Pressed on rising fuel prices, Chrystia Freeland, who has a chauffeur, says she doesn’t own a car

While answering questions about spiking fuel costs in Atlantic Canada, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland responded that she doesn’t own a car – but failed to note her frequent usage of a taxpayer-funded car and driver.

“I am right now an MP for downtown Toronto, and a fact that still shocks my dad is that I don’t actually own a car,” Freeland told reporters in Charlottetown, P.E.I. on Friday. “I’m like 300 metres from the nearest subway; I walk, I take the subway; my kids walk and ride their bikes and take the subway – it’s actually healthier for our family.”

Like any cabinet minister, Freeland is automatically granted access to a taxpayer-funded car and driver around Ottawa. A search of publicly available federal records also shows that she’s employed a government-funded car and chauffeur at least 15 times between April 2021 and March 2023 for travel around Toronto, Montreal and Quebec City.