Chrystia Freeland

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Chrystia Freeland (2017)

Christina Alexandra "Chrystia" Freeland PC (born August 2, 1968 in Peace River , Alberta ) is a Canadian publicist and politician . Before starting her political career, she worked as a journalist and deputy editor for various newspapers and agencies, including the Financial Times , The Globe and Mail and Thomson Reuters . Since November 2013 Freeland has been a member of the Canadian House of Commons for the Liberal Party . In the Trudeau cabinet , she was Minister for International Trade from 2015 to 2017 and Foreign Minister between 2017 and 2019 . As of November 2019, Freeland served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Intergovernmental Affairs, responsible for the relationship between the federal government and the governments of the Canadian provinces and territories. Freeland has been the Minister of Finance of Canada since August 18, 2020.

Life

Chrystia Freeland was born to the farmer and lawyer Donald Freeland, who was a member of the Liberal Party of Canada, and his wife Halyna Chomiak (1946-2007), also a lawyer and member of the social democratic New Democratic Party .

Her maternal grandparents came from Ukraine and fled the Red Army towards the end of the war, initially to Germany , where her mother was born in a camp for displaced persons .

After leaving school she acquired in Harvard the Bachelor degree in Russian history and in Oxford the Master degree for Slavic Studies . She is married to British reporter and author Graham Bowley and has three children. She has lived in Toronto since summer 2013.

Freeland was involved in the publication of an academic article about the Nazi past of her grandfather Michael Chomiak ( Ukrainian Миха́йло Хом'я́к / Michajlo Chomjak ), which her uncle, the historian John-Paul Himka, wrote. Chomiak worked as a National Socialist propagandist for the newspaper Krakiwski Wisti ( Krakauer Nachrichten ) in Krakow . Himka concluded that although he was a collaborator, he pointed out that the German occupiers were making the final editorial decisions about the paper's anti-Semitic articles and other pro-Nazi texts. Chomiak's minder was the German Emil Gassert.

activity

Freeland during the 54th Munich Security Conference 2018

Freeland initially worked as a freelance journalist for the Financial Times , The Washington Post and The Economist in Ukraine.

Later she was deputy editor of the Financial Times in London and from 1999 to 2001 of The Globe and Mail , most recently editor at Thomson Reuters Digital .

On June 26, 2013, Freeland turned away from journalism and politics by running for the Liberal Party's candidacy for the seat in the Toronto Center constituency of the House of Commons, which was vacated by Bob Rae's resignation . She was nominated on September 15 and won the election to the House of Commons on November 25, 2013 with 49% of the vote. In the 2015 general election , she competed in the University-Rosedale constituency, also located in Toronto, and won 49.8% of the vote. Freeland was able to defend this seat in the 2019 election with 51.7% of the vote.

Freeland's name is on the list published by the Russian Foreign Ministry on March 21, 2014 of people who are banned from entering Russia in connection with the Crimean crisis . She served as Minister for International Trade in Justin Trudeau's cabinet since November 4, 2015 and was committed to the conclusion of the CETA free trade agreement between Canada and the EU.

On January 10, 2017, she was appointed as the new Foreign Minister. In a cabinet reorganization on November 20, 2019, Justin Trudeau made her Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister of Canada.

Political positions

Conflict with Saudi Arabia from 2018

On August 2, 2018, Freeland spoke out on human rights using the example of the Saudi women's rights activist Samar Badawi and demanded her release. The Canadian embassy in Riyadh had also expressed "seriously concerned" about a new wave of arrests of human rights activists and called for the immediate release of Badawi.

"We urge the Saudi Arabian authorities to release Samar Badawi and all other peaceful human rights activists."

- Chrystia Freeland, 2018

The Saudi Foreign Ministry viewed this as "blatant and impermissible interference in internal affairs," which one does not accept, it is an affront. In response, Saudi Arabia expelled the Canadian ambassador from the country on August 6, 2018. At the same time, the government in Riyadh called back its ambassador to Canada. In addition, Saudi Arabia suspended a recently concluded trade agreement with Canada.

According to the human rights organization Human Rights Watch, Badawi was arrested at the beginning of August 2018 together with her colleague Nassima al-Sadah. The two women had fought for years for the right to drive in the kingdom. For HRW, the arrests are a signal that the Saudi royal family sees any peaceful opposition to the autocracy as a threat. Samar Badawi is the sister of the imprisoned Saudi blogger Raif Badawi . He was arrested in 2012 and later sentenced to ten years in prison and 1,000 lashes. Saudi Arabia accuses him, among other things, of attacking religious values. Badawi lives in Quebec with his wife Ensaf Haidar and their three children . They are all citizens of Canada.

On August 6, 2018, Saudi Arabia announced that the country's students in Canada (the Saudis speak of 7,000 people) would be immediately evacuated and distributed to other countries. The Saudi state airline will end all flights to Toronto on August 13.

Canada deplored the Saudi actions and said it would continue to support peaceful human rights defenders around the world.

Freeland also spoke about human rights in Berlin , in the presence of the German Foreign Minister. Canada wants to work with other countries to:

“We count and hope for Germany's support. We will continue to advocate respect for human rights, even if we are told to mind our own business and if consequences are threatened. "

- Freeland in Berlin, August 27, 2018 :

Canadian-German relations

In a short interview with Der Spiegel in summer 2018, Freeland emphasized her good relationship with a German foreign minister:

“The minister is one of the leading voices worldwide when he calls for a return to the rule-based order (sc. In world politics). The people in Germany may underestimate the influence of German foreign policy. The truth is that the world takes Germany very seriously. ... We are now working more closely with the Europeans. "

- Freeland over Germany :

Fonts

Awards

Web links

Commons : Chrystia Freeland  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ thestar.com/how-chrystia-freeland-became-justin-trudeaus-first-star
  2. ↑ Chrystia Freeland - US Managing Editor, Financial Times ( Memento from January 28, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )
  3. ↑ http://www.ukrweekly.com/old/archive/2000/170011.shtml
  4. ^ Rebecca Wetherbee: Chrystia Freeland - US Managing Editor, Financial Times , Little Pink Book. May 20, 2013. 
  5. ↑ "Krakiwski Visti" and the Jews, 1943: A contribution of Ukrainian Jewish relations during the Second World War. Journal of Ukrainian Studies, 1996
  6. ↑ Source , The Globe and Mail , March 7, 2017
  7. ^ Chrystia Freeland . Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Development Canada ( DFAIT ). April 25, 2013. Retrieved July 29, 2013.
  8. ↑ according to the blurb in: Chrystia Freeland: The super-rich. Rise and rule of a new global money elite. Frankfurt / Main 2013.
  9. ↑ Mok, Tanya: Liberals choose Chrystia Freeland to face NDP candidate Linda McQuaig in upcoming byelection in Toronto Center . National Post. September 15, 2013. Retrieved September 15, 2013.
  10. ↑ Live Results from Toronto Center and three other federal Byelections The Globa and Mail, online, (English)
  11. ^ Election results 2015 at Elections Canada
  12. ↑ election result in 2019 at Elections Canada
  13. ↑ CBC-News: Russian sanctions against Canadians a 'badge of honor'
  14. ↑ Hendrik Kafsack: Trade Agreement with Canada: The Ceta Drama . In: FAZ . October 24, 2016, ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed October 24, 2016]).
  15. ↑ CBC-News: Chrystia Freeland takes over Foreign Affairs as Trudeau shuffles cabinet
  16. ↑ Tonda MacCharles, Bruce Campion-Smith: Chrystia Freeland named deputy prime minister in cabinet shuffle. In: The Star . November 20, 2020, accessed February 16, 2020 .
  17. ↑ Controversy over human rights - Saudi Arabia expels Canadian ambassador , August 6, 2018, Der Spiegel
  18. ↑ Dispute over the arrest of activists - Saudi Arabia suspends flights to Canada , August 7, 2018, Der Spiegel
  19. ↑ Statement by the Canadian Foreign Ministry on the expulsion from the country by Consul Dennis Horak, August 6, 2018 (English, optionally also in French)
  20. ↑ Maas wants to forge an alliance of liberal democracies. Berliner Morgenpost , August 27, 2018, archived from the original on August 28, 2018 .;
  21. ↑ Der Spiegel, September 1, 2018, p. 73
  22. ↑ Chrystia Freeland. "The Financial Times biography. Feb. 3, 2004; May 26, 2007.
  23. ↑ 'Romney is Wall Street's worst bet since the bet on subprime' Ezra Klein, Washington Post, November 28, 2012. Interview with Chrystia Freeland.
  24. ↑ Lionel Gelber Prize 2013. Accessed March 15, 2019 .
  25. ↑ Canadian Foreign Minister honored with the Warburg Prize of the Atlantik-Brücke. Retrieved December 9, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Freeland, Chrystia
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Freeland, Christina Alexandra (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian publicist and politician
DATE OF BIRTH 2nd August 1968
PLACE OF BIRTH Peace River (Alberta) , Alberta , Canada