieved September 6, 2013.
  43. ↑ "Inequality And American Democracy". October 4, 2013. Retrieved October 6, 2013.
  44. ↑ "Chrystia Freeland: The rise of the new global super-rich". TED Talks. June 2013. Retrieved September 6, 2013.
  45. ↑ "Speakers, Chrystia Freeland: Plutocracy chronicler". TED Talks. June 2013. Retrieved September 6, 2013.

External links

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29th Ministry – Cabinet of Justin Trudeau
Cabinet Post (1)
Predecessor Office Successor
Ed Fast Minister of International Trade
2015-present		 Incumbent
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