Freeland, 52, a former journalist, is moving on from her post as minister for intergovernmental affairs to replace Bill Morneau, who resigned Monday amid friction with Trudeau over financial matters tied to the pandemic.
A close Trudeau ally who is considered likely to succeed him as leader of Canada's Liberal Party, Freeland previously served as foreign affairs minister. In that role, she led negotiations of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade pact in 2017 and 2018.
The Alberta native takes over an economy ravaged by the pandemic, with official forecasts of a record budget deficit consuming 16% of Canadian gross domestic product.
"We need a long-term plan for recovery, a plan that addresses head-on the fundamental gaps that this pandemic has unmasked," Trudeau said in announcing Freeland's appointment at a news conference in Ottawa.
The prime minister called for "big, important decisions" that must be presented to lawmakers to gain their confidence so that the government can "move forward on this ambitious plan."
He pointed to the needs of vulnerable citizens and the challenge of transforming the economy from one reliant on fossil fuel exports to one fueled by cleaner energy sources.
The appointment of Freeland, who will retain the deputy prime minister's post to which she was promoted last year, was welcomed by economists and tax practitioners.
"Morneau was adamantly against a comprehensive review of the Canadian taxation system that the tax community has seen as prudent for a number of years now," Drew Gilmour, a principal with Schmidt & Gilmour Tax Law LLP in Vancouver, told Law360.
He said Freeland's new remit as finance minister "may mean that we are a step closer to getting this important review similar in scope to the Carter Commission," a government panel in the 1960s that produced a landmark report on Canada's tax system.
Craig Alexander, chief economist with Deloitte Canada, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. that while Freeland lacked Morneau's business background, she did a good job negotiating the new North American trade pact.
Freeland represents a Toronto district in Parliament, which has been suspended, or "prorogued," until Sept 23. On that date, Trudeau is due to formally outline a new agenda for his Liberal-led coalition government that will be subject to a confidence vote. If the administration loses that vote, Canada will head into an election, three years ahead of schedule.
In a statement, Canadian Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer called Trudeau "spineless" and accused him of "hiding out" amid a political controversy over claims of government corruption.
Freeland, as a journalist and best-selling author, has written about the need to address growing inequality, in part by making the rich pay more.
On Tuesday, though, Trudeau insisted taxes wouldn't be going up, saying that would further harm Canadians' personal finances.
Freeland also spoke at the news conference.
"The restart of our economy needs to be green," she said. "It also needs to be equitable, it needs to be inclusive and we need to focus very much on jobs and growth."
Her role as head of intergovernmental affairs was filled Tuesday by Dominic Leblanc, a member of Parliament from New Brunswick who previously held the post.
--Editing by John Oudens.
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