Live updates: Carney meeting with premiers in Muskoka; Doug Ford announces agreement with Danielle Smith, Scott Moe

Hamilton Spectator

21 hours ago

Upon
Doug Ford's
invitation, Prime Minister
Mark Carney
is holding a first ministers' meeting in Huntsville this morning. Follow the Star's live coverage below.
A bucolic resort in Muskoka is the political centre of Canada this week.
On Monday, Canada's premiers gathered in cottage country to meet with Indigenous leaders, and they'll meet with Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday morning before the official start of their Council of the Federation meeting later today.
In an unusual move, Premier Doug Ford, who is hosting the summit at Huntsville's Deerhurst Resort on Peninsula Lake, invited Carney to attend the provincial and territorial leaders' conference because of U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war against Canada.
'It's never been a more important time to welcome my fellow premiers to Ontario to continue the work we've done over the past year to protect Canada and our economy,' Ford said Thursday in Toronto.
Read more from Robert Benzie
Prime Minister Mark Carney, centre, Premier Doug Ford, left, and Quebec Premier Francois Legault, right, take part in a first ministers' meeting at the National War Museum in Ottawa on March 21, 2025.
OTTAWA — Ahead of a meeting between the prime minister and premiers this week, a survey has found 'significant improvements' in the way Canadians feel about how well Ottawa and the provinces work together.
According to
a report
on the state of Canada's federation from the Environics Institute and five other organizations, 52 per cent of Canadians feel like their governments work very well or somewhat well together, compared to 39 per cent who felt that way when the same survey was conducted in 2024.
Conversely, 41 per cent of Canadians now feel like their governments are not working well together — either not very well or not well at all — compared to 54 per cent who felt that way one year ago.
'What's changed since last year? You have a new (federal) leader, but you also have this new sense of urgency, where I think the public's patience for government finger-pointing at each other has probably gone way down because the stakes have gone way up,' said Andrew Parkin, executive director of the Environics Institute, on the ever-escalating Canada-U.S. trade dispute.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Mark Carney and the country's premiers will convene in Huntsville following U.S. President Donald Trump's threat to slap 35 per cent tariffs on Canadian imports by Aug. 1 if a trade agreement between the nations is not reached by then.
The survey found that Canadians' feelings about intergovernmental relations improved in most parts of the country outside of the North, where opinions were already more positive than in other regions.
Compared to 2024 figures, Saskatchewan boasted the largest increase, where the proportion of those who felt satisfied by federal-provincial collaboration more than doubled.
In Alberta and Quebec, however, the number of Canadians who felt the federal Liberals and their provincial governments did not work well together still outweighed those who felt the opposite.
The survey was conducted between May 1 and June 16 with 5,391 Canadians, with 90 per cent of responses collected online and the remainder by telephone. Because the majority of the survey was conducted online, the Environics Institute did not calculate a margin of error because online polls, despite being representative, cannot be considered truly random.
For the first time in the annual survey's seven-year-history, the Environics Institute also asked respondents whether they trust the federal government or their provincial government more when it comes to handling international trade relations.
The report notes that 42 per cent of Canadians are more likely to trust the federal government on that file, which is triple the 14 per cent of those who trust their provincial government more.
Levels of trust were highest in Quebec at 46 per cent, and lowest in the Prairie provinces at 38 per cent.
Ottawa does not enjoy that same level of trust when it comes to other portfolios.
'After three consecutive years of increases, there has been a drop in the proportions trusting neither the federal nor their provincial government to deal with other key issues such as health care, climate change, immigration or the economy,' the report states.
The proportion of Canadians who did not trust either Ottawa or their provincial government to address climate change, for example, dropped by seven percentage points from last year.
'This change follows the removal of the federal consumer carbon tax after the change of prime minister earlier this year,' the report noted.
The survey also looked at supporters of provincial conservative parties in the prairies compared to those in Ontario, and found that of those who backed Alberta's United Conservative Party, the Saskatchewan Party and Manitoba's Progressive Conservatives, 68 per cent had a negative view of intergovernmental relations, while 27 per cent had a positive assessment.
Meanwhile, 40 per cent of supporters of Premier Doug Ford's Progressive Conservatives had a negative view of those relations, with 56 per cent considering the relationship between provinces and the federal Liberals to be positive.
Ford, a key ally to Carney, opted not to aid Pierre Poilievre's Conservatives, with whom he has a frosty relationship, in the recent federal election campaign.
Premier Doug Ford, centre, welcomes Canada's other premiers as they pose for a portrait during their 2025 summer meeting at Deerhurst Resort in Huntsville, Ont., on July 21, 2025.
HUNTSVILLE, Ont. — Frustrated at being blocked from Tuesday's first ministers' meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney, Indigenous leaders are pushing for one including them amid deepening concerns about legislation fast-tracking mining and infrastructure projects in the fight against U.S. tariffs.
The request came as Premier Doug Ford struck a softer tone over Ontario's Bill 5, which empowers the province to bypass environmental and other laws to create 'special economic zones' to speed development and offset an expected economic slowdown because of
U.S. President Donald Trump's levies.
'It's time now, in 2025, that First Nations are at the table and that we have a bigger seat in this country,' Assembly of First Nations Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak said after a two-hour confab with premiers gathered Monday at Deerhurst Resort for their
annual Council of the Federation meeting.
'We do have to have tough discussions with each other,' she added, criticizing Ford's Bill 5 and the similar federal Bill C-5, which passed quickly in recent weeks, for measures that 'bulldoze' treaty rights and other protections.
'We're all trying to make a better country. Rushing bills through is not a good way to start.'
Ford, this year's chair of the council, pledged to pitch such a meeting to Carney over a barbecue dinner with premiers Monday night at his lakefront cottage south of Huntsville.
'We'll really push it as quickly as possible to make that happen,' he said.
British Columbia Premier David Eby said the request from Nepinak was 'well received' by the premiers.
'Without question, Indigenous leadership need to be at the table with premiers and with the prime minister on issues,' he added. 'We know if we want to get projects done quickly … the projects have to have strong Indigenous partnerships.'
The premiers' meeting with the Assembly of First Nations, the Métis National Council, Congress of Aboriginal Peoples and others centred on the fight many Indigenous leaders are waging against Ford's Protect Ontario by Unleashing Our Economy Act, and Carney's One Canadian Economy Act, which also has a less contentious element — removing most federal barriers to interprovincial trade.
Both laws are aimed at speeding development of pipelines, rail corridors, mines and other major infrastructure projects — in Ottawa's case, projects deemed of 'national interest' and which the premiers and Carney are still discussing.
Their passage left First Nations leaders furious at a lack of advance consultation. Ford and Carney have been attempting to smooth the resulting tensions ever since.
Following their warnings that the controversial laws will end up slowing development, nine Ontario First Nations have launched legal challenges of both bills, insisting they are unconstitutional, and are seeking court injunctions to prevent Ottawa and Queen's Park from moving quickly on projects.
'Our rights cannot be implemented or respected without us, in substance and in process,' Nepinak warned last week.
While still carrying a big stick in terms of his legislation, Ford said he'll work with First Nations that are in agreement on projects and keep talking to others that are not.
'The ones that want to be progressive, more quick, we'll move quick. The ones that want a little more conversation, that's fine,' Ford told reporters.
'For the most part, I can't do something if they don't want to do it,' he added. 'You can't move forward without their collaboration and buy-in.'
That is hardly a guarantee, noted Chief Alvin Fiddler of Nishnawbe Aski Nation.
'That's not what the bills say,' said Fiddler, who sat in on the meeting and in May pledged 'fierce resistance' from native communities that are worried about being trampled in the rush to development.
'We don't believe you,' he added in a shot at Ford.
Earlier in the day, Ford urged First Nations leaders to take advantage of billions of dollars in financial supports.
'This door is only open so long,' Ford said as he and his fellow premiers arrived at Deerhurst in a motorcade from Toronto, escorted by an Ontario Provincial Police motorcycle unit.
'There's never been a better opportunity for Indigenous communities — I'll speak for Ontario — than right now,' added Ford. 'There's $3 billion of equity sitting in the window that they can draw from. There's $70 million of training, $10 million of scholarships.'
Ford is eager to accelerate projects in northwestern Ontario's Ring of Fire to extract critical minerals needed for electric vehicles, defence and other industries.
'We're gonna work with them,' he pledged in regard to First Nations. 'We want everyone to have an opportunity.'
Carney, who
met with hundreds of Indigenous representatives last Thursday in Gatineau over their concerns
about the federal legislation, will provide premiers with an update Tuesday on trade negotiations with the Americans.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said she's eager to hear more details from Carney on Bill C-5 and echoed Ford's concerns that major projects need to get rolling sooner rather than later.
'The problem has been, historically, that they haven't moved at all, that projects have 10 year or more time horizons,' she told reporters.
'This new world we're in, we have to figure out a way to get to 'yes' faster. It doesn't mean there isn't a robust conversation that has to happen, but it has to happen in a time frame when a proponent is going to know that the answer is 'yes' and how we get there,' Smith added.
'I'm supportive of an abridged time frame but I think we also have to figure out how that's going to work.'
Fresh from entertaining Prime Minister Mark Carney and the provincial and territorial leaders Monday night at his cottage south of Huntsville, Premier Doug Ford says he is inking a memorandum of understanding Tuesday morning with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Saskatchewan's Scott Moe to promote pipelines and energy corridors.
This builds upon the accord he signed with Smith at the Calgary Stampede earlier this month. The premiers are expected to discuss such major projects with Carney at this morning's first ministers' meeting at Deerhurst Resort in Huntsville.
On Monday before dinner, Ford signed agreements with British Columbia, Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut to eliminate barriers to internal trade. Ontario now has arrangements with all provinces and territories except Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador.
Premier Doug Ford insists 'everything's on the table,' including reviving Ontario's threatened 25 per cent export tax on the electricity the province sends to 1.5 million customers in three states, if U.S. President Donald Trump persists in his trade war against Canada.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford, left, talks with Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe during the meeting of Canada's premiers at Deerhurst Resort in Huntsville, Ont., on Monday. Moe revealed details about the dinner Ford hosted on Monday night.
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe notes Premier Doug Ford, who does not eat red meat (or drink alcohol), served steak for dinner Monday night with the premiers and Prime Minister Mark Carney at his cottage. Ford, who worked summers at Canada Packers as a student, sticks to chicken or fish and has tried (with limited success) to convince his aides of the merits of veggie burgers at past barbecues.
As Queen's Park, Alberta and Saskatchewan sign their new MOU 'to bring Ontario critical minerals and Western Canadian oil and gas to new markets,' Premier Doug Ford says energy projects will be top of mind in discussions later Tuesday morning with Prime Minister Mark Carney. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says Carney is 'off to a good start' in terms of working with the provinces on getting energy to market.
U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra delivers his speech during a Fourth of July party at Lornado, the residence of the ambassador from the United States, in Ottawa, Friday, July 4, 2025.
Canadians avoiding travel to the United States and banning American alcohol are among the reasons U.S. President Donald Trump thinks the country is 'nasty' to deal with, the U.S. ambassador to Canada said Monday.
Pete Hoekstra told a conference audience on Monday that such steps 'don't send positive signals' about Canada treating the United States well.
Hoekstra was speaking at the annual Pacific NorthWest Economic Region Foundation summit in Bellevue, Washington.
The Canadian Press was provided with a recording of the ambassador's comments by the office of B.C. Premier David Eby, which said it received the audio from someone who was in the audience.
Eby said in a statement that Hoekstra's remarks show Canadians' efforts to stand up to Trump are 'having an impact,' and he encouraged people to 'keep it up.'
Read more from the Canadian Press
Noting Ontario has signed deals with 10 provinces and territories to eliminate interprovincial trade barriers — most recently, British Columbia, Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut on Monday afternoon — Premier Doug Ford says he is confident his province can reach agreements with Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador. Prime Minister Mark Carney has been pushing the provinces and territories to have 'one economy not 13' because of the threat to Canada's economy from U.S. President
Donald Trump's trade war
. Canadian officials estimate an additional $200 billion a year could be generated for the economy if internal barriers to trade are removed.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, facing a scandal with her province's health authority, sure does not like getting media questions about the online harassment of a Globe and Mail reporter who has been investigating the story. While Smith brusquely condemned the anonymous social media account that was posting photos of the journalist meeting with two former political staffers on Monday, the normally media-friendly premier was visibly ticked off when asked about the episode Tuesday. 'I have no further comment on it,' she said curtly.
It's apparently one big happy family in Muskoka as the first ministers meet
.
Prime Minister Mark Carney and the premiers feted British Columbia's David Eby on Monday night at Doug Ford's cottage
.
It was Eby's 49th birthday so Ford arranged for a cake and candles for the B.C. premier
.
(Prior to dessert, they ate steak, chicken, potatoes, seasonal vegetables and salad at Casa Ford
.
)
Premier Doug Ford's bromance with Prime Minister Carney continues. In an enthusiastic speech, Ford commended Carney for his work with premiers and called him a 'brilliant businessman' bringing a new focus to Ottawa.
In his speech Prime Minister Carney name checked Premiers Doug Ford and Danielle Smith as a few of the premiers who are reaching the 'flurry' of inter-provincial agreements, calling these moves a significant step forward for Canada's national economy.
The political charm theme continued this morning as Prime Minister Carney was spotted laughing with premiers, including New Brunswick's Susan Holt, whose election last November, gave her a shared newcomer status in leadership with the Carney.
Quebec Premier Francois Legault headed into the meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney sharing this thought about a new trade pact with the United States: 'It's very important to have a long-term deal in order to have more certainty.'