Carney's set to meet with First Nations on major projects law
The closed-door meeting was promised by Carney in June after chiefs said their rights were not respected by the rush to push the Building Canada Act through Parliament in June.
The legislation allows cabinet to quickly grant federal approvals for big industrial projects like mines, ports and pipelines by sidestepping existing laws.
6:02
'We just want to be part of it': First Nations press for inclusion ahead of summit with Carney
An agenda for today's meeting shared with The Canadian Press shows Carney will deliver opening remarks for 10 minutes in the morning, followed by the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations.
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Carney does not appear on the agenda again until later in the afternoon, where he will sit alongside a handful of ministers for an hour for a panel titled 'Working Together,' followed by his closing remarks.
Many First Nations leaders said Wednesday they have low expectations for the meeting and are warning it should not be seen as the full and fair consultation required on major projects.
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Toronto Sun
20 minutes ago
- Toronto Sun
GOLDSTEIN: Canada's huge federal government bureaucracy needs to be downsized
During Justin Trudeau's Liberal government from 2015 to 2024, the federal bureaucracy grew in size by 43% Get the latest from Lorrie Goldstein straight to your inbox (L) Prime Minister Mark Carney and (R) former PM Justin Trudeau. Photo by File Photos / AFP via Getty Images While the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives warned last week that over 57,000 federal public service jobs could be cut between now and 2028 due to Prime Minister Mark Carney's restraint measures – assuming they occur – the reality is that a downsizing of the federal civil service is long overdue. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account During Justin Trudeau's Liberal government from 2015 to 2024, the federal bureaucracy grew in size by 43%, from 257,034 employees to 367,772, an increase of 110,738. That far outstrips the 15% increase in Canada's population between 2015 (35,606,734) and 2024 (41,012,563). The 43% growth rate of the federal public service also outpaced the 18.5% real growth rate of the economy, the 15.5% growth in total employment and the 25.5% growth of employment across the entire public sector, counting all orders of government. As Peter Nicholson, a former senior federal public servant and business executive who cited these figures in a policy paper last month for the Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Saskatchewan observed: Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'There is no reason to expect the growth of the civil service to match, much less exceed, population growth … By 2024, the number of federal public servants per 1,000 population had reached the highest ratio (9.0) in at least 40 years during which governments of various ideological stripes have held power.' He noted this rapid growth occurred during an era when 'so much specialized and urgent work is being outsourced to consultants.' RECOMMENDED VIDEO On that issue, parliamentary budget officer Yves Giroux reported in 2023 that despite the rapid increase in the size of the federal public service, the Trudeau government was also spending $21.4 billion annually hiring outside help – 106% more than the $10.4 billion spent when Trudeau took power in 2015. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Giroux reported the total cost of paying a full-time equivalent position in the federal public service – including salaries, pensions and benefits – increased by 7.7 % from $126,634 in 2022-23 to $136,345 in 2023-24, 'exceeding the growth realized in any year since 2006-07.' Meanwhile, 'total personnel spending increased by 15.7% to $65.3 billion in 2023-24, from $56.5 billion in 2022-23.' Some of these increases can be attributed to new federal programs such as dental care and pharmacare and increased hiring during the 2020 pandemic. But that was five years ago and the size of the federal bureaucracy continued to increase every year after that up to 2024 – from 300,450 positions in 2020 to 319,601 in 2021; 335,957 in 2022; 357,247 in 2023 and 367,772 in 2024. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. As of March 31, 2025, the public service was reduced by 9,807 positions to 357,965, compared to the same period in 2024, marking the first annual decrease in a decade. Even with that 2.65% cut in the growth rate of the federal bureaucracy over one year, the overall 39% increase from 2015 to 2025 is well over twice the 16.6% growth rate of Canada's population during the same period. RECOMMENDED VIDEO In a paper earlier this month, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business reported that from 2013 to 2023 (two years of the Stephen Harper Conservative government, eight years of the Trudeau government) the size of the federal bureaucracy increased by 36%, compared to just 13% job growth in the private sector. 'The rapid growth of the federal workforce and the accompanying surge in payroll expenditures risk crowding out private-sector activity,' authors Alchad Alegbeh and Christina Santini warned. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'This trend can reduce overall productivity, slow long-term economic growth, and limit the government's ability to respond to future economic or fiscal shocks … 'The continued expansion of the federal public service – both in headcount and compensation – has become a growing source of concern for Canada's small and medium-sized enterprises which represent the core of the private economy … 'While the federal public service has grown steadily, this has not been matched by improvements in economic performance or the business environment. In theory, a larger public sector could support business owners through streamlined regulations and efficient services. In practice, however, Canadian businesses face a costly and complex regulatory landscape – amounting to $51 billion annually.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Read More During the election, Carney promised to freeze rather than reduce the size of the public service, while increasing government productivity. But governments of all stripes have promised increased productivity for years, without accomplishing it, meaning that new programs almost inevitably result in hiring more staff, instead of fewer workers doing the job more efficiently. Critics say Carney's recent instructions to most federal departments to cut program spending by 15% by the 2028-29 fiscal year will result in job losses and reduce the quality of government services. But the reality, according to the numbers, is that downsizing the federal public service has become an economic necessity. lgoldstein@ Columnists Toronto & GTA Sunshine Girls Toronto & GTA Columnists
Toronto Sun
2 hours ago
- Toronto Sun
KINSELLA: Canada once mattered on the international stage
In recent years, we've been reduced to thumbing out sanctimonious tweets from the sidelines, far removed from the action Prime Minister Mark Carney listens to a journalist's question during a press conference on Parliament Hill following the Cabinet Policy Forum, in Ottawa on May 21, 2025. Photo by DAVE CHAN / AFP via Getty Images When a country doesn't matter militarily or diplomatically, when no one is sharing intelligence with it anymore, all that it has left are … empty words, basically. Piety and preaching. That's it. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account So, now, when it comes to world affairs, Canada is a season's ticket holder in the nosebleed seats. Holding up homemade signs, hollering, hoping to get on TV, while the real action is playing out elsewhere, far, far away. Ever since 2004, when Paul Martin and his brain trust thought it would be a good idea to meet the homicidal Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi in a tent in the desert, Canada has mattered less and less internationally. It all happened gradually. We became a bit of an afterthought, and then a punchline. Donald Trump, in particular, knows this. He's noticed that the rest of the world hasn't rallied to our side as he's openly coveted us as his 51st state. It was not always thus. Read More Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. At one time – say, when Mike Pearson won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 for resolving the Suez Crisis, or when Brian Mulroney fought to end apartheid in the Eighties, or when Jean Chretien refused to participate in George W. Bush's war against Saddam Hussein in 2003 – Canada truly mattered on the international stage. Not so much anymore. In recent years, we've been reduced to thumbing out sanctimonious tweets from the sidelines, far removed from the action. In both official languages, bien sur. So, Prime Minister Mark Carney issued a statement Thursday on X. Here's part of what it said: 'Canada condemns the Israeli government's failure to prevent the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian disaster in Gaza. Israel's control of aid distribution must be replaced by comprehensive provision of humanitarian assistance led by international organizations. Many of these are holding significant Canadian-funded aid which has been blocked from delivery to starving civilians. This denial of humanitarian aid is a violation of international law.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Canada condemns the Israeli government's failure to prevent the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian disaster in Gaza. Israel's control of aid distribution must be replaced by comprehensive provision of humanitarian assistance led by international organizations. Many of these are… — Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) July 25, 2025 Carney's X post wasn't a serious statement by a head of a country. It was a selfie, basically, issued to get someone to notice us on a metaphorical global Jumbotron. (And: we won't duck, if they do.) When all you have left is words, words arguably matter. So, let's look at those five concluding words in Carney's declaration: 'A violation of international law.' Is it? Well, the first problem is international law itself. International law is a vague set of rules and principles, rarely if ever enforced. International law isn't written down anywhere, so you can make it into whatever you want, as Carney has done. The Canadian Prime Minister seems to be referring to 'the right to food,' which is mentioned in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The first, in its article 25, says that 'everyone has the right to … food.' The second says, in its article 11, that there exists 'the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. A Palestinian carries a bag containing food and humanitarian aid delivered by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a U.S.-backed organization, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, June 11, 2025. Photo by Abdel Kareem Hana / AP Photo Good. Yes. Agreed. But in the case of Gaza, the fact is this: the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) – an American organization, supported by Israel – was set up to prevent Hamas from stealing food, water, medicine and tents. On good days, the GHF has distributed as much as three million meals daily. American contractors and Israeli troops oversee all that, at four different distribution centres in Gaza. As of this week, however, more than 1,000 trucks containing GHF aid are sitting idle in Gaza – because the United Nations adamantly refuses to administer the desperately-needed food to Palestinians. The UN doesn't dispute that, either. It says that it can't distribute the GHF aid because, for the first time in its existence, it's concerned about bureaucracy. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'I don't think we need to add another layer of for-profit organizations,' UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric sniffed. To recap the facts, then: Food is going in to Gaza. Israel and the U.S. are sending it. The food is not being properly distributed, however. And the UN, which is actually paid to do these things, is adamantly refusing to help out. RECOMMENDED VIDEO Another pesky fact: Gaza is a war zone. Neither Hamas nor Israel permits non-combatants into that war zone. So where, exactly, did Prime Minister Carney get the evidence to back up his claim that Israel is, quote unquote, 'violating international law?' Not from Canadian diplomats or military observers – we don't have any in Gaza. And we designated Hamas, Gaza's government, as a terrorist entity way back in 2002. So how is the PMO and Global Affairs getting their information about Gaza? This writer contacted the PMO and and Global Affairs and asked: 'On what basis did the Prime Minister determine Israel has broken international law in the distribution of aid in Gaza? Does Canada presently have any official representatives on the ground in Gaza? Or have we instead relied upon hearsay accounts and/or the government there, which is run by a terrorist entity?' At press time, neither had provided an answer. Like we say, we're up in the nosebleeds, trying to get noticed. It isn't working. Toronto & GTA Sunshine Girls Columnists Toronto Blue Jays Toronto & GTA
Global News
4 hours ago
- Global News
Auditor general to study hiring, promotion of public servants with disabilities
The federal auditor general is planning to study the recruitment, retention and promotion of people with disabilities in the federal public service. Documents obtained by The Canadian Press through Access to Information indicate that the audit is expected to be tabled in the spring. Claire Baudry, a spokesperson for the Office of the Auditor General of Canada, said in an email that while auditor general Karen Hogan expects to table the report in Parliament in 2026, the audit is in the planning phase and any comment on its scope or timelines now would be 'premature.' Hogan's office sent a letter to Secretary of the Treasury Board Bill Matthews on March 7 notifying him of the upcoming study. The most recent employment equity report for the public service says that since March 2020, the number of people with disabilities has increased steadily in the core public service — the federal government departments and agencies that fall under Treasury Board. Story continues below advertisement But that number remains below the rate of 'workforce availability' — the metric used by the government to measure the share of the national workforce that is eligible for federal public service work. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy As of 2024, 21,089 people with disabilities were working in the federal public service, up from 17,410 in 2023, 14,573 in 2022 and 12,893 in 2021. The report also found that representation of people with disabilities among government executives was above the rate of workforce availability. As of March 2024, 9.7 per cent of federal executives were people with disabilities, up from 4.6 per cent in March 2019. The employment equity report also looked at promotions in the core public service. It found that 2,517 federal public servants with disabilities were promoted in 2024. The report also tracked 1,642 promotions of Indigenous public servants, 1,788 promotions of Black employees, 8,115 promotions of members of visible minorities and 19,578 promotions of women in the core public service. Nathan Prier, president of the Canadian Association of Professional Employees, said he hopes the report will take into account the impact of the government's return-to-office mandate on people with disabilities. The government has gradually increased the number of days public servants must be in the office since the end of the pandemic. As of last fall, most public servants are expected to work in-office at least three days per week, while executives are required to be there at least four days per week. Story continues below advertisement 'We hope to see from the report a snapshot before and after the forced return to office took place to see how many workers with disabilities are leaving the federal public sector and taking their expertise with them, while other workers struggle with increasing workload and now cuts — all when we had an easy and workable solution in front of us this whole time,' Prier said. 'During the pandemic we saw on a large scale how telework worked well for so many workers with disabilities, and we've been disappointed to see that, since the forced and mismanaged return to office, those same people have not been getting accommodations or have been made to jump through hoops in a long, drawn-out process,' he said. Rola Salem, a spokesperson for the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, said in an email that the Government of Canada has committed to building an accessible and inclusive public service and, in 2024, exceeded its goal of hiring 5,000 people with disabilities. Salem said the secretariat welcomes the opportunity to work with the Office of the Auditor General on the planned audit. The Employment Equity Act defines 'persons with disabilities' as people who have a long-term or recurring physical, mental, sensory, psychiatric or learning impairment and who consider themselves to be disadvantaged in employment or believe that an employer is likely to consider them disadvantaged. The definition also includes people whose limitations have been accommodated in the workplace.
