Live updates: Carney says threat posed by Trump's tariffs means Canadians must rally behind ‘nation-building projects' to boost economy

Hamilton Spectator

2 days ago

Prime Minister Mark Carney is meeting with the country's premiers to discuss trade and other nationwide priorities as part of a first ministers meeting.
Follow along here for live coverage from the Star's politics reporters.
National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak of the Assembly of First Nations, who met with Prime Minister Mark Carney Thursday afternoon, issued a warning to the provinces and Ottawa.
She said it 'may not end well' if they make decisions about major infrastructure projects at the first ministers meeting in Saskatoon without First Nations involvement.
The Assembly of First Nations has long called for its inclusion at first ministers meetings but has only been able to secure secondary meetings with prime ministers ahead of the official meetings.
Read the full story from the Canadian Press
SASKATOON—Building bridges — and possibly pipelines — while battling barriers.
As Prime Minister Mark Carney meets Monday with the premiers, he wants to fast-track 'nation-building' infrastructure projects and eliminate interprovincial trade barriers to strengthen a Canadian economy under attack from U.S. President Donald Trump.
'Partnership is a theme for our discussion this morning,' Carney said Sunday in Calgary at a roundtable with leading figures from the oil and gas industry before the first ministers' meeting.
'It's a critical time for our country. The world's certainly more divided and dangerous and the imperative of making Canada an energy superpower in all respects has never been greater. We will do everything we can at the federal government level to support those partnerships,' he said.
Read the full story from Robert Benzie
Former Canadian ambassador to the United Nations Marc-André Blanchard will serve as Prime Minister Mark Carney's chief of staff starting next month, Carney announced Sunday.
'Marc-André has a long and distinguished career,' Carney said in a post on X on Sunday afternoon, pointing to Blanchard's experience in law, diplomacy and the public service.
Currently, Blanchard is the executive vice-president and head of CDPQ Global and Global head of sustainability. He is responsible for co-ordinating the Quebec pension fund manager's international operations, CDPQ's website said. From 2016 to 2020, Blanchard was Canada's ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations.
Read more from Elissa Mendes
In Saskatoon, Premier Doug Ford said it is critical for the first ministers to emerge with some consensus on 'nation-building projects' because Canada is under economic 'attack' from U.S. President Donald Trump, whose tariffs have created uncertainty.
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew told reporters that 'I think in time, you'll see that Hudson Bay is probably the most tenable course towards hitting international tidewaters.' He added 'Let's use the private sector to figure out the engineering, the best route and how to energize the western Canadian engine that's going to power the Canadian economy.'
Prime Minister Mark Carney, in opening remarks to the meeting, joked with Scott Moe that he loves to follow him in public comments.
Moe suggested they form a new political party. Carney chuckled, demurred, saying 'maybe not every single time, issues of nation building and cooperation without question.'
He went on to praise the premiers for movement on knocking down trade barriers as the country moves to 'redefine the relationship with the United States' in the face of a tariff war.
'I can't keep up with the flurry of announcements of free trade agreements between provinces and across the country. The federal government will do its part tabling legislation very shortly to eliminate federal barriers to prevent the movement of goods and people, and also to put in place an ability to advance projects of national interest,' Carney said
Carney said the meeting is 'just the start, and it's what Canadians expect and what they deserve.'
The prime minister said last week in an interview with CBC that he plans to release a list of the so-called 'nation-building projects' that should be fast-tracked, and said 'the coming weeks and months will be critical, really, to turn the momentum that's been created by you around this table that the federal government is looking to add to, to translate that momentum, those ideas, into action.'
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said, 'if everyone cooperates and collaborates, we're going to make that happen,' echoing Moe's comments that Canada can be 'a superpower when it comes to energy of all forms, and that's our goal today, to make sure that we have large national infrastructure projects that will benefit every Canadian, from coast to coast to coast.'
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, before the meeting started, observed that today is about getting the right regulatory environment, but said eventually it will take both private and public investment to do major projects.
'To achieve the target of being a global energy superpower, and increase our economy to a level where it's the strongest in the G7 nations, that's going to take private investment. We aren't going to do that with public investment only. However, there will be public investment that is necessary in order to support Canadians and support our communities that we live in….and so two separate conversations. The first has to be fast tracking a number of projects, as well as having a longer look at how do we correct the regulatory process that we have to provide certainty for investment in all of the industries that are creating jobs for not only Saskatchewan people, but for Canadians across the country.'
Premier Doug Ford, walking in with Alberta's Danielle Smith, sets the vibe for an optimistic FMM by crooning 'love is in the air.' So he's gone from Captain Canada to Captain Stubing from TV's The Love Boat.
Western premiers outlined clear expectations before the day-long meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney. They insisted any list of projects or regulatory streamlining must aim to get Western resources to tidewater, to coastal shipping ports on the B.C. coast or to Manitoba transit points on Hudson Bay.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said 'an energy corridor to northern British Columbia that includes a bitumen pipeline would be a good first step' for premiers and the prime minister to agree on, but the broader problem that Ottawa needs to eliminate what she sees as overly onerous environmental review regulations.
She acknowledged there is currently no oil pipeline proposal on the table, but Smith said, 'we won't get a serious proponent from the private sector unless we address those underlying conditions.'
That is why, she said, the federal government had to step 'when there were no proponents willing to take forward' the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion when its American proponent abandoned the project. 'If we're going to continue building pipelines, we have to change the environment, and I've made that point very clear to the prime minister,' she said.
She said a 'bitumen pipeline will be by far the greatest benefit to all of Canada. That's why we're going to continue to push for it. Because it's just, it's a good project. It's good for our country. There's $9 trillion worth of value in discoverable and achievable viable reserves right now and so why would you leave that in the ground, no other country in the world would and we shouldn't either.'
Early on after he formed a Conservative government, former prime minister Stephen Harper used to pitch Canada on the world stage as an 'energy superpower,' in travels to New York and to the United Kingdom.
His pitch used to focus on Canada's oil and gas supplies, but it ran headlong into a shifting geopolitical priorities as the U.S. under former president Barack Obama and European leaders began to embrace the imperative of dealing with climate change.
Carney, on the other hand, is having to confront a different set of global trade and environmental priorities and challenges. He walks a different line, trying to pitch Canada as an 'energy superpower' in both conventional - meaning oil and gas - and 'clean' energy, meaning renewable hydroelectric, wind and solar energy, and a leader in using carbon capture and storage technology to drive down greenhouse gas emissions in the production of conventional energy.
Although the role of nuclear energy was not debated much in the previous federal election, Carney has in the past supported wider adoption of nuclear power in the move to a net-zero economy.
'There's no transition that works without nuclear, full stop,' Carney, the former chair of Brookfield Asset Management, once said.
Prime Minister Mark Carney during the First Minister's Meeting in Saskatoon on Monday, June 2, 2025.
Prime Minister Mark Carney says the threat posed by President Donald Trump's tariffs means Canadians must rally behind 'nation-building projects' to boost the economy.
Speaking at the
first ministers meeting Monday
, Carney praised the premiers for working together to eliminate interprovincial trade barriers and said he was 'confident' they can find consensus on what to build and where to build it.
'I can't keep up with the flurry of announcements of free trade agreements between provinces and across the country,' the prime minister told them, referring to Ontario's deals with Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.
Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Rebecca Alty rises during question period in House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Thursday, May 29, 2025.
The new federal Crown-Indigenous relations minister says building up First Nations infrastructure is 'critical' but doesn't qualify as nation-building as her government works to fast-track new projects.
The federal government is developing legislation to fast-track what it calls 'nation-building' projects with a streamlined regulatory approval process as a substitute for reviews under the Impact Assessment Act.
Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Rebecca Alty says that while closing the First Nations infrastructure gap is important, it's not considered nation-building and would be pursued outside the proposed legislation.
Read the full report from Alessia Passafiume of The Canadian Press
AFN National Chief Cindy Woodhouse takes part in a panel during the Assembly of First Nations Special Chiefs Assembly in Ottawa on Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
The AFN warned that parliamentary committees – where proposed laws are studied in depth –cannot accommodate 'the numbers of First Nations likely wishing to engage on a matter of this magnitude and significance' nor do committee hearings provide the in-depth legal analysis and consultation she said the federal government is obliged to carry out.
Woodhouse Nepinak said the AFN supports 'efforts to protect' Canada and First Nations from 'geopolitical and economic uncertainty', but she warned the government must respect its duty under the constitution and international law to consult and accommodate First Nations' rights.
Repeatedly citing the United Nations' Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and what the AFN says is a comprehensive duty to ensure Indigenous engagement and consent at all stages in the legislative and approval process for projects, Woodhouse Nepinak warned of protests and lawsuits to come.
'If free, prior and informed consent is not obtained from First Nations, this legislation will be marred and mired in conflict and protracted litigation.'
She said Carney's plan to concentrate authority in 'one federal minister risks marginalizing First Nations' oversight and voices,' and 'one window approval means the constitutional and international rights of First Nations may be dealt with unevenly across the country.'
When it comes to 'nation-building projects,' the national chief said in an accompanying news release that 'Canada needs to start with fast-tracking the basics like clean water, quality housing, modern schools, all-season roads and community infrastructure.'
She said she raised the need to close the infrastructure gap
when she met Carney in Ottawa last week
.
Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak speaks during a new conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday, May 28, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
Carney has promised to identify projects for fast-tracking and to introduce the enabling legislation by July 1. That proposed bill would create a Major Federal Projects Office, with a goal of cutting the timeline for project approvals from five years to two.
But there are signs of possible dissent to come.
In a letter to Carney, released Monday, the Assembly of First Nations warned that there has not been enough time or consultation with Indigenous communities who will be impacted by any proposed legislation to fast-track approvals for projects.
AFN National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak said regional chiefs and her office received a letter from Ottawa outlining the intent to change the law along a three-page background document and inviting comment by the end of last week – an 'unacceptably tight deadline.'
But, she wrote, the actual legislation was not shared and the AFN demanded to see a copy, all while signaling that the government must engage with each First Nation 'as rights holders and not to advocacy organizations like the AFN.'