Latest news with #LiberalMPs
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Federal Liberals looking to provide 'certainty' to investors in fall budget
OTTAWA — Major institutional investors are asking the federal government to give them a reason to invest more at home in the upcoming fall budget, says the Liberal MPs leading budget consultations across Canada. The federal Liberals are in the midst of consultations on the upcoming 2025 budget. While federal budgets typically are tabled in the spring, this one is set to land during the fall session of Parliament. The budget — which doesn't yet have an exact release date — will be the Liberals' first under Prime Minister Mark Carney and the first tabled by Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne, who was appointed to that cabinet position in May. The minister and some Liberal MPs are touring Canada to solicit feedback as part of the federal government's typical pre-budget process. "From our standpoint, it's our first budget. We want to get the big things right," said Wayne Long, MP for Saint John—Kennebecasis and secretary of state for the Canada Revenue Agency and financial institutions. The Liberals are hosting roundtables with CEOs from various Canadian industries, heads of chambers of commerce, union leaders and First Nations groups to feed their concerns into the fall budget process. Long has criss-crossed the country since mid-July — part of a plan to visit 45 cities and every province and territory over a two-month span. Long said the fiscal update will be "defence-centric" and "housing-centric" — reflecting commitments from the early days of the current government — and will expand on themes laid out in the Building Canada Act passed in June. That legislation, which came with a push for major infrastructure projects, arrived against the backdrop of Canada's trade war with the United States and calls to build up the domestic economy and global trade routes to diminish reliance on the U.S. Long said that in meetings with representatives from Canada's Big Six banks and the Maple Eight large Canadian pension funds, he's heard a desire to invest more at home. He said those large institutional backers want the upcoming budget to help build the long-term confidence they need in order to put their money behind years-long infrastructure projects. "I almost sense the frustration that they're like, 'Look, we want to invest more in Canadian industry, in nation-building projects and energy projects, but regulatory-wise, it hasn't been effective for us to do so,'" Long said. Putting new rules in place and issuing other signals that show where the federal government wants to focus its efforts could be cost-effective ways to spur investment, Long argued. "These are tweaks and changes we can make that I think can result in billions of dollars being reinvested back in the country," he said. Also meeting with industry stakeholders across Canada is Whitby MP Ryan Turnbull, parliamentary secretary to Long and Champagne. He said that in the course of those conversations, he's hearing that stakeholders want to be part of the solution to Canada's trade woes and economic uncertainty. "We're looking to provide certainty through this budget process," Turnbull said. He said stakeholders from the energy storage and nuclear industries are looking for Ottawa to commit to expanding investment tax credits for their sectors in the coming years. Such signals from government can convince a business that it's worth investing in themselves, or attempting to lure outside capital, in order to build in Canada, Turnbull said. He said he's also hearing concerns about the state of transportation infrastructure, particularly around Canada's ports. Businesses that want to diversify into global markets need to feel confident that the federal government is going to keep critical infrastructure running at key ports like Vancouver, Turnbull said. "If (Canada) has bottlenecks and congestion within its transportation system and can't get products to market at the scale and scope that we're going to need to in order to respond to the challenges we face in dealing with the United States, we're going to have to address that port infrastructure," he said. Carney's mantra throughout the spring election campaign and in the early days of his leadership has been to "spend less" and "invest more." The "spend less" side of the equation comes from his pledge to balance the operating side of Ottawa's budget in three years. Ministers have been asked to come up with savings of 15 per cent in their day-to-day spending by the end of that period. The Public Service Alliance of Canada has warned of possible job cuts through the spending reductions and has said Ottawa ought to work with unions, not around them, to achieve its savings goals. Turnbull said he's met with public sector unions as part of the consultation and acknowledged that there's "fear and uncertainty" among bureaucrats. "And yet I think they also recognize that there are opportunities for improvement and efficiency and to serve the public even better," he said. "We don't want to compromise on quality. But I do think it's a very healthy exercise for the federal government to say, where is there duplication? Where is there redundancy? Where can we get better results for Canadians?" While it's Long's first budget at the federal level, he said he does have some experience with budgeting in general. Not in Parliament, mind you — in a Canadian junior hockey league. "I've never been involved in a budget for a process of this magnitude. But in previous lives, for me, when I was president of the Saint John Sea Dogs, we would go through a budgeting process also," he said. "And a lot of the decisions we made in that budget we recognize fully would set the tone for the future. So this is the opportunity we have with this budget." This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 12, 2025. Craig Lord, The Canadian Press
CBC
30-07-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Canada will recognize Palestinian state in September if certain conditions met
Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canada will recognize a Palestinian state in September if the West Bank's governing body meets certain conditions. The prime minister said the conditions the Palestinian Authority must meet include holding an election and other democratic reforms. Carney's announcement came after he spoke to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas earlier Wednesday — and follows similar commitments from other allied countries in the past week. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Tuesday the U.K. will recognize a Palestinian state in September unless Israel agrees to a ceasefire in Gaza, allows the UN to bring in aid and takes other steps toward long-term peace. France announced a similar plan last week, but without conditions. French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday there was "no alternative" to recognizing the state of Palestine and intends to do so at the UN General Assembly in September. In the past week, a number of Liberal MPs have called on Canada to follow France's lead. Toronto MP Salma Zahid and Montreal-area MP Sameer Zuberi said in social media posts that Canada must join France in announcing its recognition of a state for the Palestinian people. Fares Al Soud, who represents the Toronto-area riding of Mississauga Centre, said on social media that justice for the Palestinian people "demands recognition." Last fall, dozens of MPs from the Liberals, NDP, Bloc Québécois and Green Party joined an international call for the recognition a Palestinian state.
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Liberals hold first post-election meeting on the eve of new spring session
OTTAWA — Liberal MPs are holding their first caucus meeting in Ottawa since their election win nearly a month ago, on Sunday afternoon to set the priorities for the new legislature. The House of Commons will be back for four weeks before the summer break. During that time, MPs will have to elect a new Speaker, hear King Charles III read the Speech from the Throne and the government is expected to table legislation on its key economic priorities. Those include enacting a middle-class tax cut, which the government has said would provide a family of four up to $840 of benefits, and knocking down internal trade barriers. Prime Minister Mark Carney has pledged that those would be in place by Canada Day. Who's in, who's out? At least seven MPs running for Speaker role on Monday Inside Mark Carney's PMO where ministers get called out, punctuality matters and patience is on short supply But the Sunday caucus meeting will also be an opportunity to discuss internal matters. Liberals will have the opportunity to decide whether to adopt the Reform Act rules that would give them, amongst other things, the power to trigger a leadership review of their new leader, to expel or readmit a caucus member, or elect or remove a caucus chair. Several MPs said it is nothing against Carney, but that the move is informed by the lack of formal processes they had to expel former prime minister Justin Trudeau last year. Carney dodged questions about this possibility when asked about it a few days ago and simply said that these votes on the Reform Act will be taking place in caucus. Liberals will also have to decide who they will be supporting to run for Speaker. As of Friday, at least seven candidates — five Liberal MPs and two Conservative MPs — were in the running, but eligible MPs have until 6 p.m. to decide to remove their names. Carney, for his part, has a few busy weeks ahead of him after the start of the spring sitting. Carney will be meeting with the country's premiers in Saskatoon on June 2, will be hosting U.S. President Donald Trump and other G7 leaders in Kananaskis, Alberta, from June 15 to 17, and will be attending the NATO Summit in the Netherlands from June 24 to 25. More to come. National Post calevesque@ Get more deep-dive National Post political coverage and analysis in your inbox with the Political Hack newsletter, where Ottawa bureau chief Stuart Thomson and political analyst Tasha Kheiriddin get at what's really going on behind the scenes on Parliament Hill every Wednesday and Friday, exclusively for subscribers. Sign up here. Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our politics newsletter, First Reading, here.
National Post
25-05-2025
- Business
- National Post
Liberals hold first post-election meeting on the eve of new spring session
OTTAWA — Liberal MPs are holding their first caucus meeting in Ottawa since their election win nearly a month ago, on Sunday afternoon to set the priorities for the new legislature. Article content Article content The House of Commons will be back for four weeks before the summer break. During that time, MPs will have to elect a new Speaker, hear King Charles III read the Speech from the Throne and the government is expected to table legislation on its key economic priorities. Article content Those include enacting a middle-class tax cut, which the government has said would provide a family of four up to $840 of benefits, and knocking down internal trade barriers. Article content Article content Prime Minister Mark Carney has pledged that those would be in place by Canada Day. Article content But the Sunday caucus meeting will also be an opportunity to discuss internal matters. Article content Liberals will have the opportunity to decide whether to adopt the Reform Act rules that would give them, amongst other things, the power to trigger a leadership review of their new leader, to expel or readmit a caucus member, or elect or remove a caucus chair. Article content Several MPs said it is nothing against Carney, but that the move is informed by the lack of formal processes they had to expel former prime minister Justin Trudeau last year. Article content Carney dodged questions about this possibility when asked about it a few days ago and simply said that these votes on the Reform Act will be taking place in caucus. Article content Article content Liberals will also have to decide who they will be supporting to run for Speaker. As of Friday, at least seven candidates — five Liberal MPs and two Conservative MPs — were in the running, but eligible MPs have until 6 p.m. to decide to remove their names. Article content Article content Carney, for his part, has a few busy weeks ahead of him after the start of the spring sitting. Article content Carney will be meeting with the country's premiers in Saskatoon on June 2, will be hosting U.S. President Donald Trump and other G7 leaders in Kananaskis, Alberta, from June 15 to 17, and will be attending the NATO Summit in the Netherlands from June 24 to 25. Article content
CBC
23-05-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Carney sets up throne speech
At Issue this week: Prime Minister Mark Carney sets the stage for a throne speech with a mandate letter outlining tasks and priorities for his cabinet. Canada looks beyond the U.S. for allies. And, Liberal MPs will soon decide whether to give themselves the powers to order leadership reviews.
