Chrystia Freeland to publish book on Canada-U.S. relations

Former deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland’s new book, Unreliable Boyfriend, will examine power, diplomacy and Canada-U.S. relations.

Former deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland is publishing a new book this fall on Canada-U.S. relations, diplomacy and the shifting use of power in global politics.

Unreliable Boyfriend: An Insider’s View of Dealing with a Chaotic Superpower, Plutocrats, and Other Complicated People is scheduled to be released Oct. 13 by Simon & Schuster Canada. The book draws on Freeland’s career as a journalist and senior federal politician, including her experience negotiating with the United States during a turbulent period in North American politics.

The title refers to a remark Freeland made on Real Time With Bill Maher in February, when she said the United States is “not a very reliable boyfriend right now.”

Freeland, in a press statement cited by CBC Books, described the book as an attempt to connect recent political upheaval with broader questions about democratic countries and their choices. “This is a book about power, democracy and the choices countries make when the old rules no longer seem to apply,” she said.

The publisher says the book combines reporting, memoir and analysis as Freeland discusses the United States’ changing role in the world and Canada’s evolving relationship with its most important trading partner and neighbour.

Before resigning from Parliament in January 2026, Freeland served as deputy prime minister and finance minister, among other cabinet roles. She also played a key part in negotiating the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the trade pact that replaced NAFTA.

The book adds to Freeland’s previous work as an author. Her earlier books include Sale of the Century: Russia’s Wild Ride from Communism to Capitalism and Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else , which won the 2013 Lionel Gelber Prize and the 2013 National Business Book Award.

Freeland is currently a resident fellow at Harvard’s Institute of Politics and is set to become CEO of the Rhodes Trust in Oxford in July. Unreliable Boyfriend is expected to arrive in bookstores on Oct. 13.