Former Finance minister Bill Morneau shreds his former boss Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in an upcoming book, saying his interpersonal and management skills are “sorely lacking.” 

Paul Wells, who was given an advance copy of Morneau’s book Where To From Here: A Path to Canadian Prosperity, details the complaints in his Substack.

Morneau writes that Trudeau’s “management and interpersonal communication abilities were sorely lacking.” He also says he grew distrustful of the prime minister, leading to his resignation. 

Morneau was named Finance minister in 2015, shortly after Trudeau formed his first government. 

But his distrust grew following several leaks to the press, damaging his reputation — leaks he believed came from the Prime Minister’s Office. 

“I began by explaining to the prime minister that the leaks from his office about me and my ministry had become intolerable,” Morneau writes.

“They had grown in both number and degree of malice.” 

When confronted, Trudeau denied knowledge of the leaks.

Morneau also said he believed the Trudeau Liberals were overspending during the pandemic, which he worried would lead to inflation and a recession. 

He said the PMO used money “to manage egos and relationships between cabinet ministers.”

Additionally, Morneau wrote that he wasn’t allowed to choose his own chief of staff. And in 2019, two PMO staffers informed him of the economic platform for the upcoming election. Morneau said he was not asked for input.

He came to believe Trudeau’s advisors were “assigned to compel agreement from cabinet ministers.”

After Trudeau’s 2019 election win, he cut off discussions with Morneau. 

“Whatever the cause of this extended period of non-discussion, I considered it a huge dereliction of the managerial process,” he writes.