Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canada's next ambassador to Washington will have a window to prepare for the next phase of trade relations with the United States. Carney noted Wednesday Canada has finished its consultations on renewing the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade, while the United States is beginning its work. The review process will "gather force" in the new year...
'Our economic relationship with Canada is very, very different,' says U.S. trade rep Jamieson Greer. U.S. President Donald Trump’s lead trade negotiator says the administration is considering breaking up the three-way free trade agreement with Canada and Mexico, moving toward separate deals instead. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Wednesday that the Trump administration is keeping all options on the...
The Trump administration’s implicit endorsement of “patriotic” European political parties has renewed concerns about American meddling in Canadian political movements and causes. Washington’s updated National Security Strategy, released late last week, says little directly about economic or security ties with Canada. But it raised eyebrows among Canadian national security watchers with its full-throated support for nationalist parties in Europe and...
The weaponization of trade to “strengthen American power and pre-eminence” is entrenched in the new U.S. National Security Strategy recently released by the White House. In the prologue, U.S. President Donald Trump writes that the U.S. “will continue to develop every dimension of our national strength, and we will make America safer, richer, freer, greater and more powerful than ever...
Former British Columbia premier Christy Clark says "nobody wants to elect a government that is kooky" as the B.C. Conservatives embark on a leadership contest, urging them to focus on economic issues. Clark posted on social media on Tuesday that she would "always be grateful for the chance to serve," in a message marking the 15th anniversary of her running...
Nanos conducted an RDD dual frame (land- and cell-lines) hybrid telephone and online random survey of 1,009 Canadians, 18 years of age or older, between November 29th and December 2nd, 2025, as part of an omnibus survey. The margin of error for this survey is ±3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
As the federal government’s agreement with Alberta to advance a new bitumen pipeline project continues to spark strong political reactions nationwide, a new Leger survey finds that 50% of Canadians still support the initiative — even amid rising tension, environmental concerns, and opposition from several Indigenous communities and provincial leaders.
Bill C-15, “An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget,” is 634 pages long. It creates four new Acts, repeals six more, and amends at least 45 others, on matters ranging from stablecoins to broadcasting to the marketing of freshwater fish. It is, in short, an omnibus bill, the sort with which we have grown all too familiar in...
Twenty years ago, I released “Ontario: A Leader in Learning,” a report that presented a simple truth: a prosperous province and country invest in knowledge, skills, and innovation. We recognized then — as we must today — that long-term economic success depends on the strength of our colleges and universities. The current mix of policies — tuition freezes, an uncertain...
As this instalment of Process Nerd goes to virtual press, there’s still time for a last-minute burst of cross-aisle collegiality that could change the numbers, but barring a sudden dramatic shift in the current dynamics, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s just-three-seats-shy-of-a-majority government is about to wrap up its first full-length sitting in office with a grand total of one bill reaching...
Quebec's anticorruption police have launched a criminal investigation of the provincial Liberal party. A spokesperson confirmed the investigation today and said the unit would make no further comment. The anticorruption police first revealed last month they were validating allegations of wrongdoing before deciding whether to open an investigation. The Quebec Liberals have been in crisis since the party's forme
Across Ontario, too many people are making impossible medical choices. Ontarians are splitting pills, skipping doses, or going without heat or food to afford life-saving medication. It is a quiet crisis that exposes a glaring gap in our universal health care system: prescription drugs are still not universally covered. Convened by Canadian Doctors for Medicare, we’ve joined a multi-party group...
It’s a grand bargain that feels like a fire sale. That at least is how some have characterized the Memorandum of Understanding on energy that was signed late last month by Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.
In another life, Pierre Poilievre would have been a lawyer. The Conservative Leader is very good at creating a narrative, at prosecuting his case, and at setting traps for wayward leaders of other parties. He did that roughly one year ago, when he used the exact words articulated by then-NDP leader Jagmeet Singh when he walked away from the supply-and-confidence...
In all the flurry this week of trying to get bills passed in a near-paralyzed House of Commons, Mark Carney’s office did a rare thing — it rebuked one of its own ministers in public. It came amid a back-and-forth over whether the Liberal government was going to come to an agreement with the Bloc Québécois on hate crime legislation...
A politician’s worst nightmare is to be thought of as yesterday’s breakfast by voters. When prime minister, Mark Carney, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on energy development with the premier of Alberta two weeks ago, federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre was made to look as relevant to the big issue of the day as the leader of the NDP...
It’s a grand bargain that feels like a fire sale. That at least is how some have characterized the Memorandum of Understanding on energy that was signed late last month by Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.
Mark Carney has apparently wanted to be Canada’s prime minister since he was old enough to seriously entertain such ideas. But you still have to wonder what he must have been thinking about his job as he sat under the global spotlight watching United States President Donald Trump get jiggy with it at the World Cup draw in Washington, D.C...
Whether the government’s argument will hold water, only a Federal Court judge, who stands to gain $28,000 by saying it doesn’t, can know
The battle over Bill C-9, the federal government’s proposed anti-hate law, has blown up a cultural divide that not only pits Quebec against the rest of Canada, but seriously questions Ottawa’s willingness to tackle hate crimes. If Prime Minister Mark Carney gets the balance wrong, he risks both empowering hatemongers and fanning the flames of Quebec separatism — at a...
Ten months before he resigned from Mark Carney's cabinet, Steven Guilbeault vouched for the then Liberal leadership contender. "I've known Mark for many years. We've worked together on issues of green energy, transition, fighting climate change and the role of the financial sector in fighting climate change," Guilbeault told reporters when he endorsed Carney's candidacy to lead the party in...
The Liberal government has agreed to amend the Criminal Code to remove religious exemptions from the country’s hate speech laws, hoping to secure the Bloc Québécois’ support for its Bill C-9. This has prompted outcries from faith communities as well as the Official Opposition: that the move is an assault on freedom of expression and freedom of religion. Currently, the...
Anyone who thought negotiating a productive new Canada-United States trade deal with the Trump administration was in the offing will have been thoroughly disabused of that idea after reading the National Security Strategy (NSS) released late last week in Washington. The NSS — the production of which from the executive branch is mandated by federal law — is also, in...
Coming from another president, there are parts of the United States’ new “National Security Strategy” that would be welcome. It’s well past time, for example, that the U.S. acknowledged it cannot and should not try to lead the “free world” and impose its system on other countries. Barack Obama, no less, took steps down that road more than a decade...
For all the noise that has accompanied Mark Carney’s first seven months as prime minister, one fact is now impossible to deny: the prime minister is rebuilding the federal Liberal Party into a modern, centrist, pro-growth political coalition — one that Canada has not seen in a generation. Donald Trump’s protectionism and the changing global trading order have no doubt...
The panel’s discussion focused on the ability of Mark Carney’s government to deliver on its agenda. Article content Lang, a former chief of staff to two Liberal defence ministers and now acting director at the School of Policy Studies at Queen’s University, pointed out that Carney faces the frustrations of attempting to move at speeds the bureaucracy was not designed...
Without much fanfare, the U.S. government has launched what could be a seismic shift in American foreign policy with its new National Security Strategy. And for Canada, the impact of the NSS could be profound. We already know Donald Trump’s approach to relations with Canada has complicated our economic and security environment. But the NSS tries make coherent a foreign...
Hidden in the federal government’s 634-page omnibus bill C-15, the Budget Implementation Act, is a measure that has so far escaped scrutiny. Under the pretext of regulatory efficiency, Prime Minister Mark Carney plans to grant cabinet ministers the power to exempt any individual or company from any federal law on the books — except for the Criminal Code — for...
The activist former environment minister's departure is great news for this country. Readers will recall that I was censorious of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s histrionic emulation of Winston Churchill during the election campaign, lacking only the siren-suit, the cigar and the eloquence, as he promised to lead Canada with raised elbows “in the fields and in the streets,” as he...
On December 4th, the Trump Administration released its U.S. National Security Strategy. As with so many institutions, norms, and pillars of American democracy, the first NSS of the second Trump presidency represents a significant departure from all the presidential NSSes that have preceded it. Its foreword by Donald Trump describes the document as a “road map to ensure that America...
Steven Guilbeault’s claim the federal government’s memorandum of understanding with Alberta to build an oil pipeline to B.C. is fuelling Quebec separatism is nonsense. In interviews with Bloomberg News and the CBC last week after he quit the federal cabinet, Guilbeault attempted to toss a grenade into Canadian unity by arguing that by signing the MOU with Alberta Premier Danielle...
Can you mourn something that never existed? Like the idea of a happy marriage when you knew all along you settled for the first person who accepted your advances? Or the daydream of a life of luxury and indulgence, which feels possible while you’re holding a lottery ticket, but vanishes as soon as the numbers are called? What about the...
Canada has spent 28 years trying to buy a new fighter jet: the federal government made a decision, then unmade it, then made it again. We’ve already spent more than a billion dollars on this thing, and 1,500 Canadian jobs have been created to build it. It’s the tent pole of our plans to defend ourselves and co-operate with our...
I wish I could say I told you so. A point I have tried to make over the last year or so is that Donald Trump can only get worse: that however corrupt or incompetent or dictatorial or treasonous or insane he may appear at any given moment, it will inevitably come to be seen as a relative golden age...
One of the more infamous scenes in the movie sketch comedy Monty Python and the Holy Grail involved a sword fight between King Arthur and the Black Knight. Almost immediately, things do not go well for the Black Knight. He quickly loses a limb, then another. Despite his losses he defiantly fights on: “Just a flesh wound … I’m invincible.”...
Progressive-leaning folks are having a hard time watching Mark Carney link arms with the same forces that spent the past decade demonizing the Liberals. Whether it’s making a deal with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith or playing to the “bro” culture with all the sports talk and walking back feminist foreign policy, it seems like the prime minister is determined to...
Have you heard the one about the two Pierre Poilevres in the bank vault? While the punchline landed with a double shot of Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre (Battle River–Crowfoot, Alta.) at this year’s Press Gallery Dinner on Nov. 29—after the leader skipped out on the last three—the set up began months prior and was executed in less than a week...
Elections Alberta says a recall petition has been issued for Premier Danielle Smith and two more of her United Conservative Party cabinet ministers. The petitioner seeking to oust the premier, Heather VanSnick, says Smith has been ignoring local constituents and experts in developing policies. VanSnick also says Smith needs to go, because the premier has been weakening public services in...
Quebec Premier Francois Legault says he intends to remain in office even as some members of his party appear to be speculating about his departure. According to an article published in the Journal de Quebec Wednesday, Coalition Avenir Quebec members speaking anonymously to the tabloid called on their leader to rethink his political future.
The federal government has released few details when it comes to which departments and agencies will be shedding the most jobs in the coming spending review. In Budget 2025, around 30,000 public service jobs were detailed to be shed over the next three years, which adds to the 10,000 jobs already cut last year. The cuts amount to around 1...
Canada’s ambassador to the U.S., Kirsten Hillman, said Tuesday she will be leaving her diplomatic post in the new year, after serving as the top envoy representing Canada in Washington, D.C., since 2020. Her replacement will be Mark Wiseman, two sources close to the government say. Wiseman is a 55-year-old financier and is said to be a close friend of...
Self-described "agitator" Yves Engler has been denied entry to the NDP leadership race, after the party's vetting committee said it has credible evidence of harassment. In a statement issued Wednesday, Engler said he wants the party's federal council to overturn a decision from the leadership vote committee to disqualify his candidacy. NDP national president Lucy Watson said in a statement...
WEBEQUIE AND NESKANTAGA FIRST NATIONS -- This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center.
Supplementary reserve of 300,000 citizens envisioned. The Department of National Defence is scrambling to figure out how it will clothe, equip and train hundreds of thousands of new reservists envisioned under an ambitious mobilization proposal that Canada’s top military commander describes as a work in progress. Similarly, in what may be an ominous sign of the times, the department has...
Toronto -- The Bank of Canada left its key interest rate unchanged on Wednesday as the economy continues to show resilience in the face of tariff pressures.
At Wonder Valley, the giant data centre in northwestern Alberta backed by flamboyant investor Kevin O’Leary, the wonder is behind schedule. Announced as all but a sure thing in December 2024, construction was supposed to begin by 2026 with a first phase operating by 2027.
Opposition MPs, national-security experts and human-rights activists are accusing the federal government of dragging its feet on setting up a foreign agent registry. The last Liberal government, under former prime minister Justin Trudeau, passed enabling legislation in June, 2024, to set up a registry and name a commissioner to oversee it. But the new government of Prime Minister Mark Carney...
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s motion calling for the House of Commons to declare their support for a new Alberta pipeline failed Tuesday, after a day of considerable parliamentary wrangling. By a vote of 139 to 196, the motion – the official Opposition’s final opportunity of the year to force a vote on an issue they deem pressing – was defeated...
U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra is downplaying concerns that America's new national security strategy could lead to his government supporting politically aligned parties in Canada. While Hoekstra says he doesn't see the U.S. getting involved in domestic politics, he accuses Ontario of doing just that by running an ad on American TV networks quoting the late Ronald Reagan attacking...
Alberta's governing United Conservatives stayed up until the early hours of this morning to pass a bill making it the fourth time they have used the Charter's notwithstanding clause. Members of Premier Danielle Smith's caucus used their majority to pass on third and final reading a bill affecting transgender citizens. The UCP members pounded their desks and shouted "Hear, hear!"...
Kirsten Hillman, Canada’s ambassador to the U.S., is stepping down in the new year as the country’s top diplomat in Washington, according to a statement on Tuesday. “After over eight years in Washington, including six years as Canada’s ambassador to the United States, I have advised Prime Minister Mark Carney that I will be ending my tenure in the United...
As Canadians begin budgeting for the new year, grocery prices remain the top financial concern across the country, according to a new Nanos research survey conducted for CTV News. The survey highlights where Canadians are feeling the largest financial pinch as they head into the holiday season and the coming year.
The NDP has rejected Yves Engler, an author and left-wing activist, from standing for the leadership for the party alleging he had harassed, intimidated and confronted elected officials. It also expressed concern he had echoed Russian state propaganda about the invasion of Ukraine. Mr. Engler was told at the end of last month that his application to join the leadership...
Ontario Liberal MP and former cabinet minister Karina Gould says she will not seek the leadership of the Ontario Liberal Party. Gould began exploring the possibility of a run after Bonnie Crombie said she would resign from the party's top job in September following a leadership review. Gould finished third in the federal Liberal leadership contest, behind Prime Minister Mark...
Prime Minister Mark Carney's last-minute trip to October's Gaza peace summit in Egypt cost Canadian taxpayers more than $736,466 — more than three times higher than it would have been if the Royal Canadian Air Force had been able to supply a plane. While the government chartered a Bombardier Global 5000 jet from the Chartright Air Group, in an answer...
Canada ended a two-day meeting of G7 industry, digital and technology ministers Tuesday after signing agreements with the European Union, Germany and the U.K. The memorandums of understanding focused on digital issues, including artificial intelligence. Canada signed an agreement with the United Kingdom on Tuesday, after inking separate deals with Germany and the European Union Monday. While the U.S. sent...
Kirsten Hillman, Canada's ambassador to the U.S., said Tuesday she will end her tenure in Washington, D.C., in the new year. In a statement posted to social media, Hillman said it's the right time to put in place a team to see through the negotiations on renewing the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade. The ambassador said she will remain available to...
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is defending the funding his government gave to a company now under police investigation after the province identified "irregularities." The government asked the Ontario Provincial Police last month to look at the results of an audit on Keel Digital Solutions and the police said Monday that they have now launched an investigation. The company has been...
New federal legislation would deem murders motivated by hate or femicide first-degree offences, as well as make it illegal to distribute deepfake sexual images without someone’s consent. The wide-ranging 158-page bill called the “Protecting Victims Act” aims to tackle both intimate partner violence and protect kids. It attempts to follow through on some 2025 Liberal campaign promises as well as...
Canada’s fertilizer industry says U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat of “very severe” tariffs will “jeopardize” North American agricultural supply chains if they’re imposed, warning the U.S. doesn’t have enough potash reserves to replace Canadian imports. Trump said Monday while announcing billions in government aid for American farmers hurting from higher prices — including on fertilizer — that he may tariff...
Microsoft Corp. MSFT-T will spend more than $7.5-billion in Canada over the next two years as part of a data-centre expansion, while vowing to keep data within Canadian borders and resist any orders to discontinue services to government customers that could arise during uncertain geopolitical times. The company’s president and vice-chair Brad Smith is in Ottawa Tuesday to meet with...
The federal government is laying the groundwork for a Team Canada trade mission to Mexico next year that may become one of the largest it has ever deployed to a foreign country, says Cameron MacKay, the Canadian ambassador to Mexico. MacKay says hundreds of Canadian businesses have applied to be part of the mission, which is set for February and...
Canada’s budget watchdog is walking back his most charged criticisms of Mark Carney's fiscal policy, but says the government's decision to drop its debt-to-GDP guideline is a major shift that warrants more public debate.
Conservatives are planning to force a debate and a vote in the House of Commons Tuesday about the recent deal struck by Ottawa and Alberta to build a new oil pipeline on the West Coast, in hopes of exposing divisions inside the Liberal caucus. The motion, brought forward by Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, calls on MPs to “take note” of...
The federal government says it is keeping a close eye on lethal strikes by American forces on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean, while continuing with operations in the region. Canada has conducted Operation Caribbe — an anti-drug trafficking mission in partnership with the United States Coast Guard — since 2006. The Department of National Defence says that mission has...
Pete Hoekstra said any deal the U.S. strikes with Canada will include oil, expecting that ‘there would be more oil capacity, production and export opportunities down to the United States.’ The U.S. ambassador to Canada says he is “encouraged” by the energy deal Prime Minister Mark Carney struck with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, saying he believes it will lead to...
MIAMI (AP) -- Democrat Eileen Higgins' victory in the Miami mayoral race marks a setback for Republican President Donald Trump, who endorsed her rival and has touted his 2024 win in the area as a testament to his appeal in Florida and particularly among Hispanic voters.
MIAMI (AP) -- Democrat Eileen Higgins won the Miami mayor's race on Tuesday, defeating a Republican endorsed by President Donald Trump to end her party's nearly three-decade losing streak and give Democrats a boost in one of the last electoral battles ahead of the 2026 midterms.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The National Park Service will offer free admission to U.S. residents on President Donald Trump's birthday next year -- which also happens to be Flag Day -- but is eliminating the benefit for Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth.
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) -- The Justice Department failed Thursday to secure a new indictment against New York Attorney General Letitia James after a judge dismissed the previous mortgage fraud prosecution encouraged by President Donald Trump, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The federal government says it is keeping a close eye on lethal strikes by American forces on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean, while continuing with operations in the region. Canada has conducted Operation Caribbe — an anti-drug trafficking mission in partnership with the United States Coast Guard — since 2006. The Department of National Defence says that mission has...
Prime Minister Mark Carney is set to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum in Washington Friday as the future of the continental trade agreement hangs in the balance. The 2026 World Cup draw will mark the first time all three leaders have gathered in person. It comes ahead of next year's mandatory review of the...
The European Union says Canada will need to pay 10 million euros to join a defence procurement agreement with the continent -- a price tag that is raising questions about how much investment the pact will generate. Canada this week officially joined the 150-billion euro program called Security Action for Europe, or SAFE, which is part of the ReArm Europe...
Former federal minister Chrystia Freeland says Ukraine can become an economic juggernaut and boost European economies by taking up the opportunities it missed after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Freeland, appointed in September by Prime Minister Mark Carney as his special envoy for the reconstruction of Ukraine, gave her first major speech in Canada about the role on Tuesday.
The government is pledging another $235 million in funding for Ukraine, with National Defence Minister David McGuinty and Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand announcing Canada's latest commitments. McGuinty says Canada will work with NATO allies to purchase a package of critical military capabilities sourced from the United States valued at around USD $500 million. Canada's contribution to the Prioritised Ukraine...
With the release of the 2025 National Security Strategy (NSS), the Trump administration has delivered a comprehensive articulation of how it sees America’s core interests, what it expects from allies, and how it plans to compete in a world defined by great-power rivalry and economic insecurity. Whatever one thinks of its ideological framing or tone, the document is strategically significant...
Canadian universities routinely use demographic criteria to restrict who is eligible for a faculty position. How do these policies shape public attitudes towards the university sector?
A collection of SubStack publishing within Canadian public affairs.
Stephen Thorne has died. The bitter, unexpected death of a tough journalist who wrote about death but couldn’t report on his own. He’d have written a damn fine story about it. I was his boss for years, in Halifax and Ottawa, though Stephen had no time for bosses. He followed his nose for stories whether or not anybody asked for...
The Canadian government has avoided commenting on the United States’ controversial targeting of alleged drug-trafficking vessels in Caribbean waters.
I went back to Ottawa this week. It’s been a while since I’ve been in the nation’s capital to talk about peace issues, so when the Senate of Canada contacted me, I had to go. Prime Minister Carney’s Budget 2025 is making its way through Parliament, and the Senate’s Committee on National Security, Defence and Veterans Affairs asked me and...
As Premier François Legault plunges in the polls, he’s panic-legislating: turbo-charging secularism laws, unveiling a “made-in-Quebec” constitution, and reigniting old identity battles that haven’t burned this hot in decades.
Starting today, Australian youth under the age of 16 will no longer be able to log onto Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and other social media sites due to a new law passed through their parliament.
David Herle, Scott Reid, Jordan Leichnitz, and Kory Teneycke provide insights on the latest in Canadian politics.
Listen to the premier of B.C., or the CBC, or the Association of First Nations and you’d think that Indigenous groups on the West Coast are determined to stop a new oil pipeline from Alberta. As MP Ellis Ross, former chief councillor of the Haisla Nation near Kitimat, tells Brian, a lot of First Nations are open to the opportunity...
