Hello, welcome to Politics Insider. Let’s look at what happened today.
Prime Minister Mark Carney will put his personal stamp on the federal government Tuesday with the unveiling of his new cabinet at Rideau Hall.
Governor-General Mary Simon’s office confirmed the timing in an announcement today.
The revamped cabinet follows a federal election campaign in which the Liberal Party fell just a few seats short of forming a majority government.
Carney has promised to lead a government that is more focused on economic matters than that of his predecessor, Justin Trudeau.
On March 14, after winning the Liberal leadership, the former central banker named a 23-member cabinet in addition to himself. That was smaller than Trudeau’s cabinet, which reached a 40-member peak last year.
Carney has said he will have an equal number of men and women in his postelection cabinet.
Meanwhile, interim NDP leader Don Davies says his party is in “very early” discussions with Carney‘s government about being granted official party status in the House of Commons.
The NDP was reduced to seven seats in the recent general election, short of the 12-seat threshold for official party status – an outcome Davies said “no one really foresaw.”
The Prime Minister’s Office declined to comment on any discussions with the NDP.
Parties that lack official status lose out on financial resources provided by Parliament, get to ask fewer questions in Question Period and do not have guaranteed spots on standing committees.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has said he will have an equal number of men and women in his postelection cabinet.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
What else is going on
U.S. tariffs begin to squeeze Canada’s labour market, jobless rate rises to 6.9%: Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey on Friday said employment increased by 7,400 jobs nationally, though that figure was padded by an increase in election-related hiring. The overall unemployment rate rose to 6.9 per cent, up from 6.7 per cent in April.
Canada won’t sacrifice USMCA or vital sectors for quick deal with Trump: envoy: Kirsten Hillman, speaking two days after Prime Minister Mark Carney’s White House visit with the U.S. President, said the federal government is eager to see the removal of U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods but not in a deal that sacrifices “stability and a fair arrangement” for various industries.
Indigenous community files $200-million lawsuit against Ottawa over unclean drinking water: Pikangikum First Nation, near the town of Red Lake, is asking the Federal Court of Canada to require the federal government to pay a $200-million lump sum into a trust that can be used to provide emergency potable water, sewage and fire prevention services.
New Democrats say they want leadership race rules to ensure multiple serious candidates, shorter contest: Nathan Cullen, a former MP and British Columbia cabinet minister who finished third in the federal NDP’s 2012 leadership race, says the party will have to find a middle ground in its rules.
On our radar
Prime Minister’s Day: No schedule released.
Party Leaders: No schedules released.
Question period
The Prime Minister and the premiers are holding a First Ministers’ Meeting in Saskatoon next month. Who convened the very first such meeting in Canadian history?
Scroll to the bottom of this newsletter for the answer.
Perspectives
Mr. Carney’s hinge moment is finally here
He needs now to deliver a Throne Speech that is as historic and transformational as the hinge moment he keeps telling Canadians they are in.
— The Globe and Mail Editorial Board
How Meighen and King survived Pierre Poilievre’s seatless dilemma
Given Mr. Poilievre’s supreme confidence and brash style, and the fact that his Conservatives won 20 more seats than they did in 2019, he seems far more likely to be a Meighen than a King. He, too, does not appear to grasp King’s basic political tenet: That “in a country like ours it is particularly true that the art of government is largely one of seeking to reconcile rather than to exaggerate differences – to come as near as may be possible to the happy mean.” Mr. Poilievre’s attack-dog shtick is sure to continue.
— Allan Levine is a historian and the author of King: A Life Guided by the Hand of Destiny. His next book, The Dollar-A-Year Men: How the Best Business Brains in Canada Helped to Win the Second World War, will be published in October.
Forget ‘Buy Canadian.’ ‘Travel Canadian’ is actually making a difference
The combination of fear, anger and resentment (plus, a weak exchange rate) has clearly disincentivized Canada-to-U.S. travel over the past several months, but this summer will be the true test.
— Robyn Urback, Columnist
Go deeper
- Follow along for our stories on Canada-U.S. relations as news develops
- Like a long read? Check out the fall of Justin Trudeau and the making of Pierre Poilievre
- 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
Got a news tip that you’d like us to look into? E-mail us at tips@globeandmail.com. Need to share documents securely? Reach out via SecureDrop.
The answer to today’s question: Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the Liberal prime minister from 1896 to 1911, convened the first-ever meeting of first ministers in Ottawa from Oct. 8-13, 1906. Laurier called the meeting at the request of the provinces. The key topic at the first such meeting since Confederation was financial subsidies to the provinces. Premiers around the table included J.P. Whitney for Ontario, Lomer Gouin for Quebec and Richard McBride for British Columbia.