Hello, welcome to Politics Insider. Let’s look at what happened today.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced the first five major projects that will be reviewed for fast-track approval under Ottawa’s Bill C-5.
Mr. Carney said he’s also working with Alberta on a carbon capture and storage project that could ultimately lead to a new oil pipeline.
The Prime Minister released the list in Edmonton, where Liberal MPs are gathered for a caucus retreat before the House of Commons returns Monday from its summer recess.
Bill Curry, Stephanie Levitz and Temur Durrani report that the five projects referred to a new Major Projects Office are the LNG Canada Phase 2 project at Kitimat, B.C.; modular reactors at Ontario’s existing Darlington Nuclear Generating Station; an expansion by the Port of Montreal in the southwestern Quebec city of Contrecoeur; Saskatchewan’s Foran McIlvenna Bay copper mine project; and the Red Chris Copper and Gold Mine expansion in B.C.
“The definition of fast has changed dramatically. This country is open for business,” Carney said.
All five were part of a draft list of 32 projects obtained by The Globe and Mail.
Also today, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said she is hopeful that a pipeline will be part of a second tranche of projects announced “well before” the end of this year.
At an unrelated news conference in Edmonton, Smith asked Albertans to be patient. Her meeting with Carney this week was more encouraging than with previous federal governments, she said, adding that he really understands the issues Alberta has put forward.
“When I looked at the first five projects, I thought, ‘Finally, they get it.’ Because it’s all the projects that have been difficult to build,” she said Thursday. “It’s mining projects, it’s LNG Canada. And I think that that demonstrates a real shift in the focus of this government.”
Also today, a new report analyzing foreign influence online has found that a small number of TikTok accounts dominated political discourse on the social media platform during Canada’s general election campaign, with U.S. influencers playing a big role.
Marie Woolf reports that the study by Reset Tech, a global non-profit, found that 100 TikTok accounts – including some that were politically partisan – generated almost two-thirds of viral political views during the campaign leading up to the April 28 vote.
Prime Minister Mark Carney visited a carpentry school in Edmonton before announcing the five projects for fast-track review on Thursday.AMBER BRACKEN/The Canadian Press
What else is going on
Poilievre promises bail-reform bill: Federal Conservative Leader says his party will introduce a bill this fall that would make it harder for people accused of certain crimes to get bail.
South Korean shipyard sweetens pitch: Hanwha Ocean is floating various industrial and technological collaborations as it tries to sell Canada on its KSS-III attack submarine, a lithium-ion-powered model.
Barrie mayor declares state of emergency: Alex Nuttall said the residents of his city of nearly 150,000 people north of Toronto “have had enough” of what he described as “lawlessness” at homeless encampments.
Quebec Premier shuffles cabinet: One year away from the general election and deeply unpopular with the electorate, François Legault has also promised to present a new vision for the province’s economy.
Carney to restrict access to fundraisers: The move to no longer open all of his speeches at fundraising events to the media is a break from the practice under the Justin Trudeau Liberal government.
On our radar
Prime Minister’s Day: Mark Carney is in Edmonton this week for a meeting of the federal Liberal caucus. In addition to attending the meeting today, Carney met with apprentices at a carpentry training centre and made an announcement on nation-building projects.
Party Leaders: Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet continues a visit to Washington to engage on U.S. tariffs and Quebec economic sectors. In the Toronto-area community of Woodbridge, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre announced that one of his MPs would introduce legislation to tighten bail when the House of Commons sits next week. In British Columbia, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May attended a round-table discussion on clean water in Saanich Inlet and was scheduled to hold an evening community meeting on Saturna Island.
Founding CEO of tax-research group: Veteran Ottawa journalist Heather Scoffield, who has served as Ottawa bureau chief for both The Canadian Press and the Toronto Star, has been named to the leadership role for the Canadian Tax Observatory. The Observatory, funded through philanthropic donors, will conduct research into Canada’s tax system. Most recently, Scoffield was senior vice-president of strategy at the Business Council of Canada.
Quote of the Day
“I found more common ground with the Prime Minister, when I met with him yesterday, than I have in any meeting with a prime minister.” – Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on talks with Mark Carney, in Edmonton this week, about the province’s priorities.
Question period
During an announcement in Edmonton today, Prime Minister Mark Carney said it was great to be back in the city that raised him. Which two schools did he attend in the Alberta capital?
Scroll to the bottom of this newsletter for the answer.
Perspectives
Charlie Kirk is a sick nation’s sacrifice
Mr. Kirk believed in an America that could tolerate even the most extreme forms of political speech; that the country’s institutions were robust enough to withstand even the most inflammatory political dialogue. His faith, it seems, was misguided. Mr. Kirk was assassinated at Utah Valley University Wednesday, at the age of 31. He leaves behind a wife and two children.
— Robyn Urback, columnist
Mark Carney is running the economy like a conservative. And that’s okay
Imagine waking up again in early 2025, before the April election. A candidate who you do not recognize steps to the podium and lays out his platform: axe the carbon tax, drop countertariffs on the United States in adherence to free-market doctrine, foster rapprochement with the oil and gas industry, and cancel the capital gains tax hike. Without knowing which party he stands for, you might be forgiven for thinking he is running for the Conservative Party. Alas, this is exactly the approach Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney has taken.
— Kevin Yin is a contributing columnist for The Globe and Mail and an economics doctoral student at the University of California, Berkeley
Is it hypocritical for the Conservatives to woo the working class? It may not really matter
The Conservatives, who aren’t in government and can thus ignore the pleas of boards of trade and the business lobby, can back workers all they want. At least for now, they won’t be asked to follow through as the executive decision makers, even if they have the power to shape policy direction in a Parliament with a minority government. And so, despite their own long-standing reputation as a thoroughly pro-business and anti-worker party, the Tories might just gain on this terrain.
— David Moscrop is a contributing columnist for The Globe and Mail
Go deeper
- Follow along for our stories on Canada-U.S. relations as news develops
- Get the latest insight and analysis from our political opinion writers
- Take a look at the history of immigration reporting and great political scandals from A Nation’s Paper, a book about The Globe and Mail’s role in Canadian history
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The answer to today’s question: St. Rose Catholic Junior High School and St. Francis Xavier High School. Carney was born in the Northwest Territories town of Fort Smith. His family subsequently moved to Yellowknife, then to Edmonton, where Carney grew up.