At first glance it would seem that Chrystia Freeland’s biography being released today is nothing short of miraculous. After all, the most powerful woman in Canadian politics is all over the news; her recent resignation from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet touched off a storm of controversy in Ottawa, put a massive dent in the Liberal Party’s hopes in the next election and drastically altered her own political future.

However, the fortuitous release date of Chrystia: From Peace River to Parliament Hill (House of Anansi, Dec. 20, 2024) isn’t really a coincidence. In fact, as the Globe and Mail reports, publishers scrambled to push the publication date up by six weeks in order to take advantage of her notoriety.

Written by Toronto-based writer and journalist Catherine Tsalikis, Chrystia follows the life and times of the 56-year-old mother of three from her upbringing in Peace River, Alta., and explores how her past shaped her future work as a women’s rights advocate as well as fierce pride in her Ukrainian heritage.

An A+ student, Freeland attended Harvard and Oxford before becoming a journalist in the early 2000s for the Financial Times and Globe and Mail. 

In 2013, Freeland threw her hat into the political ring, winning a by-election in Toronto Centre. When Trudeau rolled to a majority in the 2015 “Sunny Ways” federal election, he appointed her minister of international trade. In 2017, she was promoted to minister of foreign affairs and, in 2019, added deputy prime minister to her growing portfolio.

By 2020, she had become highly influential in Trudeau’s cabinet, a status further cemented when she became minister of finance, the first time a woman had ever held that post. As finance minister, she helped push through the national child care program and was often seen as the probable successor to Trudeau as Liberal leader.

She may still be leader one day, but it won’t be with Trudeau’s blessing. Freeland cut ties with her former ally during a very public resignation, where she cited disagreements with Trudeau’s handling of the economy, his “costly political gimmicks” and his lack of a plan to deal with Donald Trump’s tariff threats.

The biography obviously couldn’t cover this controversy, nor what her future prospects are after this career-altering move. 

But Tsalikis provides some insight in a Toronto Star article that ran just as Chrystia was hitting the shelves. “Friends who have followed Freeland’s career for decades note that she has never had ‘the top job’ – she’s never been the leader, without a man to answer to. But with this resignation – this clear break with the man who brought her into politics – she sets herself up as best as possible for that goal.”