Chrystia Freeland to leave Parliament for senior leadership role with Rhodes Trust in U.K.

Chrystia Freeland is preparing to leave federal politics next year as she moves to Oxford, England, to take up a senior leadership role with the Rhodes Trust. The educational charity confirmed that Freeland will become its next chief executive officer on July 1, overseeing one of the world’s most influential international scholarship programs.

The organization administers the Rhodes Scholarship, which brings students from around the globe to study at the University of Oxford. Freeland’s appointment places her at the centre of an institution that has produced generations of leaders in public policy, academia and global affairs.

Freeland, who previously served as federal finance minister, competed in the Liberal leadership race earlier this year. She finished behind Mark Carney, who went on to become prime minister. In Carney’s cabinet, Freeland held the portfolios of internal trade and transport, where she led efforts to ease barriers to the movement of goods and services within Canada.

She stepped away from cabinet in September to take on a special assignment advising the Carney government on Canada’s role in supporting Ukraine’s reconstruction. Her departure for the U.K. marks another significant change within the Liberal caucus and reduces the number of high-profile cabinet veterans still in Ottawa.