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She said she simply wants to close a chapter, and so she has — not just personally, but on the Trudeau years, given what a prominent place she held before and after Trudeau came to power. She was deputy prime minister, Canada’s first woman finance minister and the point person in negotiations with the first version of Donald Trump’s disruption of Canada. That last role earned her Trump’s undying hostility, which Freeland wore during her unsuccessful leadership bid as a badge of honour.

Freeland was, in short, a powerful symbol of Trudeau’s determination to stamp his government with a strong feminist brand. Her departure, whether she and Carney like it or not, will feed ongoing speculation on whether his Prime Minister’s Office is less open to women than it was under his predecessor.

Just this week, a former Trudeau adviser told Politico that she was hearing this from Liberal caucus members.

“Some of his caucus members have been saying that the gender lens has been put on the back burner, and you simply can’t do that,” said Julie Savard-Shaw, now executive director The Prosperity Project.

Freeland often reminded journalists that she used to be in their business, serving in high-ranking positions at The Globe and Mail, Thomson-Reuters and the Financial Times. She is married to Graham Bowley, an investigative reporter for the New York Times.

Despite her strong connections to journalism, or maybe because of it, she was extremely guarded when she spoke to the media, even casually. So if Freeland has left Carney’s cabinet because she felt less than welcome, she’s unlikely to leak that to journalists.

(It is at this point in the column I’d point out that we here at the Star would be of course be like to be at the top of her list if she does take up the practice.)

She was an expert networker, constantly on the phone with well-placed contacts and she used these skills most adroitly dealing with people who weren’t initially disposed to the Trudeau team.

Her phone calls with Doug Ford, which she and Ford described to me as “therapy” at the outset of the COVID-19 lockdown, earned her an enduring friendship with the Ontario premier. Freeland attended the swearing-in of Ford’s government after his re-election earlier this year.

I went door to door with Freeland in her ɫɫ�� riding on a couple of occasions before she was in cabinet — when she was first running in the ɫɫ�� Centre byelection to join the tiny Liberal caucus in 2013, and again on the eve of the 2015 election that brought them to power under Trudeau.

She spent a lot of time with people on their doorsteps — too much time, some of her handlers might have said, eager that she meet as many people as possible in these campaign events. Similarly, Freeland would become known for always giving long answers, even when a short one might do.

There’s lots of speculation in political circles right now that Freeland will be just the first of the Trudeau-era ministers to depart from the Carney government, either to take diplomatic posts or simply move back to private life.

Her University-Rosedale riding will be much coveted by would-be Liberal candidates and my suspicion is that the precise timing of her departure as an MP will be co-ordinated with other departures, so that Carney can bring in what he hopes will be a fleet of new MPs who are less tied to the Trudeau era.

Freeland was quickly replaced in cabinet by what will be seen as a small triumph for feminism. It took two men to replace her: Dominic LeBlanc is taking on her internal trade responsibilities, while Steve MacKinnon will take on the transport portfolio. 

A couple of people observed on Tuesday that perhaps 16 is some kind of magic number for Freeland. It was on Dec. 16 that she walked away from Trudeau’s cabinet and Sept. 16 when she left Carney’s. On both occasions, her exit threw the spotlight on how well the respective prime ministers were handling their caucuses and the often messy politics that go with the job.

Freeland knows better than most that journalists are going to keep asking these questions, even though she was trying to dispel them as she left.