1) (Updated) Prime Minister Mark Carney says new cabinet will act with ‘urgency and determination’

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Kyle Duggan, May 13, 2025

Prime Minister Mark Carney shook up his cabinet Tuesday by moving some key players involved in Canada-U.S. relations into new positions and promoting 24 new faces in a move meant to signal change at the top.

Carney named 28 full ministers to cabinet. While some were prominent figures in former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s government — including Dominic LeBlanc, Mélanie Joly, Chrystia Freeland and François-Philippe Champagne — Carney froze out some prominent members of his predecessor’s team.

Carney also has appointed a second tier of 10 secretaries of state — essentially junior ministers. On Tuesday, Carney called the two-tier arrangement a “more traditional cabinet.”

Carney said that he sought to balance new perspectives with experience in picking his team, and noted that half of the ministers are new to the front bench.

“Canadians elected us with a mandate for change, so there is a great deal of change in this cabinet by necessity,” Carney said Tuesday afternoon outside Rideau Hall after the swearing-in ceremony.

He said his new cabinet will meet for the first time Wednesday.

He vowed Parliament will move at a rapid pace once it starts up again on May 26 and said his government will deliver on its promises with “urgency and determination.”

While Carney was flanked by core cabinet members during his press conference Tuesday, they were not made available to answer media questions, contrary to past practice.

In one of the biggest moves of the shuffle, Anita Anand was named Canada’s new foreign affairs minister — taking Joly off the Canada-U.S. relations file as U.S. President Donald Trump threatens to upend the global trading order.

Anand has long been seen as a rising star within the party and a competent manager, although her cabinet profile rose and fell under Trudeau.

Joly, who has been foreign affairs minister since 2021, takes on the complex industry portfolio, while former public safety minister David McGuinty becomes the new defence minister. Former justice minister Gary Anandasangaree takes over from McGuinty at public safety.

Carney said he moved Joly into her new role because his government is focused on the economy and said that he will be the one leading the charge with the White House.

Champagne is staying put as finance minister and LeBlanc will lead the Canada-U.S. trade file.

Carney is giving LeBlanc a new title, tasking him with managing Canada-U.S. trade and intergovernmental affairs and creating “one Canadian economy.” Carney promised during the election campaign to knock down internal trade barriers.

Freeland remains at transport and will oversee internal trade, while Brampton MP Maninder Sidhu takes over international trade.

The prime minister has dropped several cabinet veterans from the Trudeau years, including former natural resources minister Jonathan Wilkinson and former defence minister Bill Blair.

Trudeau’s close friend and former immigration minister Marc Miller did not made the cut. Neither did Karina Gould, who ran in the recent Liberal party leadership race on Trudeau’s legacy policies.

Former cabinet ministers Terry Duguid, Nathaniel-Erskine Smith, Ginette Petitpas Taylor and Rachel Bendayan were all dropped from the front bench and were not seen at Rideau Hall Tuesday morning.

Carney has moved former Goldman Sachs Canada CEO Tim Hodgson into the natural resources ministry, replacing Wilkinson. Carney has said he wants to build Canada into an energy “superpower” and prioritize big, “nation building” projects.

Carney and Hodgson know each other well. During Carney’s time as governor of the Bank of Canada, Hodgson served as his special adviser. Carney also worked for Hodgson during his time at Goldman Sachs.

Toronto MP Julie Dabrusin, who has been an incumbent since 2015, takes up environment and climate change. She previously served as parliamentary secretary to the environment minister.

Business groups have previously indicated that the environment and energy ministries would be scrutinized heavily — and warned that Guilbeault and Wilkinson, the key ministers defending Trudeau’s climate agenda, should not be kept in charge of those ministries in order to mend fences with Western Canada.

Guilbeault, a former environment and climate change minister, retains his role as minister of heritage, now rebranded as Canadian identity and culture.

Former Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson takes over the housing and infrastructure portfolio — another high-profile role in a government looking to make housing more affordable for younger Canadians.

Former housing minister Sean Fraser — who just last year announced plans to exit from politics so that he could spend more time with his family — has returned to the top rung of government as justice minister.

Former CBC Power and Politics host Evan Solomon takes up a new role: minister of artificial intelligence and digital innovation.

This is the first time Canada has had a dedicated minister to oversee AI, underscoring the importance the Carney government attaches to this emerging technology.

Solomon is a friend of Carney and recently worked with prominent Liberal organizer and Trudeau friend Gerry Butts at the consultancy firm Eurasia Group. 

Solomon was once embroiled in controversy for brokering art sales for high-profile buyers — including Carney — while he was still hosting CBC’s Power and Politics. The CBC concluded he had violated the broadcaster’s ethics standards for journalists.

Marjorie Michel, who succeeded Trudeau in the Montreal riding of Papineau, becomes the new health minister. She replaces former health minister Kamal Khera, who lost her Brampton seat in the last election.

Mandy Gull-Masty, the new MP for Nunavik and the first female grand chief of Cree Nation government in Quebec, has become the first Indigenous person to take on the role of Indigenous services minister.

Northwest Territories MP Rebecca Alty takes up Crown-Indigenous Relations. Heath MacDonald replaces Kody Blois as agriculture minister.

Quebec MP Joël Lightbound, who had been a vocal critic of Trudeau at times, becomes minister of government transformation, public works and procurement, replacing Ali Ehsassi and Jean Yves Duclos before him.

Carney appointed equal numbers of men and women to his core cabinet. His secretaries of state are a throwback to governments before the Trudeau era. They’re essentially junior ministers who are paid less than full ministers, are tasked with slimmer portfolios and lack departments of their own.

Notable new secretaries of state include Saskatchewan MP Buckley Belanger, former air force pilot Stephen Fuhr — who is seen as more of a blue Liberal — and former Liberal party president Anna Gainey.

Prominent Quebec gun control advocate Nathalie Provost and former Olympic athlete Adam van Koeverden were also named secretaries of state.

So was Wayne Long, a Liberal MP known for his sharp criticisms of Trudeau who led the charge for his ouster last year.

Carney has replaced Arielle Kayabaga as House leader with Steven MacKinnon, who served previously in the role. Kayabaga was brought into the role earlier this year but was not in office when the House was sitting.

2) Canada and Europe are collaborating on defence. What that might look like.

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Dylan Robertson, May 10, 2025

As U.S. President Donald Trump continues to cast doubt on the future of the NATO military alliance, Canada is looking to partner with the European Union on defence.

Here’s a closer look at what’s driving this major shift in transatlantic relations.

What problem is Europe trying to solve?

Trump has said that Washington won’t necessarily defend NATO allies — a threat that undermines the entire point of the alliance, said defence policy analyst Federico Santopinto.

“Europeans feel very vulnerable without the United States,” said Santopinto, a senior researcher at the Paris-based French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs.

He said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine revealed just how much the continent had come to depend on American defence spending.

While European nations have spent roughly the same as the U.S. on military aid for Kyiv, Washington has provided Ukraine with indispensable intelligence and surveillance and reconnaissance equipment that Europe lacks.

When the U.S. and Germany — alarmed by the prospect of direct conflict with Moscow — prevented Ukraine from using American and German weapons to hit targets deep within Russia, many EU nations saw how their own hands might be tied if they needed to use donated gear in some future conflict.

“The war in Ukraine taught everybody that when you wage war, you need to be sovereign over the weapons you have,” Santopinto said.

In addition, much of Europe’s defence market is fragmented. Many EU nations own military equipment that isn’t interoperable, leaving capacity gaps across the continent, particularly in air defence.

The EU does not have an army but it can help to structure the continent’s military industries.

How is Canada involved?

Canadian officials have sought to reduce their reliance on American gear — particularly since Trump mused in March about selling allies “toned-down” versions of fighter planes with fewer capabilities than U.S. aircraft.

For more than a year, Canada and the EU have been in talks about a possible “security and defence partnership.”

Brussels has signed such deals with Japan and South Korea, but they largely focused on joint naval exercises. The deal with Canada would involve defence procurement, according to officials on both sides of the Atlantic.

In a white paper released in March outlining the EU’s approach to defence industries, the European Union said that “our co-operation with Canada has intensified and should be further enhanced … including on respective initiatives to boost defence industry production.”

Christian Leuprecht, a political science professor at Queen’s University and the Royal Military College, said both sides can build on the fact that “European companies already invest fairly heavily and extensively in Canada, including on defence.”

What is the EU doing to boost defence?

In March, the European Commission unveiled ReArm Europe, a plan that would earmark up to the equivalent of C$1.25 trillion for defence over five years.

It’s not a subsidy program but would provide loans and allow member states to take on more debt to spend on defence, without triggering the restrictions the EU imposes on members with excessive deficits.

Santopinto said EU countries determined to cut back spending due to the high cost of borrowing aren’t likely to take on more debt, ReArm notwithstanding.

Still, ReArm proposes a loan program worth about $235 billion to be called Security Action For Europe, or SAFE, which would allow countries to work with others outside the European Union to jointly buy or build arms.

The program is still being negotiated and might only allow such partnerships with countries that have signed security and defence agreements with the EU. Canada does not yet have such an agreement.

Prime Minister Mark Carney was elected on a platform that promised to advance “Canada’s involvement in the ReArm Europe plan in support of transatlantic security.”

Leuprecht said “even a fraction of that money” being spent on ReArm would be a lifeline for a Canadian economy struggling under the weight of American tariffs.

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said a month ago that she expects a defence deal with Europe “in the coming months.” She said the deal could be very good for aerospace and artificial intelligence companies in Montreal and Davie Shipbuilding near Quebec City.

How do individual countries feel?

Reports have emerged in recent months of a split among EU members on how the SAFE loan program should function — and whether it could be used to make joint purchases with Canada and the U.K.

France has for years called for Europe to have “strategic autonomy” in defence. Santopinto said France — which has a large domestic weapons industry — has pushed for Europe to make most or all of its own military equipment.

France has tried to work around an American law that limits its exports of arms produced with certain U.S. parts.

Santopinto said Poland and nations like Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — countries on Russia’s doorstep — would prefer to see the U.S. continue to take an active role in Europe’s defence.

Other EU nations, including Germany and the Netherlands, have indicated an openness to linking the EU’s military supply chains with like-minded countries.

Separately, Germany and Norway have proposed partnering with Canada to procure new submarines — a project that would give Ottawa earlier access to the vessels and help it meet its NATO spending targets. Norway is not a member of the EU.

Why does Europe sign deals with other countries?

Santopinto said the EU wants to use the clout it enjoys due to the size of its market to set military procurement standards that would make it easier for European armies to work together.

“It’s a way for European Union to become a more strong actor in the field of armament” through “a new alternative of industrial defence policy to the domination of the United States,” he said.

The EU has used its economic clout and population to set standards in other areas that have been adopted globally — such as the requirement that websites seek permission to gather personalized information.

Leuprecht said Canada can offer Europe a place to produce arms with much cheaper energy, and access to data centres required to run some military technology.

“It’s an opportunity for Canada to contribute to deterrence, by strengthening those relationships with our European partners and (by) Russia knowing that Canada will be there for our European partners,” he said.

Is Canada a good partner?

Ottawa’s allies have for years pressed Canada to reach the NATO member defence spending guideline of two per cent of gross domestic product — a target Ottawa has not met since the alliance set it in 2006.

That pressure has been mounting since Russia launched its war on Ukraine — and particularly since Trump started suggesting the U.S. might not come to the defence of NATO allies that don’t meet the target.

Fearing that territorial gains in Ukraine will embolden Moscow to invade countries like Latvia — where Canadian troops are serving as part of a deterrence mission — European countries are already debating increasing the NATO spending target to 2.5 or three per cent.

EU officials frequently say Canada is among their closest partners and has shared values. Ottawa is already party to EU programs like PESCO that allow for some defence-industry collaboration.

But Leuprecht pointed out that European leaders have stayed largely quiet about Trump’s talk of annexing Canada.

“The stunning silence … tells you a whole lot about the view of Europeans with regards to Canada’s reliability,” he said.

Leuprecht blames that silence on what he considers Canada’s insufficient defence spending and its failure to export energy like liquefied natural gas across the Atlantic. He said he suspects this is why one-third of EU states still haven’t fully ratified the bloc’s trade deal with Canada.

Canada’s economy is about as large as Russia’s, he said, but Moscow is much more effective at advancing its strategic goals.

“There is a widespread belief in Europe that Canada has not been a reliable and reputable partner when Europe has needed Canada,” Leuprecht said, adding it would be harder for Canada to miss defence spending targets when they’re set with another country.

“Here is an opportunity for Canada to demonstrate to Europe that we are prepared to be the reliable partner that we have been in the past.”

Are Europeans looking to leave NATO?

Not according to the latest official joint report on EU-Canada relations, published last month.

“Canada and the EU recognize NATO as the primary collective defence organization for members of the alliance, and continue to encourage increased co-operation between the EU and NATO to further benefit from the experience and expertise of each organization,” reads the government report.

Leuprecht said the EU’s white paper is aimed at complementing NATO so that Europe meets U.S. demands to do more without losing Washington’s security guarantee. That arrangement is in Canada’s interest, he said.

“If the European Union goes it alone, Canada’s value to Europe will decline precipitously,” he said, arguing this would probably leave Ottawa almost entirely reliant on Washington.

Santopinto said Europe wants Canada to help preserve NATO. “They could show that there is a democratic western front that is still existing, despite this strange and erratic attitude of the United States,” he said.

All of these matters are expected to be on the agenda at the NATO summit in June, which both Carney and Trump are expected to attend. “This might possibly be the single most important NATO summit ever,” Leuprecht said.

3) Recount sees Liberals take Quebec riding of Terrebonne by single vote

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Cassidy McMackon, May 11, 2025

The Liberals inched another seat closer to a majority government on Saturday, after a judicial recount left their candidate as the winner in the Quebec riding of Terrebone, by a margin of just one vote.

An official with Elections Canada confirmed to The Canadian Press that Liberal Tatiana Auguste will finish ahead of incumbent Bloc Québécois candidate Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné.

It brings the Liberals to 170 seats in the House of Commons, two shy of the 172 needed for a majority government. The Bloc seat count falls to 22.

Auguste was initially projected to win the riding by 35 votes after the April 28 election, but on May 1, following the required postelection validation process, Sinclair-Desgagné, who was first elected in 2021, moved ahead by 44 votes.

The win was returned to Auguste following the judicial recount, with Auguste receiving 23,352 votes and Sinclair-Desgagné receiving 23,351.

A judicial recount is automatic when the number of votes cast for the candidate with the most votes and the number of votes cast for any other candidate is less than 0.1 per cent of the valid votes cast. That was true in this case.

The recount was to begin on Thursday and was completed Saturday. Elections Canada said last week that the recount would be overseen by Superior Court of Quebec Justice Danielle Turcotte.

A validation process is done by the returning officer, who reviews the cumulative addition of votes in a riding from every poll, based on the counts determined at every polling station in the presence of party scrutineers and election officers. It does not recount the ballots, or review ballots that were deemed to be invalid.

A judicial recount looks at all the ballots again, verifying the ones that were initially accepted and reconsidering ballots that were rejected. It takes place in the presence of a judge from a Superior Court in the affected province or territory.

The recount in Terrebonne added 74 votes to the total number of valid votes and increased the vote count of four of the six candidates. Auguste gained 56 votes, and Sinclair-Desgagné gained 11. The Conservative candidate, Adrienne Charles gained five votes, and the NDP candidate Maxime Beaudoin, gained four. 

The Green candidate saw their vote total reduced by two, while the People’s Party candidate total stayed the same.

Terrebonne is located north of Montreal.

There are three more judicial recounts planned, one in Newfoundland and Labrador and two in Ontario. In all three the Liberals are currently ahead.

In Newfoundland’s Terra Nova—The Peninsulas riding, the difference between leading Liberal candidate Anthony Germain and Conservative party candidate Jonathan Rowe was 12 votes. The recount there is automatic and is to begin Monday.

In the Ontario riding of Milton East—Halton Hills South Liberal Kristina Tesser Derksen is ahead of Conservative Parm Gill by 29 votes. The recount there is also automatic and will begin Tuesday, May 13.

In Windsor-Tecumseh-Lakeshore, a judicial recount was granted after Liberal incumbent Irek Kusmierczyk argued several ballots were “wrongly rejected” after the validation process showed he lost to his Conservative challenger Kathy Borrelli by 77 votes.

4) Poilievre says the lack of a federal budget sends a ‘bad signal’ to investors

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By David Baxter, May 15, 2025.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said Thursday the lack of a federal budget sends “a bad signal” to investors and credit rating agencies.

Poilievre told a press conference on Parliament Hill that he wants Prime Minister Mark Carney to “steal his ideas” and offered to help him draft a budget.

The Conservative leader listed off policies his party campaigned on in the recent election, such as cutting what he calls “wasteful” spending on consultants and foreign aid and offering a “real” middle class tax cut.

“Mr. Carney said during the election campaign that he had a plan, and he took great delight in saying that a slogan is not a plan,” Poilievre said, citing a line the Liberals used to attack the Conservatives.

“Well, a budget is a plan. And if he does indeed have a plan, if he does know what he’s doing, then he would introduce a budget so that Canadians know exactly what the finances are.”

The last time the federal government failed to deliver a budget around the start of the fiscal year was in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said Wednesday that the government will not put forward a budget until after the fall economic update.

The Liberal government has said it plans to introduce its “middle class tax cut” and focus on the May 27 throne speech.

Carney signed a decision note after Wednesday’s cabinet meeting instructing the Canada Revenue Agency to begin preparing for a one per cent reduction to the lowest income tax bracket on July 1.

Champagne said that this would save the average two-income family about $840 annually.

Champagne said he plans to table a ways and means motion to introduce the tax cut shortly after the House of Commons reconvenes on May 26.

Poilievre said his party supports tax cuts but the Conservatives will need to see the specific wording of that motion before deciding whether to vote for it.