To compare Champagne unfavourably with Freeland is unavoidable, but a bit unfair, since Champagne has yet to be seriously tested. During her term as Foreign Affairs minister, she was named Policy-Maker of the Year by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, and Diplomat of the Year by Foreign Policy magazine. That’s when Dion was given the high-jump, and “resigned,” after learning that Freeland was to be given the foreign affairs post, ending his catastrophic but mercifully brief tenure. And all of Canada’s foreign-policy accomplishments since then transpired, after the January 2017 cabinet shuffle, can be attributed directly to Freeland. It’s always best to keep an open mind, but handing the foreign affairs portfolio to yet another little guy from Shawinigan bodes ill.

Source: National Post November 20, 2019 19:18 UTC