Industry Minister Melanie Joly's office is disputing media reports that characterized the federal government as having played an active role in negotiations that led to automaker Stellantis selling its Brampton, Ont. assembly plant to defence contractor Roshel. Mathis Denis, a spokesperson for Joly's office, said Wednesday evening that reporting that Joly "was involved in the deal is false." "The minister...
Industry Minister Melanie Joly is set to hold a four-way meeting today with automaker Stellantis, the union representing its more than 9,000 workers in Canada, and representatives of the Ontario government. The discussions in Toronto come days after Stellantis announced it was selling its Brampton, Ont. assembly plant to Canadian armoured vehicle manufacturer Roshel for an undisclosed amount. More than...
Somewhere during the next nine days, as he travels across two oceans and two continents to meet with leaders from 132 countries, Mark Carney will sign a pair of potentially important free-trade agreements and, with any luck, mend Canada’s strained trade ties with the U.S., and call it a day. Along the way, the prime minister may even sleep.
Prime Minister Mark Carney is in Dublin for an informal meeting with European leaders, ahead of summits in Asia. Carney is attending the European Political Community summit, where leaders discuss geopolitical issues every six months, ever since Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. For the second time, Canada will be the only non-European country represented at the table. Carney is...
NDP Leader Avi Lewis has received RCMP protection for weeks, the Star has learned, becoming the latest Canadian political leader grappling with security concerns. Lewis was observed by the Star on at least three occasions last week being escorted by officers in Ottawa. He was seen with up to three non-uniformed security personnel, both within and outside the Parliament Hill...
The Liberals retain the upper hand in federal politics, standing at 44% support against 28% for the Conservatives and 12% for the NDP. Mark Carney also leads the preferred-prime-minister measure, at 54%, while Pierre Poilievre stands at 20%. Beyond party politics, Canadians are most concerned about jobs and the economy and Canada-US relations, with concern over the latter easing from recent levels.
Prime Minister Mark Carney begins a circuit of the globe this week to continue efforts to diversify Canada’s trade beyond the United States. The trip will conclude with Carney’s second visit to China in 2026 as he attends the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Shenzhen. Prior to Carney’s January visit earlier this year, it had been more...
It should come as no surprise that Mark Carney’s government — the most corporate one we’ve seen in some time — is reaching into the private sector for executives to help get its major national projects off the ground. All of those who have complained for years that Ottawa should be run more like a business are certainly seeing those...
Canada’s ability to build faster depends not only on approving major projects, but also on whether the regulatory system allows businesses to produce the materials, components, and technologies those projects require.
Following the sale of Stellantis’ auto assembly plant in Brampton to defence manufacturer Roshel, Ontario Premier Doug Ford is urging the federal government to ensure Chinese-made EV kits are not assembled at the plant. In a letter obtained by CTV News dated Nov. 10, the day after the sale was announced, the premier wrote directly to the prime minister: “We...
The Bank of Canada is set to begin the search for its next governor, but this time there’s a twist. The government has the final say over who gets the high-profile job — and the prime minister happens to be an expert in the role. Mark Carney ran the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England before entering politics...
Canada’s telecommunications networks are critical national infrastructure. They connect our businesses, governments, emergency services and citizens. As we expand 5G, artificial intelligence, data centres and digital infrastructure, we must ask a fundamental question: are the networks connecting all of it secure?
I spent budget day running between two events. In the afternoon I was moderating a panel at SaaS North. In the evening I rushed to a KPMG alumni event, which was either horribly scheduled or perfectly scheduled, depending on how you feel about a room full of accountants on budget night.
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government has taken the unusual — if not unprecedented — step of not defending its federal jurisdiction before the Supreme Court, deciding instead to abide by an Alberta Court of Appeal ruling that found its updated environmental-impact assessment law still unconstitutional. “It’s totally flabbergasting,” said Anna Johnston, a staff lawyer at West Coast Environmental Law. “They...
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s second budget came down last week, and one overriding criticism seems to be that the lead was buried. Though both the prime minister and Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne set the frame as “masters of our destiny,” critics have complained it is not obvious that they connected enough dots for people to feel that way. That may...
For all the talk about how the Liberal government has been trying to “kill” the oil and gas industry, it sure seems to be thriving these days. In the third quarter alone, Canada’s four biggest oilsands companies raked in over $12.6 billion in profits, more than triple what they generated over the same period in 2025. Much of this is...
LAST YEAR, KÉMY ADÉ, a post-doctoral research fellow and guest teacher at McMaster University, applied for permanent residence to Canada. Her application made her, in the words of her immigration lawyer, “a prime candidate.” Adé is a health scientist specializing in immunology of aging—precisely the highly skilled immigrant Canada competes to attract.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has a problem. He promises that Canada can become more economically independent. He wants to accelerate major projects and expand energy exports. He's pledged to build housing for the homeless, pipelines for petroleum, and army bases in the Arctic. All good things, all long overdue, and all projects that could, at first blush, bring Canadians together...
On Friday afternoon, which is the unofficial time for governments everywhere to publish information they hope no one will pay much attention to, Canada’s federal government came out with some news: It has decided to again loosen restrictions on the hiring of low-wage temporary foreign workers. The government didn’t frame it quite like that, of course. Instead, it announced what...
When Mark Carney entered the Liberal leadership race in January 2025, he was seen as smart and polished. But he wasn’t a politician, we thought. He had never knocked on doors for a living, nor had he sat through Question Period. He was a former banker, a technocrat, and a businessman who spoke in basis points. Next to Conservative leader...
Did the U.S. just leave Canadian Conservatives behind? Americans just voted out the Republican hatred and corruption. “We saw historic firsts—for Gay, Black, Hispanic, Indigenous, Muslim, and Palestinian representatives. It was a total rejection of the MAGA war on ‘Woke’” wrote former NDP MP Charlie Angus in his Substack on Nov. 5. Hungary, Serbia, and Brazil all had “Trump-like” governments...
When he’s the incumbent, he’s a loser. He lost the House in his first mid-term outing in 2018, lost the Presidency in 2020, and the Senate, the House and a half dozen Governors in 2026. The best thing that could happen for the Republican Party is if Trump spent the next couple of years being less of a lightning rod...
“Where are the girls? Where are the girls?” It was the first thing economist Armine Yalnizyan said to my colleague Susan Delacourt and me outside the budget lockup on Thursday. “You look at the front cover, it’s electricity,” she noted of the photo of transmission lines on the printed budget. “You look inside, where are the humans? All of the...
Everyone seemed to have the same take on the federal budget unveiled this week. That is, no one could figure out quite what it was. It certainly wasn’t a belt-tightening exercise, but the $151.5-billion in new spending over five years didn’t suggest a clear policy narrative about what it was trying to accomplish, either. On top of that, many of...
How full of itself does a government have to be to call its annual budget “Masters of our destiny”? Seriously.
So, farewell then, federal budget. Not only a mainstay of economic policy-making, you were a critical element of democratic accountability for many decades, the day each year when the federal government levelled with Canadians about how much it intended to spend, how much to tax, and how much to borrow on their behalf.
The 500-plus-page budget that has now landed before Canadians is not exactly a piece of literature — but it is coming from a government with some literary aspirations. Mark Carney’s government is leaning on themes of culture and identity with Budget 2026, hoping that it tells a story of Canadian pride and patriotism at this moment in the country’s history.
Old habits die hard in the Liberal party. Prime Minister Mark Carney declared on Thursday, after his latest budget was tabled, that “we’ve got spending under control.” By the standard measurement of fiscal sustainability, that is true. The debt-to-GDP ratio is forecast to tick gently downward over the budget’s five-year time horizon.
"Maitre chez nous" — "master in our own house" — was a rallying cry of Jean Lesage's Quiet Revolution, a period of rapid modernization and reform in Quebec in the 1960s. Mark Carney first tried it out a year and a half ago in the shadow of Donald Trump's America and a newly anglicized version — "masters of our destiny"...
The Canadian military currently has thousands of drones at its disposal. “It’s not enough,” a senior commander admits. The Carney government wants to add some zeros to that number: It wants one million drones, at least. And in Thursday’s budget, it is committing $2.3 billion to get there.
Officially, Mark Carney’s government is saying that the Republicans’ stunning losses in the U.S. midterm elections are the Americans’ own business. But this government also knows that there’s a clear line connecting the midterms to the budget being unveiled in Canada on Thursday — and that’s the affordability crisis.
There is no sugarcoating the results of the midterm elections in the United States for President Donald Trump and his administration. This was an astonishing and vast repudiation of the president. When Republicans lose in South Carolina, North Carolina, Mississippi, Texas, Kansas, Iowa, and Georgia solidifies as a blue state, it is impossible not to affirm that a judgment has...
By the standards of American elections, this was an earthquake. The two-party system is so entrenched, and American voters’ political identities so immovable, that shifts in the balance of power in any given election tend to be muted. So the Democrats’ gains last night are, in this context, historic. When all the votes are counted, they will probably emerge with...
Last week's U.S. midterm elections may have cut like a knife through Donald Trump's political agenda, but Bryan Adams says he saw the backlash coming. Earlier this year, when the Canadian rocker began performing "51st State," his punchy anthem rebuking the U.S. president's threats to annex his homeland, he wasn't sure how American audiences would respond. But from St. Louis...
When Aaron Gunn first walked into the House of Commons after the provincial B.C. Conservatives won their election last month, he was met with high-fives and claps on the back from his colleagues. The victory offered a morale boost to a federal Conservative caucus that's had few of those in the last year.
Last summer, Canada’s top diplomat was given a trio of options for Canada’s next special envoy to Africa, according to an internal document. Four months later, the position remains vacant. Canada created special envoys for Africa and the Sahel in November 2024 as part of the development of its Africa strategy, which was released after a long delay in March...
The federal housing minister's office is reasserting Ottawa's goal of doubling the pace of home construction -- even though references to the Liberals' hallmark affordability pledge were missing from Budget 2026. The budget, which was tabled last week, dropped any mention of that original target, which was introduced in the Liberals' 2025 election platform and repeated numerous times in that...
Four soldiers killed in a fire during a training exercise are among those being honoured today at a Remembrance Day ceremony in Wainwright, Alta. Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is set to attend along with other dignitaries, military members and veterans. On Oct. 17, a strong wind sent f
Prime Minister Mark Carney has arrived in Dublin as he gets set to attend summits in Ireland and Asia where he'll look to advance trade and security ties. His travels will take him to four countries and put him on the ground as high-stakes diplomacy takes place between the United States, China and Russia. Vina Nadjibulla, co-founder of the Centre...
Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canadians will bow their heads Wednesday to honour those who served and sacrificed for their country as they gather across the country to mark Remembrance Day. In a media statement released Wednesday, Carney said Canadians will also extend their thoughts to the four soldiers who died in a tragic accident during a training exercise at...
The federal government was actively and intensively part of discussions that ended in the agreement to sell a Stellantis car assembly plant to Canadian armoured vehicle manufacturer Roshel, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the talks. The sources said the federal government also did not stand in the way of the deal in those private discussions.
Carney rebukes St-Pierre Plamondon's aim to negotiate directly with American counterparts. The relationship between Prime Minister Mark Carney and Quebec Premier Paul St-Pierre Plamondon has gotten off to a rocky start over the past couple of weeks. The most recent incident happened on Tuesday. Carney was at a news conference in Montreal — highlighting his government's commitment in last week's...
Alberta's government is bucking questions about the taxpayer cost of a delegation that toured Kentucky bourbon distilleries last year and brought a staffer's husband along for the ride. The office for Dale Nally, the minister of red tape reduction, says the husband of his chief of staff paid his own expenses. But documents obtained by the Opposition NDP indicate Gary...
Private sector companies have loaned 17 employees to work at the federal Major Projects Office, according to a document provided to the House environment committee. The employees come from various positions at banks, railways and energy companies, according to the document — a copy of which CBC News has obtained. The Toronto Star first reported the news.
As steel surrounding the Peace Tower creeps up to its pinnacle, demolition and structural rebuild work continues inside Centre Block, with almost all of the galleries in the House of Commons Chamber now removed, and similar work getting underway in the Senate Chamber. Scaffolding and steel have been slowly overtaking the iconic south façade of the historic Centre Block building...
Prime Minister Mark Carney said he will raise concerns about foreign interference in Canada when he meets next week with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Carney and Xi are expected to meet in person at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, China. "The advantage of these meetings is you can raise issues directly and frankly," Carney told a press...
As Prime Minister Mark Carney prepares for a trip to China and a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping next week, new trade data suggest Canadian exports to China are reaching record levels, particularly in Western Canada. Third-quarter figures compiled by the China Institute at the University of Alberta show strong growth in exports, led by food and energy...
The federal government says it is building up the "capacity" for northern communities to consult on the future of Canada's moratorium on oil and gas drilling in the Arctic. Prime Minister Mark Carney confirmed the federal government is working with northern governments and the Inuvialuit, the Inuit whose land claim includes much of the waters in the Beaufort Sea, on...
Poilievre demands Carney fire Industry Minister Mélanie Joly over plant closure. Prime Minister Mark Carney said automaker Stellantis shuttering its plant in Brampton, Ont., is a betrayal to the country and all Canadians. "The situation in the Brampton plant is unacceptable," Carney said in Montreal on Tuesday. "It violates the obligations that Stellantis has under several agreements, but to be...
The chief executive of armoured vehicle manufacturer Roshel is firing back at critics of his company's deal to purchase the idled Stellantis plant in Brampton, Ont., defending it as "the best thing that can happen to this plant and to this city." Roshel founder Roman Shimonov said he's surprised the government hasn't publicly supported the sale given his company's intention...
Prime Minister Mark Carney called Stellantis NV’s STLA-N -3.62%decrease sale of its car plant in Brampton, Ont., to defence contractor Roshel Inc. “completely outrageous,” vowing to protect workers and ensure subsidies to the automaker are returned. “Stellantis is failing to respect their commitment to the workers of this plant and also to the Canadian government and Canadians,” Mr. Carney told...
Ontario Premier Doug Ford's government has appointed eight regional heads of council, including Conservative MP Scott Aitchison. Aitchison had announced he would resign his Parry Sound-Muskoka seat at the end of the fall sitting of Parliament, and the Ontario government says he will be sworn in as Muskoka District chair on Dec. 1. Ford's government recently gave itself powers to...
The CEO of a Canadian armoured vehicle manufacturer says that his company “is not going to even consider” taking on any responsibility for the more than 2,200 people on layoff at the Brampton assembly plant. Roshel CEO Roman Shimonov made the comment in an interview with CP24 Breakfast on Tuesday morning when asked whether he would commit to rehiring impacted...
Canadians support the construction of new pipelines to expand energy exports by a ratio of more than eight to one, a new poll has found. The Ipsos poll to be released Tuesday found that 81 per cent of respondents said they "strongly" (45 per cent) or "somewhat" support (36 per cent) new pipelines and export terminals as a way to...
A military reserve unit in southwestern Ontario has imposed a cap on the number of soldiers it is willing to pay to attend Remembrance Day services this year, CBC News has learned. A series of leaked internal emails involving members of 31 Canadian Brigade show internal budget restraints imposed across the military have forced local commanders to limit paid attendance...
Chinese authorities blocked attempts by the Canadian Embassy to visually commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre for the last two years, CBC News has learned. The second incident came just months after Prime Minister Mark Carney's trade trip to Beijing, where he touted improved relations with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Virginia Hicks did not know when the Royal Canadian Legion chose her as Canada's Silver Cross mother in June that a deadly training accident would soon cast a shadow over this year's Remembrance Day ceremonies. Hicks lost one of her own daughters, Mariebeth Short, in a military training accident 24 years ago. Hicks said she was shocked to learn of...
Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin pointed to Canada's work on methane emissions and electrification Monday in defence of her government's climate policy before this week's annual United Nations climate conference. Dabrusin will attend the first week of COP31 in Turkey this week. Some climate activists say Canada can expect some criticism there from other nations over its recent climate policy shifts...
The Alberta town of Wainwright is gearing up for what could be the most solemn Remembrance Day in its recent history, says Mayor Bruce Pugh. A fire on Oct. 17 at the nearby Canadian Forces Base Wainwright killed four soldiers and injured 39. Officials said last week that 25 were still in various hospitals. "It will be different this year...
The number of living Canadian veterans of the Second World War and the Korean War has fallen sharply since Remembrance Day last year. Veterans Affairs Canada says the estimated population of living Canadian veterans from those two wars has dropped to approximately 4,306. Last year, the federal government department estimated that figure at 5,649.
Canadian taxpayers could pay $12 million for former prime minister Justin Trudeau's records from his decade in office — the most the government has ever paid for the archives of any prime minister. A single line in the federal budget tabled on Thursday reveals that the government has budgeted $3 million a year for the next four years to enable...
Canadian Identity and Culture Minister Marc Miller insists the federal government will force streaming giants to pay their fair share to contribute to Canadian content, though he wouldn’t answer when pressed on when that will happen. The federal government’s latest budget, tabled in the House of Commons last week, earmarks money to amplify Canadian “cultural sovereignty,” including $600 million to...
Prime Minister Mark Carney is considering lifting the decade-old moratorium on Arctic offshore oil and gas drilling, the Star has learned. On Monday, coincidentally the first day of the 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 31) in Antalya, Turkey, the Carney government confirmed it is considering “potentially lifting the current moratorium on Arctic offshore oil and gas exploration in...
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- Democratic nominee Scott Colom has defeated Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi's closely contested U.S. Senate race after a prolonged ballot counting process, giving the state its first Black U.S. senator since post-Civil War Reconstruction.
ATLANTA (AP) -- Joe Biden says he did not know he had cancer while he was president and would not have sought a second term if he already had been diagnosed.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House on Tuesday turned aside a resolution to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, halting an effort to remove the Pentagon chief for his conduct in office and his handling of the war in Iran.
President Donald Trump, who for years disputed his loss in the 2020 election and publicly decried the result having been stolen from him by Democratic forces, privately lauded incoming President Joe Biden as someone he believed "will be true to yourself and the American people."
Prime Minister Mark Carney said he will raise concerns about foreign interference in Canada when he meets next week with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Carney and Xi are expected to meet in person at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, China. "The advantage of these meetings is you can raise issues directly and frankly," Carney told a press...
Chinese authorities blocked attempts by the Canadian Embassy to visually commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre for the last two years, CBC News has learned. The second incident came just months after Prime Minister Mark Carney's trade trip to Beijing, where he touted improved relations with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said Saturday night that he was giving opposition candidate Gadi Eisenkot the first opportunity to form a governing coalition following elections on Oct. 27. Eisenkot, a former military chief who ran as the main challenger to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is now a step closer to ousting Israel’s longest-serving premier. He has up to six weeks...
President Donald Trump said Friday that Stephen Miller was replacing Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff, mere days after Republicans lost control of Congress in the midterm elections. Miller, long a key member of Trump's inner circle, is a key architect of the administration's hard-line immigration policies. He is one of Trump's closest and longest-serving advisers, joining his...
China has exponentially expanded its network of illegal overseas police stations, to “extend its tentacles” across a web of new community associations, according to a report by international human rights group Safeguard Defenders. In its latest report, the Spanish non-governmental organization (NGO) identifies nearly 1,250 overseas Chinese associations which they say are fronts for suspected police centres in 91 countries.
As Prime Minister Mark Carney sets out on a four-summit swing from Dublin to Manila, Phnom Penh and Shenzhen, Vina Nadjibulla looks at what Canada has gained in the Indo-Pacific over the past year and what it now risks. Relations with Beijing have stabilized, but she argues that steadier ties with China must not lead to new dependencies. In Southeast...
Securing Canada’s borders requires more than checking passports and inspecting cargo. Criminal networks exploit jurisdictional gaps, divide their operations among multiple players, and adapt quickly to enforcement efforts. Some also intersect with state-sponsored operations, blurring the line between transnational organized crime and national security threats. Countering them requires more than stronger border enforcement — it demands a coordinated approach to...
A collection of SubStack publishing within Canadian public affairs.
Chris Ragan: Thank you. We can come back to the investment focus, which I think is important. We can talk about the games being played in an accounting sense, which are also important and not a good thing. But let me begin with the question of prudence. My sense is that this budget is kind of prudent, kind of not...
Six years ago, a Burlington-made camera turned up on Turkish drones in the war over Nagorno-Karabakh, and Ottawa shut off arms exports to Turkey.
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s ad-lib brought down the house at Thursday night’s Forever Canadian rally in Calgary. “They’re a little touchy down there at the moment,” he added, to roars from a crowd of about 5,000.
This is a classic discussion by two political pros trying to understand a fundamental shift in voting patterns. Was it a one-off in the United States last week, or are there lessons for all of us in what happened? James Moore and Gerald Butts have spent their lives in backroom politics, and they tend to see things we don't.
The livelihoods of some 500 Stelco workers are the crux of a recent showdown between Industry Minister Melanie Joly and the CEO of Ohio-based steel producer, Cleveland-Cliffs. Joly wants the company to reverse its layoff of Canadian workers, claiming it goes against the original agreement the company signed when they acquired Stelco back in 2024. Cleveland-Cliffs, however, says they haven't...
How will the world change after the thumping Donald Trump and his Republicans took last week? Or will it change at all? Dr. Janice Stein drops by for her regular Monday conversation, and the topics include Trump, Netanyahu, and Poland (that's right, Poland -- Janice really wants you to follow what's happening there!)
They start with the centrepiece, the “productivity mega deduction.” It’s the biggest cut to the effective tax rate on new investment in nearly 20 years, but will Canadian business finally spend its “dead money”? The panel digs into why the measure is sector-neutral, how agriculture and manufacturing end up with negative tax rates, and whether Carney’s “all-of-the-above” industrial strategy can...
