Political scientists are dissecting the political bombshell dropped on Ottawa yesterday by former finance minister Chrystia Freeland.

Freeland’s resignation triggered a day of chaos on Parliament Hill, as federal officials scrambled to deliver the fall economic statement, and fill the void in cabinet, while the Prime Minister deflected calls for his resignation.

Political science professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Lori Turnbull says Freeland delivered a body blow to the Prime Minister.

Turnbull, who never saw Freeland as “having a particularly tightly calibrated political compass,” showed her political acumen yesterday. “She’s a policy person, she’s somebody who cares about the issues, but she’s not really a politician in that kind of way…the timing that could not have been worse for the Prime Minister, so she made her point.”