Hello, welcome to Politics Insider. Let’s look at what happened today.
The federal Liberals touted their government’s survival following a close-call vote to approve the budget that went their way.
“The winners yesterday were Canadians, and we’re obviously very pleased with the outcome,” Government House Leader Steven Mackinnon told journalists ahead of today’s cabinet meeting.
“I think the minority Parliament’s working. We just passed a budget.”
As Bill Curry and Stephanie Levitz reported, the budget passed due to a handful of MPs abstaining from voting and Green Party MP Elizabeth May supporting the government after Prime Minister Mark Carney made a climate-change commitment.
Carney’s first budget as Prime Minister includes more than $140-billion in new spending over five years, focused on attracting investments in big infrastructure projects. The Conservatives and Bloc Québécois pointed to the budget’s $78.3-billion deficit as a main reason for opposing the plan.
The budget motion passed in a 170-168 vote Monday evening. Had it not passed, Canada would have faced its second federal election this year.
Two Conservative MPs, Matt Jeneroux and Shannon Stubbs, did not vote. Neither did two NDP MPs, Lori Idlout and Gord Johns.
Globe and Mail columnist Andrew Coyne noted that Conservative House leader Andrew Scheer and caucus chair Scott Reid waited until it was clear the budget would pass before rushing into the House.
Coyne wrote that the pair claimed they had been prevented from voting electronically, owing to a “technical difficulty” with the requisite app, and demanded to have their “no” votes recorded.
Today, a further confidence vote related to the budget passed on division, meaning there was no formal recorded vote.
Ahead of a cabinet meeting Tuesday, Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said that the government had done its best in the budget to meet Canadian expectations.
In other news today, Swedish defence company Saab is intensifying its campaign to secure Canadian aircraft sales by offering to build the entire GlobalEye military surveillance plane in Canada if the Department of National Defence orders it.
Eric Reguly reports that David Moden, senior sales director for the GlobalEye, says building the entire aircraft in Canada would create 3,000 jobs.
“We are offering a made-in-Canada solution by building and installing the plane’s sensors there,” he said during an interview at the Saab factory in Linköping, in southern Sweden,
The promise comes as Sweden’s king and queen are on a visit to Ottawa and Montreal this week with senior Swedish government ministers, including the defence minister, along for the trip.
Saab has previously committed to generate 10,000 new Canadian jobs if the defence department were to buy the Saab Gripen fighter jet, which would be entirely built in Canada.
Elsewhere, Canada, the United States and Finland have laid out a plan to collaborate on building new icebreakers to resupply their aging fleets.
Steven Chase reports that the effort is a sign of ongoing co-operation between Ottawa and Washington despite stalled trade talks.
Canadian ambassador to the U.S. Kirsten Hillman, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Finland’s Minister of Economic Affairs, Sakari Puisto, signed a joint statement of intent in Washington today, vowing co-operation on the polar vessels.
The statement effectively resurrects a Biden-era initiative – the Icebreaker Collaboration Effort, or ICE, Pact – which U.S. President Donald Trump had dismissed shortly before taking office in January.
Prime Minister Mark Carney and Minister of Finance Francois-Philippe Champagne applaud after a confidence vote on the federal budget passes in the House of Commons on Monday.Blair Gable/Reuters
What else is going on
Union leaders seek details on federal job cuts: Two weeks after the federal government announced budget plans to eliminate tens of thousands of public service jobs, union leaders say they are still in the dark about how the cuts will play out.
Alberta to allow doctors to deliver public and private services: Confidential draft legislation obtained by The Globe and Mail indicates that Premier Danielle Smith’s government wants to establish a model for medicine unlike any in the country.
Officials won’t say if Carney will raise arms shipments during Abu Dhabi visit: As he heads to the United Arab Emirates today, Prime Minister Mark Carney is being urged to put pressure on the government to halt its alleged weapons shipments to the powerful militia that has killed thousands of civilians in the Darfur region of western Sudan.
CRTC expands Canadian content definition: The move by Canada’s broadcasting regulator is part of an update designed to support the creative industry as it contends with competition from global streamers.
Canadians providing facial reconstruction surgery to Ukrainian soldiers: Three and a half years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, some soldiers have been left unrecognizable by their wounds.
Top general plans reserves’ expansion for disasters, military attacks: The Chief of the Defence Staff says Canada is taking inspiration from Finland, which has a reserve force of close to 900,000 citizens.
Canada’s research, scientific spending declining: A report issued today by the Council of Canadian Academies finds investment in Canadian R&D is historically weak and is also continuing to decline at an accelerating rate relative to global competitors.
On our radar
Prime Minister’s Day: After a cabinet meeting, Mark Carney attended a welcome ceremony for King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden, who are visiting Ottawa and Montreal through to Thursday. In the evening, he was scheduled to attend a state dinner in honour of the royal couple. Later in the evening, Carney departed for Abu Dhabi. The Prime Minister is travelling through to next Monday, meeting with the president of the United Arab Emirates and business leaders on economic partnerships with Canada, then going to Johannesburg for the G20 Leaders Summit.
Party Leaders: Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-François Blanchet held a news conference on Parliament Hill. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre attended Question Period. No schedules released for other party leaders.
Ministers involved in Swedish royal visit: As the Swedish royal couple visit Canada, federal cabinet ministers are connecting with Swedish government ministers along for the trip. Defence Minister David McGuinty is to meet Wednesday with Sweden’s Defence Minister Pal Jonson. Also Wednesday, Industry Minister Mélanie Joly will participate in an armchair discussion with Ebba Busch, Sweden’s deputy prime minister.
Drones over Ottawa: Downtown Ottawa near Parliament Hill will be the site of a military effort later this month to detect drones. The defence department announced the Nov. 24 to 28 effort in a statement today. It said the trials will test detection technologies against small drones in a complex urban environment. The department said there is no risk to the public.
Quote of the Day
“Each time someone wants a government to give them something, they come with promises. We have seen that those promises come and go as roses in spring so the deal has to be clear, steel hard to be trustworthy. But I want to believe that at some point in time, every government, Quebec, Canada and every other government will start telling all those companies, ‘OK. It’s over. If you promise something, you deliver it. If you get a cheque and you don’t deliver what you have promised, you give back the money.’ But I want to trust new partners who might want to do good business with us.” - Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-François Blanchet, during a news conference on Parliament Hill today, on the prospect of Sweden’s defence company, Saab, creating 10,000 jobs in Canada by building their Gripen fighter jet in this country.
Question period
Mark Carney’s first budget - and Carney’s government - have survived a confidence vote in the House of Commons. In 2005, the Liberal government led by prime minister Paul Martin survived a confidence vote that came down to the decision of single MP. What was that MP’s riding?
Scroll to the bottom of this newsletter for the answer.
Perspectives
Canadians’ lack of appetite for an election means smooth sailing for Carney’s first budget
The snap election has been called off for lack of enthusiasm.
— Campbell Clark, Chief Political Writer
Canada’s 2025 budget delivers on defence spending – but the devil will be in the details.
Since becoming Prime Minister, Mark Carney has made defence a priority in a way Canada has not seen in decades. And while the overall reactions to his first federal budget have been mixed as to whether it was as game-changing as the government had promised, it is genuinely transformational in its support for Canada’s military.
— David Perry is the president and CEO of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute
The catcher on the hill: Carney’s budget pads the nest but forces Canada to fly
There’s a passage in J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye that comes to mind when considering Canada’s latest federal budget. Watching young people at play, the protagonist Holden Caulfield reflects: “And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff – I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going, I have to come out from somewhere and catch them.”
— Robert Pattillo has served as chief communications officer at major Canadian corporations such as Scotiabank, Sunlife and the Toronto Stock Exchange. He is now an independent strategist.
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: Surrey North. The member was B.C. MP Chuck Cadman, a member of the Canadian Alliance who was re-elected as an independent after losing the nomination race in his riding. Cadman cast the deciding vote on May. 18, 2005. He died on July 9, 2005, aged 57 from malignant melanoma.