Chrystia Freeland: Trudeau's first star candidate becomes his brand ambassador

ChrystiaFreeland, the new foreign affairs minister, wasn'tquite the first JustinTrudeauLiberal Yvonne Jones was elected in abyelectiona month after hebecame party leader but she was his first starcandidate, wooed by Trudeau and his advisers to hold the Liberal bastion of Toronto-Centre.

Herturn to politics in 2013 came on the heels of her acclaimed book,Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else,and her reporting on economic inequality converged with Trudeau's increasing focus on the middle class.

Her curriculum vitae reads like the model of a certain Liberal ideal: a worldly,Harvard-educated journalist who has worked in Moscow and New York, writing and talking about international politics and global finance while in theemploy of some of themost revered companies in international media. (Her familial roots in Peace River,Alta.,help to take some of the edge off her cosmopolitan bona fides.)

Before she was even elected, she was made a co-chair of theeconomic advisory councilof MPs andwonksthat would inform the Liberal platform. Immediately upon arriving in Ottawa, she became a prominent voice on Russian interference in Ukraine, her ancestral homeland.

During 14 months as the minister of international trade, she completed a deal with the European Unionfamously emoting in publicat one point during negotiations and laterhugging her Conservative predecessor in the Commons and apparently worked to improve her French.

Chrystia Freeland emotional after Canada-EU trade deal talks collapse

8 years ago

Duration 1:33

International Trade Minister has walked out of free trade negotiations with the European Union. "I worked very hard. But I think it's impossible."

With all of that in mind, itperhaps makes sense thatTrudeauhas madeFreelandhis envoy to the world.

At a moment of remarkable global uncertainty and with remarkable attention on Canada's example amid the tumult,Freelandhas been put front and centre.

Freelandvs.Trump andPutin

Asenior government source calls her the right person for what is now a very difficult job. The world is certainly having a bit of a moment, dizzied by the developments of Donald Trump andBrexit. The liberal order is beset by the forces of populism, protectionism and nationalism.

The U.S. is particularly pivotal for the Canadian economy and it's certainly easier to imagine Freeland dealing with senior members of the Trump administration than, say, Stphane Dion, the fastidious professor whom Freeland replaces.

Freeland might have ended up foreign minister regardless of who was president.

• Freelandtakes over Foreign Affairs
• Trudeautries to craft sturdier cabinet to withstand Trump: Chris Hall
• Quebec MP takes onkey trade post in protectionist age

She is said to be highly trusted by the prime minister and his advisers and is hailed for her work ethic, her diplomacyand her connections.

"She probably walks into that job with a broader and deeper network of alliances than anyone since [Lester B.] Pearson," a government source told CBC news.

(Mitchell Sharp might have triedto make a case for himself here.)

For whatever it's worth, she can also boast of having interviewed Russian President VladimirPutinin 2000, when she was an editor at theGlobe and Mail. And she speaks Russian.

ButFreeland, a frequent critic of thePutinregime as a journalist,has been banned from setting foot in Russia since 2014.

The degree to which that will matter in any practical sense remains to be seen. But it'sat least a potentially interesting twist,seized on byThe Guardian,in light of Trump's praise for the Russian leader.

A voice for theTrudeaubrand

In what might have beenher last speech as trade minister,Freelandenthused about the "open society" and made what has become theTrudeaugovernment's central argument: that immigration, diversity and trade are valuable ideas, but that in the absence of widespread economic security those ideas will come under attack.

Freelandseems steeped in the essential stuff of the global moment. She's thought about the need for anew model of progressive government. To that she's added the real experience of negotiating a trade deal. And now she can try navigating the United Nations as Canada pursues a seat on the Security Council and prepares to embark on peacekeeping efforts.

In the acknowledgements at the end of Plutocrats the list of friends, colleagues, advisers and acquaintances reads like a potential speakers list for the next World Economic Forum summit in Davos Freeland writes, "I sometimes describe my own political philosophy as being simply 'Canadian.'"

At the time that might've just meant an enthusiasm for bank regulation.

But, over the past year, "Canadian" has become a trendy adjectiveassociated with pluralism,pandasand otherretweetablenotions. And nowFreeland, an early adherent toTrudeau'scause, gets to represent,protect and buildthatbrand abroad.

• ANALYSIS| Intellect and stubbornness sustained and limited Dion's political career
• Justin Trudeau's redesigned cabinet