Prime Minister Mark Carney says "more intense" trade negotiations with the United States have started since his call with President Donald Trump last weekend. "We've made progress but we haven't finished," Carney told reporters Tuesday in St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda. Carney said some of Canada's "red lines" have been taken off the table, including language, culture and Canada's ability...
President Donald Trump’s top trade adviser has been privately urging him to resolve a sweeping tariff fight with Canada, as both sides inch back to the negotiating table. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer is eager to lower the temperature between the two countries and has been pushing Trump to return to negotiations, said three people with knowledge of his approach...
A formal petition signed by some members of the P.E.I. Progressive Conservative Party is calling for a vote on Premier Rob Lantz's leadership. Lantz secured his position as party leader and premier following a leadership contest win in February over Mark Ledwell with 53.1 per cent of the vote. Martie Murphy, a longtime member of the party, said the petition...
Prime Minister Mark Carney says Russia will not be allowed to compete at next month's world junior hockey championship in Alberta. Carney, speaking in Antigua at the Commonwealth Summit, said Russian and Belarusian athletes will not be permitted to represent their countries in Canada as long as the war in Ukraine continues. "While Russia and Belorussia (sic) are supporting this...
As six byelections approach, Tory strategists say there is room for 'optimism,' but warn the Conservative Party needs to ‘shake some stuff up.’ Prime Minister Mark Carney’s governing Liberals raising nearly $1-million more than the official opposition in the third quarter of 2026—effectively erasing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s once-formidable quarterly fundraising advantage—adds another “problematic data point” for the opposition leader...
The latest Nanos Weekly Tracking finds the Liberals at 45.4% in federal voting intentions, compared with 28.9% for the Conservatives. The NDP stands at 13.6%, followed by the Bloc Québécois at 7.4%, the People’s Party at 2.7% and the Greens at 1.9%.
A new Liaison Strategies Ontario Political Tracker puts the Progressive Conservatives at 39%, the Ontario Liberals at 32% and the Ontario NDP at 22% among decided and leaning voters. The PCs hold a seven-point lead, but education presents a more difficult picture for Premier Doug Ford: 62% disapprove of his handling of the file.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has just called six byelections for early December. The results could have a determining effect on Pierre Poilievre’s future as Conservative leader. They could also provide the first clues as to whether the belligerent tone of the minority Parti Québécois government is finding favour with voters.
Winston Churchill once said that history would be kind to him because he intended to write it. And he did, producing 13 volumes of memoirs over the course of his long life. More than a decade after leaving the Prime Minister’s Office, Stephen Harper’s memoirs have finally landed with a thump — all 656 pages of them.
Former federal Conservative cabinet minister Tony Clement is considering a comeback in the riding he once represented, the Star has learned. Clement did not seek re-election as the MP for Parry Sound—Muskoka in 2019 after resigning from the Conservative caucus over a sexting scandal.
After a year-and-a-half marked by defections, resignations and sagging poll numbers, Pierre Poilievre is staring down yet another challenge. Can the Conservatives hold onto a seat that his party has held for the past 18 years?
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?
It truly is quite astonishingly hypocritical that the same people who have made careers railing against the way Alberta is under-represented by population in the Senate seem to get quite huffily defensive over the tabling of new electoral districts that would leave urban Albertans meaningfully under-represented compared to rural ones. Earlier this year, Alberta’s Electoral Boundaries Commission unveiled a new...
With Americans heading to the polls for their midterm elections, it feels like Thursday’s federal budget is getting a lot less media attention than usual. Ottawa might not mind this: every time U.S. President Donald Trump twitches, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s popularity rises. But while Washington commands the headlines, Canadians should check out the creeping sea of red ink below...
Prime Minister Mark Carney is returning at this writing from the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in St. John’s, Antigua and Barbuda, where his participation continued a long tradition in which Canada has not merely attended Commonwealth meetings but helped shape the organization’s evolution. “As Canada charts its path forward in this new world, we look to our fellow...
In general, so long as it’s legal and not hurting anyone, I think people should be allowed to spend their money on what they want to spend it on. But how much money should be allowed to affect the democratic process sits uncomfortably alongside that preference of mine. A system in which everyone has one vote, but one person can...
I am not, it should be acknowledged, an expert on the merits of frontier AI models. I am, however, a reasonably seasoned observer of government ministers proclaiming solemnly that they have just made a very prudent investment of taxpayers’ money, on the most favourable of terms, as AI minister Evan Solomon did this past weekend. Sometimes it works out: the...
In the spring of 2024, nine months before he formally entered politics, Mark Carney made a couple of public appearances to discuss the state of the Canadian economy and the possible paths forward.
It is the job of the columnist to pull a bunch of disparate stories together and find the common theme that links them all. If you’re feeling particularly ambitious, you could even try and create an entire grand narrative out of all the various little data points. I don’t think the recent wave of elections and referendums in this country...
On Thursday, the Carney government released a paper outlining its security policy framework, a long-awaited exposition of its view on how to protect Canadians in this troubled world. It needs to be carefully considered by Canadians, as it portrays a country very different from the internationalist-minded, human-rights-conscious, effective diplomatic participant that Canada has been for countless decades; a country that...
The United States and the world, including Canada, face two more years of Donald Trump’s presidency. It could very easily be the most dangerous time in recent history, depending on how the most iconoclastic and belligerent president in American history approaches his last years in office.
Technically speaking, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s majority in Parliament will be tested in a series of byelections called for Dec. 7. The Liberals currently hold 173 of Parliament’s 343 seats, with six vacancies now up for grabs. Of the six ridings, three are in Quebec — where the Liberals hope to pick up a long-time NDP seat in Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie...
François-Philippe Champagne says he often drops a real-world reminder into discussions he’s having with colleagues on the big decisions that loom before Mark Carney’s government these days. Call it the “mom test.” “I say: ‘I’m not sure my mother would understand what you just said,’ ” the finance minister explains. “I use that at cabinet. I’ve used that at caucus...
Monday evening, in what was once a Bank of Montreal, Prime Minister Mark Carney dined across from his guest of honour, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, whom he seated next to former prime minister Stephen Harper. It is not the first time Carney has signalled close ties to Harper. In September...
Tuesday’s election in Israel will take months of intense bargaining between all of the more than ten parties now to be represented in the Knesset (Parliament), before the composition of the government and the prime minister are identified. The threshold in the popular vote required to elect a legislator is 3.25 per cent of the...
It was at the G8 where my growing animosity toward Vladimir Putin would start to become public. I had been accused of having a Cold War mentality and bringing that to Canada’s relations with Russia. The charge was simply not true. My view is that Russia’s natural long-term gravitation should be toward the West, not against it. I believe the...
Welcome to Grand Strategy Fall. The Carney government is publishing some serious stacks of paper describing how it plans to make Canada relevant again, including a national security strategy, released on Thursday; a new defence policy, already in effect but not yet published; and a full foreign policy.
There are some things you just have to get done quickly, and there are others where you should take the time you need to get it right. The key is knowing which is which. But when it comes to the thorny issues involved in medical assistance in dying, or MAID, the federal government is showing it doesn’t know, or care...
“Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney declined to let Quebec’s newly-elected separatist premier deliver a speech at the Canada-European Union Summit in Montreal this week, sparking a wave of backlash in the French-speaking province
It’s no great secret that David Eby and the BC NDP were the biggest losers in Saturday’s BC election, which saw Lorne Doerksen and the BC Conservatives swept into power. Eby’s name has now become a verb, and anyone associated with his decision to call a snap election should be sent to the political equivalent of the Night’s Watch. But...
The midterm elections next Tuesday could deal a deathly blow to Trumpism. Even political stats guru Nate Silver says it’s possible. A shellacking of the Republicans could convince the party that Americans are getting fed up with the White House gong show and want to move back to traditional conservative leadership. What jubilation that news would bring to the rational...
Former Alberta premier Ralph Klein would occasionally remark on the prosaic, conventional nature of the work he did as leader of his province. In 1998, Edmonton Sun journalist Neil Waugh wrote about Mr. Klein’s “good news” tour, during which the premier travelled across the province to spread the word about how “Albertans have turned their province into the envy of...
Some days it feels as if Canadian democracy is a complete farce. Provincial governments elected with near majorities on the strength of 28 per cent of the vote – the same 28 per cent that in another province is worth just two seats. Referendum ballots with 10 loaded questions, none of them binding. Party leaders elected by children, non-citizens, and...
David Eby, the outgoing premier of British Columbia, must regret his decision to call a snap election after being soundly defeated this past weekend by an interim party leader few people outside of his immediate family and constituents knew six weeks ago. Say “hello” to Lorne Doerkson, the leader of the B.C. Conservative Party who is now the province’s premier-designate...
As Conservative MPs gather for their weekly caucus meetings, some are attempting to read the tea leaves from last week’s Alberta referenda and British Columbia’s big Conservative win. Saturday, David Eby’s early election gamble — two years into his NDP government’s mandate — failed spectacularly. B.C. interim Conservative leader Lorne Doerkson won a majority after running a disciplined campaign and...
Apart from Alberta’s no vote on separation, this month’s elections and referendums have given progressive Canadians who care about climate little to cheer about. The country’s biggest oil and gas booster, Premier Danielle Smith is still ruling Alberta and her recent anti-immigrant referendum win, as narrow as it was, hasn’t totally dampened her intent to make new arrivals pay for...
The Liberal government’s upcoming budget will include the $600 million investment in Canada’s cultural sector, but it will not outline how the money will be allocated, according to a source familiar with the matter. The source, granted anonymity by The Wire Report to speak freely, said cultural stakeholders have been told $600 million will be “committed” in Budget 2026, but...
The national chief of the Assembly of First Nations says the only leaders to discuss abolishing the Indian Act during a landmark meeting last week were Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew and Prime Minister Mark Carney. Kinew, who is Anishinaabe, called for the act to be abolished during the historic gathering of federal, provincial and First Nations leaders in Ottawa.
Canada's chief electoral officer is raising concerns about the rising influence of AI on the democratic process. Stephane Perrault says voters are now more likely to use AI agents than Elections Canada's official website to get names of political candidates or information about where to cast a ballot. That information is sometimes unreliable or wrong. Perrault was speaking today to...
Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem says he doesn't think the federal government's fiscal policy is at odds with the central bank's efforts to control inflation. Macklem spoke to members of Parliament on the House of Commons finance committee this morning, two days before the Liberal government plans to table its 2026 federal budget. Conservative finance critic Michael Chong asked...
Canada and the Caribbean have barely begun to realize what's possible in their trading relationship, Prime Minister Mark Carney told a working breakfast of Commonwealth leaders Tuesday. "There's more than a million people in Canada who trace their roots back to the region," Carney told the assembled leaders before attending the opening of the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in...
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s updated immigration levels plan is set to be unveiled in Thursday’s federal budget, multiple government sources tell CTV News. The updated targets come as Canada’s population growth has seen a slowdown in the past two years. Carney, meanwhile, has sent recent mixed signals over the direction of immigration in Canada.
Former prime minister Stephen Harper says he offered Mark Carney, then the governor of the Bank of Canada, a role in his Conservative government in 2012 -- though not as finance minister. Not right away, at least. In his new book "Here for Canada: Memoirs of the 22nd Prime Minister," Harper says he told Carney the finance position was already...
In a massive 645-page memoir, Stephen Harper aims to set the record straight. Publishing Tuesday, “Here for Canada: Memoirs of the 22nd Prime Minister” is clearly written for the history books, but for readers and chroniclers of today’s events, the former Conservative party leader’s memoir reveals where he thinks the mainstream media got it wrong, not least when it comes...
The Conservatives have asked Canada’s ethics commissioner to examine the connections between Prime Minister Mark Carney and a CEO whose company received a multi-billion-dollar government contract in August. In a five-page letter obtained by CTV News, Ontario MP Jamil Jivani details the longstanding friendship between Carney and Dan Goldberg, the CEO of Telesat. Jivani argues that an ethics screen should...
Prime Minister Mark Carney's oft-stated determination to keep his government focused on what Canadians can control could be tested today, as he meets with leaders from the 55 other member countries of the Commonwealth in Antigua.
Prime Minister Mark Carney is facing growing pressure from business groups to allow more immigration to address Canada’s labor needs, but the prospect of welcoming more migrants carries political risk for him.
U.S. asset manager Blackstone and four Canadian institutional investors have signed a $3.1-billion US deal to acquire a non-controlling stake in the Mitsubishi Corp. subsidiary that holds an interest in LNG Canada, the country's first liquefied natural gas export facility. The investor group includes the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, the Investment Management Corp...
Defence officials say there were no injuries after a military helicopter was seriously damaged during a night flight landing on a Canadian navy frigate. A flight safety report from the Department of National Defence says it happened Oct. 6 aboard the HMCS Ville de Quebec in the Norwegian Sea.
The Liberal government is getting ready to table its 2026 budget on Thursday -- but Ottawa's own focus groups suggest Canadians aren't watching the state of the federal purse too closely. Finance Canada commissioned market research firm Environics to host a series of roundtables with Canadians roughly a week after Ottawa tabled its spring economic update on April 28. Mid-year...
Prime Minister Mark Carney is in Antigua and Barbuda today for a meeting of Commonwealth heads of government. Carney has a full itinerary for his one day in Antigua, which will kick off with a meeting with Antigua and Barbuda's Prime Minister Gaston Browne. Carney will then host a working breakfast for Caribbean leaders before the Commonwealth meeting begins. He...
Americans head to the polls Tuesday to vote in U.S. midterm elections that will serve as a referendum on President Donald Trump's chaotic and controversial second term. The outcome will decide which party controls Congress and whether there will be a check on Trump's unprecedented use of executive power over the remainder of his time in office. Trump made his...
U.S. tariffs on Canada have played an outsized role in the Senate race in Maine, but experts say there may not be any relief coming for Canadians regardless of the outcome of Tuesday's midterms. Maine, a Northeastern U.S. state bordering both Quebec and New Brunswick by land, relies heavily on Canadian trade. Federal government figures show the state imports $4....
Senior Liberals interviewed for this story said the mood inside the PMO is 'good,' but that it's a fast-paced, high-stress work environment, where staffers are trying to achieve an ambitious domestic policy agenda and dealing with growing concerns about the state of the economy, chiefly because of the trade dispute with the U.S. They also said it's hard to keep...
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, whose last-minute demands led to trade talks breaking down in August, has become the behind-the-scenes “driving force” pushing Canada and the U.S. to re-engage on a deal, multiple sources tell CTV News. Sources in both countries say Lutnick initiated the re-engagement just over 10 days ago, after months of stasis, and has centred talks around...
Alberta's hotly debated riding boundary proposals were released to the public Monday as the Opposition NDP renewed its call for the government to change course. NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi says Premier Danielle Smith's United Conservatives are aiming to use their legislative majority to rig the new boundaries in order to give themselves an unfair advantage in next year's election. Nenshi...
British Columbia premier-designate Lorne Doerkson says the Conservative caucus of 63 legislators is united to lead the province but he warns of difficult and unpopular decisions ahead. Doerkson made the comments as newly elected Conservatives gathered for their first caucus meeting, where he told them that the campaign is over and their job now is to govern on behalf of...
Experts in European Union policy say Canada should try solidifying gains with the EU in legal frameworks, particularly as talk of becoming an EU "associate member" continues to cause confusion. Academics studying EU relations testified Monday to the House foreign-affairs committee, after a summit in Montreal last week. Canadian and European officials praised the plan as a historic partnership. The...
Thursday's federal budget will look to make life easier for Canada's small- and medium-sized businesses, says Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne. Champagne provided business leaders a preview of the government's fiscal plan in a breakfast speech at the Canadian Club Toronto on Monday.
The Anishinabek Nation, which is composed of 39 Ontario First Nations and boasts roughly 70,000 members, rejected the invitation to discuss with the minister, saying there’s no needed for new legislation and called on the government to simply accept Senate amendments to Bill S-2 that would end the second-generation cut-off.
Canadian businesses have submitted their wish lists to Ottawa ahead of Thursday's federal budget. Topping their priorities are tax reform, less red tape and concrete measures to turn the federal government's sweeping economic ambitions into investments, productivity and jobs. Between interviews and pre-budget submissions to the House of Commons finance committee, seven key themes emerged: 1. Tax reform and investment...
Despite its rollbacks of climate policy, the Carney government will lead a delegation to the COP31 conference in Turkey next week presenting itself as an international climate leader. Government officials held a technical briefing for journalists today ahead of the annual two-week United Nations climate conference. Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin will attend the first week of COP31 and officials say...
Prime Minister Mark Carney's second budget — set to be unveiled on Thursday — will include new affordability measures, business tax incentives and investments in infrastructure, defence and culture, according to a senior government source. Canadians can also expect more details about previous announcements, such as plans for private investment in Canada's four biggest airports and how the government will...
Michelle Taylor gasped and shook her head in disbelief. Outside a church where she was waiting to hear Democrat Abdul El-Sayed speak on Sunday, the longtime Detroit resident watched an unimaginable party fracture in a race that could ultimately decide who controls power on Capitol Hill. El-Sayed's former opponent in the U.S. Senate primary, Haley Stevens, endorsed Republican Mike Rogers...
Prime Minister Mark Carney is heading to Antigua and Barbuda on Monday, where he will have a chance to engage with heads of government from other Commonwealth countries — and with King Charles. Much of the meetings taking place this week will focus on trade and investment. But the gathering also offers a chance for Carney to meet with representatives...
In our latest Spark Insights survey (Online, October 16-21, 3992 interviews nationally) we asked how people felt about a number of global figures. Here are some of the things that popped out for me, from the findings:
ATLANTA (AP) -- Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms was elected governor of Georgia on Tuesday, making history as the first Black woman to be elected governor in the United States, defeating Republican businessman Rick Jackson and flipping the top job in a key swing state.
Republican Rep. Byron Donalds was elected Florida's first Black governor on Tuesday in a race that was seen as unexpectedly competitive down the stretch, defeating Democratic nominee David Jolly.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump has repeatedly encouraged voters to pretend he's on the ballot this Election Day. They appear to be taking his advice -- and that's not a good thing for the Republican president or his party.
RALEIGH (AP) -- Democrats in Washington believed early in the midterm campaign cycle that former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper would be their biggest recruiting win as they tried to forge a once-unthinkable path to a Senate majority.
Prime Minister Mark Carney says Russia will not be allowed to compete at next month's world junior hockey championship in Alberta. Carney, speaking in Antigua at the Commonwealth Summit, said Russian and Belarusian athletes will not be permitted to represent their countries in Canada as long as the war in Ukraine continues. "While Russia and Belorussia (sic) are supporting this...
Prime Minister Mark Carney's oft-stated determination to keep his government focused on what Canadians can control could be tested today, as he meets with leaders from the 55 other member countries of the Commonwealth in Antigua.
Americans head to the polls Tuesday to vote in U.S. midterm elections that will serve as a referendum on President Donald Trump's chaotic and controversial second term. The outcome will decide which party controls Congress and whether there will be a check on Trump's unprecedented use of executive power over the remainder of his time in office. Trump made his...
U.S. tariffs on Canada have played an outsized role in the Senate race in Maine, but experts say there may not be any relief coming for Canadians regardless of the outcome of Tuesday's midterms. Maine, a Northeastern U.S. state bordering both Quebec and New Brunswick by land, relies heavily on Canadian trade. Federal government figures show the state imports $4....
Experts in European Union policy say Canada should try solidifying gains with the EU in legal frameworks, particularly as talk of becoming an EU "associate member" continues to cause confusion. Academics studying EU relations testified Monday to the House foreign-affairs committee, after a summit in Montreal last week. Canadian and European officials praised the plan as a historic partnership. The...
In July 2026, legal scholars from across the country met at the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy to discuss Rainer Knopff and Ted Morton’s seminal book, The Charter Revolution and the Court Party, 25 years after its publication. The result of that conference is this series of eight essays compiled and published by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. To listen...
Canada’s new National Security Strategy and the Canada–EU summit in Montreal show how Ottawa plans to turn strategic autonomy into real partnerships. Yet a bet on Europe alone won’t deliver the resilience Canada needs, writes Vina Nadjibulla. With Japan, South Korea, Australia and Taiwan central to critical minerals, semiconductors and defence production, she calls on the upcoming foreign policy strategy...
Canada is facing a range of challenges that will drive economic transformation at the national, regional and local levels. The relationship with the United States, its largest trading partner, is changing. Investment in defence is growing. Global energy markets are shifting as investment in clean energy and electrification is rising. The changing climate and geopolitical tensions are creating new risks...
A collection of SubStack publishing within Canadian public affairs.
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.
RCMP officers who responded to the April 2020 mass murders in Nova Scotia will receive bravery medals from Governor General Louise Arbour. An announcement is expected “imminently,” says an Arbour spokesperson. The medals follow 23 awards for excellence quietly distributed last year by RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme to RCMP members and employees who managed the grisly incident, in which 2...
Americans are voting by the millions today, and while Donald Trump's name is not on the ballot, his legacy may well be. Both Houses of the U.S. Congress may well see significant changes, and if they do, what difference will that make for issues like the Canada/U.S. relationship? Rob Russo of The Economist and Althia Raj of The Toronto Starare...
David Herle, Scott Reid, Jordan Leichnitz, and Kory Teneycke provide insights on the latest in Canadian politics.
Canada wanted to be an “associate member” of the EU, but all we got was an “Alliance for the Future.” So who in Europe is skeptical of getting closer to Canada, and why? Host Sam talks to three German members of the European Parliament who voted against closer ties with Canada: one from the far-right AfD, a party now leading...
It's a day the U.S. Democrats have been waiting for, and one that's been keeping Republicans up at night. Americans will head to the polls to vote in the 2026 midterm election to determine who will makeup the U.S. Congress. Preliminary polls show the Democrats are positioned to successfully flip the House of Representatives, while the race for the Senate...
