Former transport minister Chrystia Freeland is accused of misleading Parliament after records showed she knew about a $1.1 billion federal financing package for Chinese-built ferries weeks before claiming she was “disappointed to learn” of the deal. Opposition MPs say Freeland misled the House and must be called to testify.“She took people for fools,” said Bloc Québécois MP Xavier Barsalou-Duval, who sponsored a successful motion at the transport committee to publish internal documents from the Prime Minister’s Office and summon Freeland. “She knew very well there was a contract.”Blacklock's Reporter says the timeline shows Transport Canada was informed April 29 that BC Ferries had signed with Weihai Shipyards in China. The deal was announced publicly June 10. .Two days later, Freeland told MPs she had just learned of the procurement and was “disappointed and concerned.” On June 16, she repeated the claim in a letter to the B.C. government. By June 26, the Canada Infrastructure Bank confirmed it financed the contract.Conservative MP Dan Albas said the evidence proves Freeland was duplicitous. “The Minister was saying one thing, saying she was shocked,” said Albas. “Transport Canada was made aware six weeks before that announcement and they did nothing to protect Canadian jobs. They just sat on their hands and let it proceed.”.Freeland abruptly resigned as transport minister on Tuesday. Albas said her departure undermines her narrative that she opposed the deal. “This raises a number of questions about her abrupt resignation and blows a hole in her narrative that she wanted BC Ferries to buy Canadian,” he said.Freeland’s final public act as minister was a September 2 meeting with steel executives, where she praised Canadian producers as vital to jobs and national security. She made no mention of the Chinese ferry deal.
