Hello, welcome to Politics Insider. Let’s look at what happened today.
The House of Commons will hold its first budget-related vote this evening, which the Liberal government says will be a confidence matter.
Should a government be defeated on a confidence matter, the result is typically a federal election.
However, Bill Curry reports that the government is expected to survive tonight’s vote on a Conservative motion, which the Bloc Québécois and NDP say they will vote against.
The House is debating a government motion calling on MPs to approve the Liberals’ budgetary policy.
On Thursday evening, MPs will vote on a Conservative sub-amendment to a Bloc Québécois amendment to the government motion. On Friday, the House will vote on the Bloc amendment before MPs leave Ottawa for a one-week recess to mark Remembrance Day.
Mark Kennedy, a spokesperson for Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon, told The Globe and Mail both votes are considered confidence votes, “as these motions both explicitly reject the budget.”
The traditional procedure for debating a budget involves the leader of the official opposition moving an amendment to the government’s budget motion. Then, the second-largest opposition party moves a sub-amendment.
However, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre did not move an amendment after his budget speech Wednesday and Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet quickly took his spot.
In other news, Ontario is projecting a slightly smaller deficit for this year, despite the economic drag of U.S. tariffs, while pledging more money to help businesses find new markets and promising to develop a “tax action plan,” the province said today in its fall fiscal update.
Jeff Gray and Laura Stone report that Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy said the province now expects a deficit in 2025-26 of $13.5-billion, down $1.1-billion from the $14.6-billion in red ink predicted in his May budget.
Ontario does not plan to balance the books until 2027-28.
Bethlenfalvy said his plan is to cut red tape and invest in infrastructure to make the province more attractive to international investors, despite the trade barriers erected by Washington.
Also today, Canada’s highest court has rejected an attempt by farmers in southeastern British Columbia to stop a planned cull of more than 300 of their ostriches by the federal food regulator after a bird-flu outbreak on the site nearly a year ago.
Mike Hager reports that the Supreme Court of Canada released a brief notice of rejection today.
As is its practice, the court did not explain the reasoning behind its refusal to hear an appeal sought by Universal Ostrich Farms Inc., located near Edgewood, B.C.
Now, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is free to restart a cull it began prepping for in September, which was paused when the farmers won a rare emergency stay from the Supreme Court after a loss this summer in the Federal Court of Appeal.
The execution order from last New Year’s Eve has long roiled the farmers and their online army of supporters, which includes U.S. figures such as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former television personality Mehmet Oz, now the administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
On Thursday evening, MPs will vote on a Conservative sub-amendment to a Bloc Québécois amendment to the government’s budget motion.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
What else is going on
Chrétien criticizes premiers’ quick use of notwithstanding clause: The former prime minister, who, as justice minister, negotiated the clause’s inclusion in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1981, told an event in Toronto that provinces are using it “for anything” 40 years later.
Supreme Court agrees to hear appeal of Sask. school pronoun case: The court’s move adds a broader national scope to legal questions already in motion in the landmark Quebec secularism case.
Edwards wins Governor-General’s fiction award: Anishinaabe journalist Kyle Edwards’s novel Small Ceremonies, about a high-school hockey team in north-end Winnipeg, is the author’s debut.
Ontario to ban exclusivity deals between insurers, pharmacies: A bill is in the works to ban closed preferred pharmacy networks, a kind of exclusivity deal between insurers and pharmacies that restricts where patients can buy medication.
Watchdog raises concerns about carbon-capture tax credits: As Ottawa moves to spend billions more on tax credits to support carbon capture and storage projects, Canada’s environment commissioner says the money already earmarked has not been spent effectively.
David Common new Morning Live host: CBC has found a proven morning person to take over from Morning Live host Heather Hiscox, who retired today after fronting the CBC News Network program for 20 years.
The federal budget
Carney bullish on $1-trillion in investment: The Prime Minister says the federal budget’s declaration that it will spur $1-trillion in total investment over five years is likely an understatement.
On our radar
Prime Minister’s Day: Mark Carney toured an Ottawa-area construction site to highlight budget measures to increase the housing supply, and later met with health care providers to highlight new budget investments for health care infrastructure, workers and services. In the afternoon, Carney attended Question Period.
Party Leaders: Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet participated in Question Period. In Quebec City, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre spoke to the Quebec Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Green Party Leader Elizabeth May attended Parliament in person and did media interviews on the budget. No schedules released for interim NDP leader Don Davies.
On Friday, Poilievre is scheduled to deliver an economic keynote speech to the Economic Club of Canada in Toronto, responding to the federal budget. Poilievre will also participate in a fireside chat.
Ministers on the Road: On Friday, Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne is scheduled to participate in an armchair discussion at an event hosted by MaRS, focused on federal-budget measures.
G7 foreign ministers’ meeting: Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand announced today that Australia, Brazil, India, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, South Korea, South Africa and Ukraine will be among countries joining the meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Niagara from Nov. 11 to 12.
Quote of the Day
“On climate? F. It is a budget that abandons our future generations. It’s an immoral budget. It’s a budget that’s geared to beat Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill, to provide more incentive to large transnationals, and it shovels money hand over fist to billionaires while ignoring the needs of Canadians.” – Green Party Leader Elizabeth May grades the federal budget in a scrum with journalists after Question Period.
Question period
This week’s move by Nova Scotia MP Chris d’Entremont to depart the federal Conservative caucus and join the Liberals has put House of Commons floor crossing in the spotlight. How many MPs have crossed the floor since Confederation in 1867?
Scroll to the bottom of this newsletter for the answer.
Perspectives
The latest U.S. elections give Democrats – and Canada – something to cheer about
The biggest issue in the races, exit polls showed, was cost of living, and the results were widely interpreted as a stern rebuke to Mr. Trump’s tariffs on Canada and other countries, which have contributed to keeping prices at American counters high.
— Lawrence Martin, Public Affairs Columnist
France and Britain are in a fiscal mess. Can Canada avoid their fate?
Compared to France and Britain, Canada’s fiscal situation looks practically rosy. Despite big increases in defence and capital spending laid out in Tuesday’s budget, the federal deficit is projected to rise to 2.5 per cent of GDP in the current fiscal year and decline to 1.5 per cent by 2030. The net-debt-to-GDP ratio is set to increase slightly to about 43 per cent by then.
— Konrad Yakabuski, Columnist
Ottawa’s new immigration plan risks lowering Canada’s quality of life
By unveiling immigration targets within the budget, Ottawa signalled it was serious about tying population growth to economic policy and performance. While there are encouraging signs – investments in productivity, competitiveness and infrastructure – the ambition falters in execution and integration. Because population growth and economic policy continue to move on separate tracks.
— Lisa Lalande is chief executive of the Century Initiative.
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: More than 300, with the first being Stewart Campbell of Nova Scotia, who, in 1868, left the Anti-Confederates for the Liberal-Conservatives under Sir John A. Macdonald.