People cross Wellington Street on their way to Parliament Hill, a day before the return of the House of Commons, on Sunday.Justin Tang/The Canadian Press
The House of Commons resumes sitting on Monday for the first time since late June, with trade tensions, the sluggish economy, housing and crime expected to dominate ahead of the release of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s first federal budget.
Canada’s response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff policies remains one of the top political issues, along with the related consequences for the Canadian economy in the form of rising unemployment and struggles for key affected sectors such as steel, aluminum and autos.
Canada’s economy is also facing high tariffs from China, prompting pain for canola farmers in Western Canada.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre will be back in the House after winning a by-election in the Alberta riding of Battle River–Crowfoot. He had to stay on the sidelines during the May to June sitting after losing his seat in the Ontario riding of Carleton in the April 28 general election.
Here’s a look at the top issues on the federal agenda and what to expect from the main political parties.
What has Parliament achieved so far?
Canada’s 45th Parliament opened on May 26 for a brief four-week sitting. There were no sitting days prior to that in 2025 because former prime minister Justin Trudeau prorogued Parliament in order to allow time for the Liberal Party to conduct a leadership race to select his replacement.
Having won the leadership, Mr. Carney opted to call an election rather than meet the House, where opposition parties were threatening to bring down the government.
As a result, the House is on track this year to have the fewest sitting days in nearly a century. It could sit for just 73 days. While the number of sitting days is typically lower during election years, that would be the fewest since 1937.
During that four-week sitting, the government’s main legislative accomplishment was the adoption of Bill C-5, which included the Building Canada Act. It aims to deliver on a major campaign theme by eliminating federal barriers to interprovincial trade and sets up a system to fast-track “nation-building” infrastructure projects.
What federal Bill C-5, the One Canadian Economy Act, is all about
The Commons also approved two bills related to routine spending and a Bloc Québécois bill expressing support for supply management.
Beyond that, five other government bills made little progress after they were introduced. They include:
- C-2, the Strong Borders Act, a border-security bill that is facing civil-liberties concerns
- C-3 on citizenship
- C-4, a tax-related bill that faced criticism for the inclusion of unrelated changes that would shield federal political parties from provincial privacy laws
- C-8 related to cybersecurity
The government also introduced S-2 in the Senate, a government bill that would update the Indian Act’s registration rules. Debate on these bills will continue this fall.
What is the status of Bill C-5 on major projects?
Two of the big issues for the government over the summer were managing the next phases of implementing Bill C-5 and attempting to improve Canada’s trade relationship with the United States.
On C-5, the Prime Minister met with premiers and Indigenous leaders to discuss potential infrastructure projects. Many Indigenous leaders have expressed strong concern with the quick passage of C-5 and say that the bill could weaken Indigenous rights. The government insists that Indigenous views will be taken into account and has expressed a desire to support projects that involve Indigenous corporate partners.
Bill C-5, approved by Parliament in June, brought in the Building Canada Act. It allows the government to designate specific projects as being in the national interest, meaning they can then qualify for a faster approval process. Inclusion on the list does not necessarily mean the project would receive public funding from the federal government.
The process will be overseen by a new Major Projects Office. The government recently announced that it will be based in Calgary and led by veteran energy executive Dawn Farrell. She is a former president and chief executive officer of Trans Mountain, who oversaw the completion of the pipeline project linking Alberta and the B.C. coast.
On Thursday in Edmonton, the Prime Minister announced the first five projects that will be submitted to this fast-tracking process and signalled that several more will be announced by mid-November.
Where are things at with Donald Trump, Canada-U.S. trade talks and tariffs?
On trade, Mr. Carney, his ministers and senior aides held numerous conversations with their U.S. counterparts over the summer in an effort to persuade Mr. Trump to withdraw the series of tariffs his government has imposed on various Canadian imports.
However, Canada was unsuccessful in reaching a deal by an Aug. 1 deadline. The President then moved immediately to sign an executive order that raised previously imposed tariffs to 35 per cent from 25 per cent. Products that meet the rules outlined in the United States-Mexico-Canada free-trade agreement, known as USMCA, remain exempt.
Mr. Carney has since stressed that, as a result, about 85 per cent of Canadian imports to the U.S. are tariff-free. He said Canada continues to negotiate with the aim of reaching small, targeted deals to address the specific sectors that are still targeted by U.S. tariffs. He said Canada is also preparing for a renegotiation of USMCA in the coming months.
What bills are expected to be introduced?
In addition to the bills already before Parliament, the government has hinted at a few more on the horizon.
During a recent news conference in the Greater Toronto Area, Mr. Carney said his government will introduce legislation next month to tighten Canada’s bail system.
He said the goal is to make sure that people who are accused of violent crimes such as gun offences, home invasions and auto thefts “pay the price they should” with consecutive sentences. He said those individuals should not be in a position “where they commit a crime one day and they’re arrested and then out of jail, out on bail the next.”
But some criminal-defence lawyers have said legislation in recent decades has already made it more difficult for people – accused but not yet convicted of crimes, and so presumed innocent – to be released pending their trials.
The Conservatives have long called on the government to tighten bail rules and Ontario Premier Doug Ford has also been pressing Ottawa to take action.
Justice Minister Sean Fraser is also planning to introduce bubble zones to protect places of worship, schools and community centres from harassment by protesters.
The proposed bill would make it a criminal offence to intentionally obstruct access to places of worship, schools and community centres, and to criminalize intimidation and threats against those attending them.
Some advocates say the zones should be extended to protect other targeted groups, such as families attending children’s drag story times in libraries.
Mr. Fraser is also expected to bring in legislation related to online harms, but it is not clear yet what form that will take in light of the strong criticism the Liberals faced related to previous efforts to legislate against harmful content online.
When will we see a budget and what will it look like?
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne has said he will table a federal budget in October, but no date has yet been announced.
A few months ago, the Liberal Party’s campaign platform released in April would have been widely assumed to be a reasonable guide of what the 2025 budget will look like. But now observers aren’t so sure.
One of the biggest changes since the spring was Mr. Carney’s decision to join NATO colleagues in committing Canada to spend tens of billions of dollars more on defence. NATO members agreed to spend 3.5 per cent of GDP on defence by 2035 and 1.5 per cent on related spending, such as critical infrastructure.
For context, Canada has consistently failed to meet NATO’s previous target of 2 per cent of GDP, though Mr. Carney said that target will be met this year after a major boost to defence spending that includes new equipment, pay raises for the military and more support for Ukraine.
Another big unknown is just how serious Mr. Carney is about cutting spending. He recently said that the 2025 budget will include both “austerity” and investment.
Cabinet ministers received a directive in July to find “ambitious” internal savings that add up to 15-per-cent reductions in program spending by the third year of the review exercise. No details have yet been released in terms of what will be cut.
What will Pierre Poilievre and the Conservatives focus on?
The Conservative Leader outlined his priorities for the fall sitting over a series of recent news conferences and an open letter to the Prime Minister.
Mr. Poilievre’s main criticism of the Carney government is that its rhetoric in areas like getting big things built or finding savings has not been backed up with concrete action.
The Conservatives’ top four priorities, according to Mr. Poilievre’s letter, will be cost-of-living concerns, job losses, crime and immigration.
“Our goal is to bring down costs, lock up criminals, hit the brakes on immigration, get shovels digging and deliver paycheques in pockets,” he wrote.
The Conservatives have 144 seats in the House of Commons. The Liberals have 169.
What should we expect from the Bloc Québécois?
Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet gathered with his caucus in Quebec City ahead of Parliament’s return.
During a news conference, he criticized the Liberal government’s economic management. He pointed to outside estimates that the size of the federal deficit for the current fiscal year could climb to around $90-billion, up from the $48.3-billion projected in the government’s December fiscal update.
“It’s pure madness,” he said.
As for specifics in the coming session, Mr. Blanchet said his party will put forward a bill that would exempt Quebec from the federal Multiculturalism Act.
With respect to whether the Bloc would demand concessions in exchange for supporting the next federal budget, Mr. Blanchet said it was too soon to say. He did express concern with the government’s decision to scale back Canadian countertariffs on U.S. imports, saying it will worsen the deficit and could lead to deeper spending cuts that will affect vulnerable citizens.
Mr. Blanchet said the Bloc will be a reasonable and responsible opposition party.
“We will be open to discussion, but with conditions and without compromise on Quebec’s interests,” he said. The Bloc holds 22 of the 343 seats in the House of Commons.
What are the NDP’s priorities as it launches a leadership race?
The NDP was reduced to just seven seats after the April election, five short of the 12 required for official party status.
As a result, the New Democrats are only allotted a handful of questions each week in Question Period and the party does not have official standing in House of Commons committees.
The party announced on Sept. 2 that it officially launched a leadership race. The winner will be announced in Winnipeg on March 29, 2026, as part of the NDP’s national convention.
In the previous minority Parliament, the Liberals often relied on the NDP for support on budgets and other key votes.
After a caucus retreat on Vancouver Island, NDP interim leader Don Davies expressed concern with signals from Mr. Carney that he is planning to bring in an austerity budget.
“This is not the time to slash services and force workers to pay the price,” Mr. Davies said in a statement. The NDP said it will be focusing on jobs, housing, infrastructure and pharmacare when MPs return to Ottawa.
With reports from Laura Stone and Marie Woolf