Hello, welcome to Politics Insider. Let’s look at what happened today.
Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a tax break on gas and diesel today and said his newly secured majority in the House of Commons will allow his government to move more quickly on economic priorities.
His announcement came the day after the Carney Liberals crossed the majority threshold Monday night, thanks to three by-election wins that followed five floor-crossings in recent months. Since November, 2025, one New Democrat and four Conservative MPs have decided to sit on the government side of the House of Commons.
Bill Curry, Ian Bailey and Stephanie Levitz report that the temporary tax break will begin April 20 and remain in place until Sept. 7. The government said it is expected to shave 10 cents per litre from the cost of regular gasoline and reduce the price of diesel by four cents per litre.
The measure is being presented as a response to rising energy prices caused by the conflict in the Middle East, which has dramatically reduced oil exports from the Strait of Hormuz.
Higher energy prices mean higher tax revenue for the federal government. The temporary tax break is expected to cost about $2.4-billion, which the Prime Minister said will be covered by the increased tax revenues.
Carney said he spent Monday evening working with colleagues on additional measures to be announced in a coming spring fiscal update rather than celebrating that night’s sweep of three by-elections.
“It’s time to be serious,” he said.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre responded to the by-election results with a speech in the House of Commons today during debate on a motion from his party that proposed a deeper gas tax cut that would last the entire year.
During his speech, Poilievre said the Prime Minister has “manufactured a costly majority” that had been rejected by Canadians in the last general election.
As for the Liberal gas tax announcement, Mr. Poilievre said it was “not good enough” because the government will only be returning a fraction of the increased gas-tax-related revenue Ottawa is collecting.
In other news, Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne will release a spring economic update on Tuesday, April 28.
Bill Curry reports that the minister announced the date during Question Period today. Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Carney said the update will include additional policy measures to support Canadians.
“This is going to be a plan that is going to help families. It’s going to help our industry. It’s going to help our nation, Mr. Speaker, to prosper, and to obviously bring good news to Canadians across the nation,” Champagne said.
The government announced last year that it was reversing the traditional pattern of releasing a spring budget and a fall update.
Fiscal updates have historically been limited to updating the government’s revenue and spending forecasts in light of economic trends and recent announcements. However in recent years, they have often included significant new spending and are sometimes referred to as mini budgets.
Champagne’s Nov. 4 budget projected a deficit of $78.3-billion for the fiscal year that ended March 31 and a deficit of $65.4-billion for the current fiscal year.
Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
What else is going on
B.C. marks tenth anniversary of toxic-drug crisis as a public health emergency: Former provincial health officer Perry Kendall declared the emergency on April 14, 2016, in response to a surge in overdose deaths, driven by the growing presence of illicit fentanyl.
Record $410 million deficit projected in P.E.I. budget: Finance Minister Jill Burridge introduced the budget with a deficit that’s more than double the $184-million deficit the Progressive Conservative government tabled last spring, which was a record at the time.
Ontario overhauls MAID oversight committee: The changes are aimed at narrowing the committee membership, scaling back its scope and shifting its role away from independent oversight.
B.C. Premier backs down on confidence vote over Indigenous rights law: David Eby backed off a loyalty test for his New Democratic Party caucus that could have triggered a provincial election this spring, abandoning a commitment to put contentious amendments to Indigenous rights law to a confidence vote.
For two Muslim teachers, the saga of Bill 21 is personal as well as political: For Nadia Naqvi and Fatima Ahmad, a Quebec secularism law was not the first time that change in the province upended their public lives.
Food insecurity in focus: How a small-town parent struggles to find their kids’ next meal. Jessie Exner would not be able to feed their two kids without the food bank, even with multiple part-time jobs, working more than 40 hours a week.
On our radar
Prime Minister’s Day: On Parliament Hill, Mark Carney announced a tax break on gas and diesel. Later, he joined Finnish President Alexander Stubb to participate in a practice with the Ottawa Charge pro ice-hockey team that competes in the Professional Women’s Hockey League. Carney then welcomed Stubb to Parliament Hill for a meeting. Later in the afternoon, Carney met with Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew, who led a business delegation from his province to the nation’s capital. In the evening, he hosted a working dinner for Stubb.
Carney’s office also said he spoke with Micheál Martin, the Taoiseach, or prime minister, of Ireland about the relationship between the two countries. Carney also spoke with the President of Chile, José Antonio Kast, congratulating Kast on his inauguration last month and discussing partnerships across key sectors.
Party Leaders: At the House of Commons, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet held a news conference. Green Party Leader Elizabeth May attended the Commons and later the Holocaust Remembrance ceremony hosted by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs at the National Holocaust Monument. NDP Leader Avi Lewis was among the speakers at a Parliament Hill news conference on barriers preventing Palestinian students from Gaza from accessing post-secondary education in Canada. No schedule released for Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.
Ministers on the Road: International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu is in China, visiting Guangzhou to meet with business leaders and investors.
GG and Finland’s president: Governor General Mary Simon met with Alexander Stubb, the president of Finland at Rideau Hall.
Poilievre communications director: Micah Green is the new communications director to federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre following the recent exit of Katy Merrifield. “I’m grateful for the opportunity and for the trust that’s been placed in me,” Green, a former communications manger in Poilievre’s office, said in a posting on X.
Quote of the Day
“Can I take back my previous answer? No, I’m just kidding. That’s a joke.” – Prime Minister Mark Carney, during a news conference on Parliament Hill today, replied to a journalist who told him that Conservative Leader had called the Prime Minister, a former governor of the banks of Canada and the United Kingdom, “badly educated in economics.” This came following a question about whether Carney felt that Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre should step down, to which the Prime Minister responded that the question was unfair, he couldn’t look into the heart of the opposition leader and that he respected him as a politician.
Question period
There were three by-elections on Monday. However, this is not the most federal by-elections held on one day in Canadian political history. What is the record number of by-elections held in one day?
Scroll to the bottom of this newsletter for the answer.
Perspectives
Why Pierre Poilievre might quietly welcome the new Liberal majority
The greatest gift a Liberal majority affords Mr. Poilievre is time. With national polling where it is currently, and where it has been for the last several months, the Conservatives are in no position to wage a successful election campaign, which is an omnipresent threat looming over any minority government.
— Robyn Urback, Columnist
Have any lessons been learned from B.C’s toxic drug emergency, 10 years later?
“This is, frankly, a crisis,” Dr. Perry Kendall, B.C.’s provincial health officer, said as he announced that, owing to a troubling surge in drug overdoses and deaths, he was declaring a public health emergency.
— André Picard, health reporter and columnist.
By-elections start Phase 2 of the Carney government
The second phase of Mark Carney’s government now begins. It has a majority in the House of Commons, and that allows it to look further ahead.
— Campbell Clark, Chief Political Writer
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
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The answer to today’s question: It’s complicated. According to the Library of Parliament, the record number is 15. That peak was reached three times, with that number of by-elections on Nov. 2, 1926, Aug. 25, 1930, and Oct. 16, 1978.