The Weekly Roundup - August 30, 2024
Liberal ministers descended on Halifax earlier this week for a pre-Parliament return cabinet retreat. The docket included discussions about housing, fairness and affordability, the middle class, immigration, and Canada-US relations. Despite the Liberals’ lagging polling numbers, cabinet ministers were quick to rally around the Prime Minister, with Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland assuring reporters that the Liberal cabinet has “tremendous confidence” in Justin Trudeau as the party’s leader.
Meanwhile, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is calling on NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh to pull out of the supply-and-confidence deal with the Liberals and force a “carbon tax election” this fall. NDP House Leader Peter Julian maintains that leaving the deal is always on the table, but that the NDP “fundamentally disagrees” with the Conservative’s plan.
In British Columbia where voters are scheduled to go to the polls this October, the political landscape saw a major change this week following the collapse of the BC United Party (formerly the BC Liberals). BC United leader Kevin Falcon announced that he would be suspending BC United’s election campaign and working with the BC Conservatives to have some BC United candidates run under the conservative’s banner.
Here are the other stories we’re following this week:
Top Federal Stories
1. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that his government would reduce the number of temporary foreign workers allowed into the country. The new rules include reducing the share of low-wage temporary foreign workers that an employer can hire, not processing applications to hire low-wage workers in areas where unemployment is above 6 per cent, and reducing the maximum time a worker can be employed through the low-wage stream.
The Liberal’s TFW program announcement is part of a larger initiative to reduce the number of temporary residents in Canada. Immigration Minister Marc Miller suggested more announcements would be coming in the fall. Not to be left out, Pierre Poilievre also took aim at the immigration system this week, saying that a future Conservative government would tie population growth to new home construction, healthcare capacity, and jobs.
2. Last week’s rail strike and lockout may be over, but that doesn’t mean the fight is. Teamsters, the union representing rail employees for Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Kansas City, is launching an appeal of Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon’s order to refer the dispute to binding arbitration. The union says the minister’s order sets a dangerous precedent that threatens workers’ constitutional right to collective bargaining and is seeking to have the order quashed by the Federal Court of Appeal.
Top Alberta Stories
1. In an announcement made to shore up party support, Premier Danielle Smith is proposing removing underperforming hospitals from Alberta Health Services and bringing in new operators such as Covenant Health. Smith says the move will improve health care delivery and eliminate service disruptions in rural hospitals by introducing competition and fear [of losing administration] into the existing system. NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi was quick to take aim at the proposal, saying the Premier is “making it up as they go along” and that it's “pretty scary”.
2. In keeping with the trend of speaking directly to the UCP base in advance of the early November leadership review, Premier Smith told a UCP townhall that the province is creating a new policing force from Alberta Sherriffs. However, in response to the Premier’s comments, Finance Minister Nate Horner said that “no decisions have been made that I’m aware of.”
Top Ontario Stories
1. In another sign that Ontarians may be headed to the polls for an early election, the governing Progressive Conservative Party will begin nominating candidates and is making calls to sitting Ministers about whether they plan to run again. Both the official opposition NDP, and third-place Liberals have begun nomination processes for their candidates. Ontario Liberal supporters will meet in London in September for the party’s AGM, and leader Bonnie Crombie will likely want to be on stage with nominated candidates to demonstrate the party’s readiness under her leadership to take on Doug Ford’s conservatives.
2. Energy Minister Stephen Lecce announced Ontario is looking to procure an additional 5,000 megawatts of energy supply to meet demand in the coming decades. While the government is “technology-agnostic” about what kind of energy resources they may procure (the PC’s way of waying they are looking at sources including solar and wind), Lecce said the government is protecting prime agricultural farmland by prohibiting ground-mounted solar panel farms and requiring impact assessments for projects to go ahead. The province will also require municipal and local buy-in before proceeding with a project.
Speaking of energy announcements, former Energy Minister Todd Smith is joining CANDU Energy as Vice-President of Marketing and business development.
Upcoming Events Calendar
September 16, 2024: House of Commons resumes sitting
September 16, 2024: Federal byelections in LaSalle—Émard—Verdun and lmwood—Transcona
September 19, 2024: Ontario byelection in Bay of Quinte
September 20-22: OLP AGM takes place in London, ON
October 21, 2024: Queen’s Park resumes sitting
October 28, 2024: Alberta Legislature resumes sitting
November 1-2, 2024: UCP AGM takes place in Red Deer, AB, including leadership review vote