OTTAWA: A deepening rift between Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his finance minister about coronavirus spending is also fueled by disagreements over the scope and scale of proposed green initiatives, three sources familiar with the matter said.
Trudeau and Finance Minister Bill Morneau are scheduled to meet on Monday in a bid to sort out their differences, said a fourth source aware of the meeting. The sources requested anonymity given the sensitivity of the situation.
Morneau and his team have pushed back against other cabinet ministers about how much funding was needed, including to what extent the recovery could be helped by investing in environmental projects, the people added.
Trudeau, who campaigned on a platform to tackle climate change, believes the 2021 budget should have an ambitious environmental element to start weaning the heavily oil-dependent economy off fossil fuels and has recently hired former Bank of England governor Mark Carney as an informal adviser, aides say.
The appointment, coupled with a Globe and Mail report that Trudeau and Morneau had clashed over the amount of money Ottawa is spending to combat the coronavirus, led to speculation about the future of the finance minister. Morneau, 57, has been in the job since the Liberals took power in late 2015.
Asked for a reaction to the Reuters reporting, Trudeau spokesman Cameron Ahmad noted the prime minister issued a statement on Tuesday saying he had "full confidence" in Morneau, who confidants say is alarmed by ballooning budget deficits.
Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson along with Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna, who is a former environment minister, have met with top civil servants to discuss options that could involve billions of dollars in extra spending, said one of the three sources familiar with the matter.
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