Canada economy/energy/environment 8 September 2025-

CUSMA renewal deadline passed, U.S. tariffs remain—what it means for Canada and its economy
(The Hub) … The economic cost of waiting
The Bank of Canada projects GDP will finish 2026 roughly 1.5 percent lower than its pre-tariff trajectory, with about half the shortfall from reduced potential output. Deloitte’s summer outlook found that Canada technically didn’t quite slip into recession this year, but that the country’s economy is experiencing anemic growth and stagnation, citing CUSMA uncertainty as a leading culprit. The report also projects a paltry 0.7 percent of growth for Canada’s economy in 2026.
Goods exports to the U.S. fell 5.8 percent in 2025, nearly offset by a 17.2 percent jump elsewhere—though much of that gain reflects record gold shipments rather than diversification, and the U.S. share of Canadian exports fell to 71.7 percent, its lowest since the early 1980s.
A new BBC analysis pointed to some of the main issues of Canada’s struggling economy previously covered by The Hub: a technical recession in late 2025 and early 2026, inflation climbing to 3.2 percent in May, youth unemployment at 13.4 percent, and the largest household debt burden in the G7. Ontario auto-parts manufacturer James White told the BBC his firm’s sales are down 20 percent since the Trump tariffs began, with steel-derivative levies eating into investment in staff and equipment.
A recent Hub analysis found that pattern already underway: the gap between Canadian capital invested abroad and foreign capital invested in Canada has widened from $100.5 billion in 2014 to $828.4 billion by 2025—more than half the country’s entire inward investment stock. Canada lost more than $1 trillion in net investment to other countries during the preceding Trudeau government, the largest capital exodus in the country’s modern history, leaving Carney’s team racing to reverse a decade-long drought just as the trade uncertainty threatens to deepen it further.
[Goldy Hyder, president of the Business Council of Canada} said the uncertainty is paralyzing investment regardless of underlying resilience. “Rational actors are saying: time is my friend here,” he said, describing CEOs unwilling to seek board approval for billion-dollar bets given ongoing geopolitical tension, tariff uncertainty, and the unresolved CUSMA review. Without resolution, he warned, Canada risks an extended stretch of sub-1 percent growth.

30 June
Carney says Trudeau-era climate plan was ‘too expensive’ and ‘divisive’
Prime minister lays out benefits of his plan to boost oil and gas exports, double electricity grid
Prime Minister Mark Carney echoed critics of the previous Liberal government’s climate plan in a video posted on Tuesday, saying the plan he inherited was too expensive and divisive.
“In my judgment, that plan was not sustainable over the long term,” Carney said in his second “Forward Guidance” video. “It would have been too expensive for Canadians. Canadians who are already struggling with affordability.”
He later says the plan “would have been too divisive for our country” and was “an open opportunity for those people who wish to pull Canada apart both at home and abroad.”
Forward Guidance: Canada’s Energy Future. (YouTube)
Today, we face an energy crisis on three levels. An affordability crisis, a security crisis, and a climate crisis. We need an energy transition that really works. The good news is that Canada has the solutions to control our own energy and our future.

Canada Economy Set for Rebound, Bucking Recession Talk
(Bloomberg) Canada’s economy is set to rebound sharply in the second quarter amid a spike in oil production, breaking a half-year of stagnation.
Gross domestic product expanded 0.1% in May, according to a flash estimate from Statistics Canada released Tuesday. It rose 0.5% in April, higher than the 0.4% growth expected by economists in a Bloomberg survey, and the fastest pace since July of last year.
Assuming no growth in June, the industry-based output data suggest Canada’s economy will rise at a 2.3% annualized pace in the second quarter, a major acceleration after a half-year of flattened industrial output.
The data will dispel claims the northern nation is in the midst of prolonged downturn. In May, the statistics agency reported that expenditure-based GDP contracted for two consecutive quarters starting at the ending of last year, satisfying one condition of a recession.
“While a nice rebound for Canada’s economy in April was widely anticipated, this solid result topped almost everyone’s expectations and will presumably silence the recession chatter,” Doug Porter, chief economist at Bank of Montreal, said in a report to investors.

24 June
Canada has an investment crisis—and we need more than a Wall Street pitch to fix it
(The Hub) … The trends underlying Canada’s poor business investment performance have been building for a decade. They point to a crisis on several fronts: Canadian capital is leaving faster than foreign capital is coming in, and within our borders, businesses are investing less in the tools and technology that make workers more productive and drive higher wages. Making matters worse, entrepreneurs are leaving too.
For most of the past decade, more Canadian capital has left the country than foreign capital has entered, a signal that domestic returns are not competitive.
Some economists view Canadian outward investment as a sign of strength; our pension funds and corporations are diversifying and deploying capital where returns are highest. That view deserves consideration. But it also raises a question policymakers can’t ignore: Why are returns consistently seen as higher elsewhere?

21 June
Canada’s AI strategy must reckon with the environmental implications of data centres
Sibo Chen, Associate Professor, School of Professional Communication, Toronto Metropolitan University
(The Conversation) … The federal government’s new “AI for All” strategy links AI to economic growth, jobs and national competitiveness. The strategy also points to expanding “sovereign compute” and supporting the construction of large-scale AI data centres.
AI is resource-dependent
These ambitions make the environmental debates significant. AI is often described as if it lives in “the cloud.” The persistent controversies regarding Wonder Valley illustrate the fallacy of this metaphor.
Artificial intelligence relies on material resources: land, electricity, water, cooling systems, transmission lines, gas infrastructure, minerals and servers. When those demands become concentrated in one place, AI becomes an environmental and energy issue.
AI’s use of resources
AI data centres are industrial facilities built to keep servers running continuously. This requires reliable electricity, cooling and backup systems.The International Energy Agency predicts that global electricity consumption from data centres, primarily driven by AI development, could more than double by 2030, reaching about 945 terawatt-hours.
Water is also crucial. Depending on design and location, data centres may use large amounts of water directly for cooling or indirectly through electricity generation. Reporting by The Narwhal has raised serious concerns about Canada’s data centre boom, especially where projects are proposed in water-stressed regions or on contested land.
The main concern raised by Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation regards the project’s potential water use and the duty to consult Indigenous nations on developments that could impact them.
This is why the Wonder Valley debate cannot be reduced to a simple narrative of “Alberta is open for business.” It is also about who gets access to water, whose power system is reorganized and whose land and resources are made available for AI infrastructure.

12 June
Carney is all-in on industrial policy. It’s a bad bet
The logic is all the same. Ottawa picks which industries will drive growth and is prepared to back that judgment with debt-financed public money.
(The Hub) By now, it’s clear the Carney government’s approach to economic development amounts to an all-in bet on industrial policy, a fad that has picked up steam globally. The thinking goes like this: the state chooses the right sectors and firms, directs capital and support to them, and builds a stronger economy from the top down. But a popular idea isn’t necessarily a good one.
Ottawa is betting big regardless.
The Defence Industrial Strategy, unveiled in February, treats military procurement as a growth engine, channelling $657 million into commercializing defence and dual-use technologies. The Canada Strong Fund, announced two months later, goes further with $25 billion in borrowed federal capital directed at infrastructure, energy, critical minerals, and advanced manufacturing that the government deems “strategic.” Last week’s AI strategy names five priority sectors and commits billions more, including a $500 million fund through which the government will take equity stakes in firms it considers champions. …

10 June
Canada’s ‘AI for All’ strategy has ambitious growth targets, but it falls short on workers and the environment
Simon Blanchette, Lecturer, Desautels Faculty of Management, McGill University
(The Conversation) Prime Minister Mark Carney unveiled Canada’s AI for All strategy on June 4, committing over $2 billion in new spending and targeting $200 billion in additional GDP growth and 250,000 new jobs by 2031.
The plan is organized around several pillars: sovereign AI infrastructure, skills and talent, business and public-sector adoption, support for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), and commitments around responsible AI, trust and cybersecurity. Canada currently lags behind most G7 peers in AI uptake; this strategy plans to change that.
But the strategy’s growth targets are much clearer than its accountability measures. Canada now has numerical goals for adoption, jobs and GDP growth, but fewer concrete commitments for measuring displacement, auditing workplace AI, protecting affected workers, governing data or reporting the environmental footprint of the infrastructure needed to power it.

20 May
Is Carney undoing the Liberals’ climate legacy?
(CBC Radio Front Burner) Late last week, Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced a new energy agreement that paves the way for a new pipeline to the West Coast. It includes an industrial carbon pricing deal, and is contingent on the approval of the Pathways project— a proposed carbon capture, utilization and storage facility.
The agreement was panned by environmentalists who said, among other things, that the Liberals are sacrificing the climate goals they spent the better part of a decade legislating.

11 May
Canada’s new sovereign wealth fund is ambitious, but its design raises questions
Paul Calluzzo, Associate Professor and Toller Family Fellow of Finance; Dan Cohen, Assistant Professor, Department of Geography and Planning; Evan Jo, Assistant Professor of Finance, Queen’s University, Ontario
(The Conversation) Canada’s new sovereign wealth fund fits the criteria of being government-owned and seeking market-rate returns. However, it diverges from standard practice in three notable ways.
First, it will be funded from a budget that is already in deficit. Canada’s projected deficit for 2025-26 is $66.9 billion. The $25 billion for the fund will be drawn from the federal budget over three years, meaning the fund is being prioritized over debt reduction and other spending commitments.
Second, the fund will focus on domestic investment. Most sovereign wealth funds invest globally, following best practices from the Santiago Principles to diversify risk. A fund concentrated in one country’s economy heightens financial risk and is more exposed to political pressure. This concern is serious enough that some sovereign wealth funds have banned domestic investments completely.
Third, it will include an option for retail investors to directly invest in the fund. No existing sovereign wealth fund offers this.

Ottawa spends $6-billion subsidizing trades – for young men. What about young women?
The key to navigating demographic and employment shifts and supporting economic prosperity is hiding in plain sight
Ilona Dougherty and Brett House
(Globe and Mail) … Team Canada Strong is implicitly focused on young men: The trades are more than 90 per cent male. And young men do need support getting on the jobs ladder. Statistics Canada observes that a recent increase in youth who are not in employment, education or training (NEET) is driven by men in their 20s without a bachelor’s degree who are opting out of the labour market. We know that NEET youth are at high risk of social disconnection, prone to commit a crime or become homeless, and suffer from mental-health challenges and long-term financial instability.
While Team Canada Strong addresses the challenges faced by young men, do we need an equivalent program to bolster other critical sectors of the economy – such as child care – that are predominantly staffed by women? The answer is yes. This is partly about equity, but critically, parallel investment in training and wages for early childhood educators is essential if we hope to proactively address demographic and employment shifts and support broad economic prosperity.

8 May
Carney meets with financial CEOs to pitch economic growth agenda, mobilize capital
Key takeaways
This summary is AI-generated and editor reviewed.
Prime Minister Mark Carney met with Bay Street executives Friday in Toronto to discuss economic growth and mobilizing capital, with CEOs from major banks, insurers and pension plans attending the hour-long roundtable.
Charles Brindamour, CEO of Intact Financial Corp., said, “The government is super engaged. We’re all cheering them on,” as he left the meeting.
The meeting highlights a shift from the Trudeau era, when the relationship between corporate Canada and the federal government grew distant and frosty.

7 May
A landmark Quebec jet deal gives Carney a global win. Can it actually deliver?
Airbus Canada and AirAsia announced a multibillion-dollar deal on Wednesday [6 May].
(Montreal Gazette)  AirAsia’s charismatic chief executive, Tony Fernandes…just put in the largest single order ever for a Canadian-made commercial aircraft.
The 150 Airbus A220-300s ordered, which were once known as Bombardier’s C Series, can carry up to 160 passengers. According to officials, all 150 will be assembled at the Mirabel site by the nearly 5,000 employees there.
For Carney, however, who was joined Wednesday by Quebec Premier Christine Fréchette and federal Industry Minister Mélanie Joly, among other politicians, the optics of the deal between a European manufacturer and an Asian buyer all inside Canada fall into his government’s geopolitical strategy: a push for global deals amid trade tensions with the U.S. under President Donald Trump.
Aerospace, Carney said — indeed with Quebec at the heart of it — remains one of Canada’s most strategically important industries. It is one, he added, that comes up constantly in meetings with foreign leaders and international partners.
Just last weekend, Carney travelled to Yerevan, Armenia, where he met European leaders while seeking to deepen Canada’s defence and trade ties with the European Union. He has also pursued expanded relations with India, Southeast Asia and China in an effort to reduce Canada’s overwhelming dependence on the U.S. market.
… John Gradek, an aviation expert and faculty lecturer at McGill University, told The Gazette that Airbus has invested heavily to expand the Mirabel facility, so could easily assemble more aircraft. The problem, he said, is whether suppliers can keep up. …
Mélanie Lussier, chief executive of Aéro Montréal, pointed to a different problem in an interview with The Gazette. …
She said the industry as a whole will require roughly 65,000 additional workers over the next decade to meet demand.
And recent immigration restrictions in Quebec have already pushed some skilled aerospace workers out of the province, she added. She pressed for more collaboration between all levels of government and sectors.

28 April
CANADA STRONG FOR ALL
S P R I N G  E C O N O M I C  U P D A T E  2 0 2 6
Canada’s new government continues to focus on what we can control—building a strong Canadian economy, diversifying our trade partners abroad, delivering responsible fiscal management, and supporting Canadians who are under pressure from everyday expenses—with a boost today and a bridge to a better tomorrow.
In Budget 2025, we outlined our plan to build Canada Strong. Since then, we have moved fast to:
• Build the major infrastructure, homes, and industries that grow our economy and create lasting prosperity.
• Empower Canadians with better careers, strong public services in both official languages, and a more affordable life.
• Protect our communities, our borders, and our way of life. …
The Spring Economic Update 2026 is the next step in our plan to build a stronger, more independent, and resilient Canada for
all. It advances our progress of building more affordable homes and the major infrastructure that transforms and connects our
economy, while bringing down costs to help you get ahead.
We are providing a clear and transparent account of how Canada’s economy is performing in an increasingly uncertain world.
This transparency is critical to lift the fog of uncertainty, help businesses seize new opportunities, and give families the
confidence to plan for their future.
We are building a Canada that is not just strong, but good; not just prosperous, but fair. A Canada that is not just for some,
most of the time, but for all, at all times.
We’re building Canada strong, for all.

28 April
7 key takeaways from the Liberal government’s spring economic snapshot
Government moving to ban crypto ATMs, cut CPP rates, boost funding for sports
Emphasis on skilled trades recruitment
The Liberals are aiming to recruit 80,000-100,000 new skilled trade workers by the 2030-31 fiscal year.
A key promise of the Carney government was to build homes and national interest projects, which will require more trade workers.
The government is pumping $6 billion over five years behind its promise to recruit, train and hire thousands of new workers.
Outsourcing air passenger complaint resolutions
The government is planning to outsource the resolution process for air passenger complaints to “a neutral, third-party dispute resolution organisation.”
As it stands, the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) — a quasi-judicial tribunal and regulator — is solely tasked with settling disputes between airlines and customers. …
Changes to disability tax credit application process
Tuesday’s economic update is promising to “streamline” the process for certain individuals applying to the federal disability tax credit.
The new proposed process is slated to reduce the amount of paperwork individuals with a formal diagnosis of one of more than 40 long-term conditions would need to fill out, the document says. Those long-term conditions include mental impairments such as Alzheimer’s, dementia and Down syndrome, as well as several physical conditions.

27 April
Canada Launches Sovereign Wealth Fund for Major Projects
Canada will create its first sovereign wealth fund, dubbed the Canada Strong Fund, to provide financing for large infrastructure projects and domestic companies.
Takeaways by Bloomberg AI
Canada will create its first sovereign wealth fund, dubbed the Canada Strong Fund, to provide financing for large infrastructure projects and domestic companies.
The fund will be seeded with C$25 billion from the federal government and will be professionally managed and independent of the government, investing alongside the private sector in nation-building projects.
Individuals will be able to contribute and earn returns, with investments structured to limit the downside for them but let them participate in the upside, according to Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Canada will create its first sovereign wealth fund to provide financing for large infrastructure projects and domestic companies, Prime Minister Mark Carney said, pledging to offer Canadian investors the opportunity to buy in.
The new vehicle, dubbed the Canada Strong Fund, will be seeded with C$25 billion ($18.4 billion) from the federal government, Carney announced Monday in Ottawa. It will be professionally managed and independent of the government, meant to “invest alongside the private sector in nation-building projects, on a fully commercial basis,” he said.
“We’re somewhat unique among resource-rich countries to not have a sovereign wealth fund,” said Paul Calluzzo, a finance professor at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. A big difference from a country such as Norway, which operates the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, is that Canada’s national government doesn’t directly capture most of the revenue from the country’s oil windfall.

22 April
Is the Carney government committed to fighting climate change?
Rick Smith, president of the Canadian Climate Institute, says it’s clear that decarbonization is critical in the fight against climate change — and that Canada must participate in it.

15 April
Mark Carney gets it right with bold new nature strategy
Stewart Elgie, Jarislowsky Chair in Clean Economy and Innovation at the University of Ottawa
(Globe & Mail) Prime Minister Mark Carney released his long-awaited nature strategy (A Force of Nature: Canada’s Strategy to Protect Nature) recently. Given his laser focus on growth – to fend off U.S. economic aggression – there was concern that nature would take a back seat. Quite the opposite.
The plan charts a bold course to conserve the health of Canada’s forests, fields and waters, and support the people and industries that depend on them.
Here are five big things to like about Canada’s new nature strategy.
First, the plan commits to meeting Canada’s global conservation goals: halting and reversing biodiversity loss, and protecting 30 per cent of our lands and waters by 2030. It also sets a path to get there by creating dozens of new protected and conserved areas across the country, many Indigenous-led, backed by $3.8-billion in federal funding.
Second, Mr. Carney’s strategy says that protecting and restoring nature is “the foundation of our economy, sovereignty and well-being.”
Mr. Carney sees our natural capital – rich soils, clean water, healthy forests and ecosystems – as the foundation of our prosperity.
And he is right.
Globally, more than half of all GDP – roughly US$58-trillion – depends on nature and the services it provides, from pollination and water filtration to climate regulation.
Canada is no exception. From farms and forestry to fisheries and infrastructure, our economy relies on resilient ecosystems.
Nature is also vital to national security. Biodiversity loss threatens food and water security, endangers economic stability and heightens geopolitical risk as competition for scarce resources intensifies. The World Economic Forum ranks biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse as the second greatest global risk over the next decade. …

10 April
Canada can’t be an energy superpower if it keeps doubling down on U.S. oil exports
(The Hub) If energy is Canada’s superpower, complacency is its kryptonite. This reality has been exposed again this past month as it’s become increasingly clear that new pipeline egress will primarily head south to the U.S., not west to Asia, in the coming years.
Our inability to leverage our world-class oil reserves in our foreign policy by building pipelines to global markets has been a perennial weakness. It is still bewildering that we are doing it again.

31 March
Ottawa announces $3.8-billion nature strategy, laying out path to protect 30% of lands and waters by 2030
Canada released a $3.8-billion nature strategy on Tuesday, closing the gap left by a major conservation fund that expired the same day and laying out a path to nearly double the share of the country’s lands and waters under protection by the end of the decade.
(Globe & Mail) “The beauty of Canada’s nature – from lakes and forests to mountains and coastlines – is central to our history, our identity and our way of life,” Prime Minister Mark Carney said at the announcement in Wakefield, Que.
Protecting 30 per cent of the country’s lands and waters by the end of the decade – a target known as 30×30 – is one of Canada’s most ambitious conservation commitments, stemming from a landmark international deal reached in Montreal in December, 2022: the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
Tuesday’s announcement came just as the Enhanced Nature Legacy fund – a $2.3-billion, five-year federal investment – was set to expire. As of December, 2024, Canada had conserved just 13.8 per cent of its land and fresh water and 15.5 per cent of its marine areas, well short of an interim 25-per-cent target for 2025. In November, the federal Auditor-General concluded Ottawa had not planned effectively to deliver 30×30.
The new plan, A Force of Nature: Canada’s Strategy to Protect Nature, maps a path to closing most of that gap, introducing measures across three pillars: “protecting nature” through new parks, marine protected areas and Indigenous-led conservation; “building Canada well” by integrating environmental data into infrastructure decision-making; and “valuing nature and mobilizing capital” through a new expert task force tasked with attracting private investment.
On land, the government said it will move terrestrial conservation from 14 per cent to 30 per cent by 2030, adding at least 1.6 million square kilometres – an area 1.7 times the size of British Columbia. It said it will achieve this through a combination of new federal protected areas such as national parks, finalizing existing projects, Project Finance for Permanence initiatives with Indigenous partners, and the use of expanded partnerships and innovative tools.

18 March
Mark Carney’s leadership criticised as ‘disappointment’ on climate
A year after becoming prime minister, Carney has rolled back many of Canada’s climate change rules. It could hurt the country’s transition efforts.
Green Central Banking Key takeaways
– Mark Carney’s first year as Canada’s prime minister has been described as a “huge disappointment” for climate leadership, due to rolling back key climate policies like the carbon tax and the oil and gas emissions cap.
– Canada is lagging behind its international peers on sustainable finance policy despite facing significant climate-related financial risks, including insurance costs from fires and coastal erosion.
– However, there is a “ray of hope” for Canadian sustainable finance, with a government commitment to a new taxonomy and parliamentary efforts to pass a climate-aligned finance act.
When Mark Carney became prime minister of Canada, climate advocates were hoping his past leadership would translate into more action on securing the country’s transition efforts.
A year on and his actions have been far from what was hoped, even as he has had a tough job dealing with US president Donald Trump, experts told Green Central Banking.
“Overall, it’s been a huge disappointment … He is rolling back established Canadian policies on climate,” said Karine Peloffy, lawyer and finance lead at nonprofit Ecojustice.

15 March
Doing Hard Policy Things Is Never Easy: One Year of Mark Carney’s Economics
Christopher Ragan
(Sage Canada substack) In this brief essay, I will focus on the economy and the major economic policies that have been introduced by the Carney government.
The best and simplest measure of average material living standards in any country is GDP per capita, which in 2025 was about $74,000. In any given year, about 50 percent of this goes to after-tax wages and salaries, 35 percent goes to governments at all levels, and 15 percent goes to corporate profits, which ultimately are paid to shareholders. It surprises me whenever I come across people who place little importance on GDP per capita. In my view, everyone should care about this number because all of our challenges—improving health care, reducing poverty, addressing climate change, and so many other things—are easier to address with higher and rising GDP per capita.
Unfortunately, our per capita GDP is currently about 30 percent below U.S. levels, 25 percent below those in Denmark and the Netherlands, and 10 percent below the level in Australia. Not only is our per capita GDP low, but over the past few years, it has actually been falling, which is almost unheard of outside of recessions.
The primary cause of our low average incomes is low productivity—how much output the typical Canadian produces in one hour of work. And while many things feed into productivity, the main cause of Canada’s low productivity is having less physical capital with which to work—fewer machines, buildings, and factories.

28 February
Protected natural areas helped generate $11-billion in GDP, new research shows
Jeffrey Jones, ESG and Sustainable Finance Reporter
(Globe & Mail) Canada’s protected natural areas help generate nearly $11-billion a year in gross domestic product, according to new research highlighting the economic impact of preserving the country’s vast natural assets.
In a white paper to be released on Wednesday, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society said tourism and related industries that rely on natural ecosystems support 150,000 jobs paying a total of $6.6-billion in wages and contribute $1.4-billion in tax revenue from visitors.
CPAWS, a national charity that promotes land and water protection, is releasing its economic research with the federal government yet to announce a new funding and implementation plan for a nature strategy it unveiled in June, 2024.
The strategy was developed to meet goals it agreed to in late 2022, when participants at a United Nations conference on biological diversity adopted a landmark plan to preserve and restore global biodiversity. That plan, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, includes a commitment to protect 30 per cent of lands and water.

17 February
Canada’s Defence Industrial Strategy
… Canada’s Defence Industrial Strategy establishes a bold new direction: supported by a new Defence Investment Agency, and applies a BUILD–PARTNER–BUY framework. The Government of Canada will focus first on building in Canada, particularly in areas of key sovereign capability or where Canada already has deep strengths. And when we partner with allies to build together, or buy off-the-shelf, we will do so under conditions that flow back into domestic industry and ensure Canadian sovereign control.

30 January
Canada Aims for More LNG Exports to India as Carney Plans Visit
“India has huge demand for new LNG,” Tim Hodgson said Friday, shortly after returning from his own trip to what he described as “one of the most important energy markets in the world.”
(Bloomberg) “There’s real opportunity for Canada to play a more significant role there,” he said, noting India’s plan to increase natural gas to 15% of its energy mix, up from 6% today.
Canada is looking at new terminals along its Pacific coast that could bring export capacity to 50 million metric tons of LNG annually by the end of the decade. That’s up from about 14 million metric tons today through the LNG Canada terminal in Kitimat, British Columbia, which opened last year.
Propane is also a potential major export to India, where millions of homes use it for cooking and heating, Hodgson said.
In the lead-up to Carney’s visit, which is likely to take place in March, the two countries have restarted formal discussions on energy. “This dialogue is essential in the Indian context, where most major energy companies are state-owned or state-directed,” Hodgson told reporters.

2025

14 December
Federal government funds four quantum computer developers, aiming to keep them in Canada
By Sean Silcoff
After watching Canada squander its early advantage in artificial intelligence, the federal government on Monday will unveil a program aimed at supporting key homegrown players in the emerging quantum computing space to ensure they stay here and become industry leaders.
Through the initial phase of its Canadian Quantum Champions Program, the government will commit up to $23-million apiece to four companies that have shown early promise in the field: Xanadu Quantum Technologies Inc. of Toronto, Montreal-based Anyon Systems Inc., Photonic Inc., based in Coquitlam B.C., and Sherbrooke’s Nord Quantique.
The program is the first pillar of a $334.3-million commitment in November’s budget to support Canada’s quantum sector, and could provide hundreds of millions of dollars in further funding if the companies continue to advance toward building industrial-scale systems.

12 December
First segment of high-speed rail plan will link Montreal and Ottawa
By Bill Curry
(Globe & Mail) Canada’s first high-speed rail line, between Quebec City and Toronto, will start with a shorter segment linking Montreal and Ottawa, sources say.
Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon and Martin Imbleau, the CEO of Alto, the Crown Corporation responsible for overseeing the project, made the announcement Friday morning in Gatineau.
The project promises to cut current travel times in half, meaning the 200-kilometre trip between Montreal and Ottawa will be about an hour instead of two hours. The plan includes a stop in Laval, a suburb north of Montreal.
Public consultations about the entire route will begin in January and run for three months. This will include open houses in communities along the route as well as online information, and will involve revealing the projected corridor for the route.

1-2 December
Carney’s Pipeline Deal Lifts Up Alberta and Demotes BC to Second-Class Status
This is not how a federation is supposed to work
by Carmine Starnino with Stewart Prest
(The Walrus) Last week, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government and Alberta premier Danielle Smith did something many thought politically impossible: they agreed to a new oil pipeline cutting to the British Columbia coast, designed to move bitumen to foreign markets
Their memorandum of understanding (or MOU, a non-binding blueprint for where both governments want to go) lays out the high-stakes deal: Ottawa signals a willingness to ease up on key climate rules and even revisit the BC tanker moratorium. In return, Alberta promises tougher carbon pricing for heavy industry and a major expansion in carbon capture projects—emerging technology meant to trap emissions from oil sands operations and bury them underground—alongside a privately financed pipeline with Indigenous co-ownership.
BC wasn’t brought into the room, and it shows.
The province is furious, warning that the MOU weakens coastal protections, heightens spill risk, and resurrects a fight many thought was finally behind us. Several First Nations and environmental groups have already come out swinging.
To get past the talking points, I spoke with Stewart Prest, a political scientist at the University of British Columbia, about what’s actually inside the agreement—and what it might unleash.

27-28 November
Pipeline Deal Faces Steep Climb as Liberals, First Nations, BC Government Unite in Opposition
Senior members of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal caucus expressed deep skepticism that a proposed oil pipeline to British Columbia’s northwest coast will ever be built, despite a memorandum of understanding signed with Alberta.
(Deep Dive) Multiple senior Liberals told Global News the pipeline will never be built without two critical elements the project currently lacks: a private proponent willing to invest billions and consent from BC First Nations who control the territory. First Nations, the provincial government, and Liberal MPs are now coordinating opposition.
Victoria Liberal MP Will Greaves told the National Observer that both he and his constituents are decisively opposed to the agreement. Former environment minister Jonathan Wilkinson said significant First Nations support is needed but currently lacking. Some Liberal MPs told CBC News they were “seething” and “angry” about the deal.
Coastal First Nations, a lobbyist group, delivered categorical rejections of the project. Marilyn Slett, president of the Coastal First Nations-Great Bear Initiative, said in a statement the tanker ban “is not up for negotiation” and that First Nations “will never tolerate any exemptions or carveouts, period.” The nations have no interest in co-ownership of a project that could destroy their way of life, she emphasized.
British Columbia Premier David Eby warned the project must not become an “energy vampire,” arguing it could jeopardize existing projects that depend on First Nations consensus. Ottawa excluded Eby from negotiations between the federal government and Alberta.
Ottawa-Alberta MOU Shelves Emissions Cap, Ties Carbon Capture To Pipeline
The Canada–Alberta MOU hardwires a westbound 1 million bpd-plus export push to carbon pricing, methane targets, and a Pathways-linked construction gate, while polling shows BC support exceeds opposition even as approvals remain conditional.
The recently announced Canada–Alberta memorandum of understanding sets a roadmap for at least 1 million barrels per day of new low-emission bitumen pipeline capacity to Asian markets, but makes the project conditional on parallel decarbonization commitments, fixed negotiating deadlines, and a targeted two-year approvals ceiling.
The MOU’s pipeline section calls for one or more privately financed and constructed pipelines with Indigenous co-ownership and benefits, and says the pipeline application will be ready for submission to the Major Projects Office on or before July 2026.
The text also states the new pipeline would be in addition to an expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline of 300,000 to 400,000 bpd destined for Asian markets, implying 1.3 million to 1.4 million bpd of incremental westbound capacity if both elements proceed.
Canada’s commitments include a pledge to not implement the federal Oil and Gas Emissions Cap that “has not yet been put into effect,” and to suspend immediately the Clean Electricity Regulations in Alberta pending a new carbon pricing agreement that must be concluded on or before April 2026.
The MOU says that after the new agreement is completed to both parties’ satisfaction, Canada will place CER in Alberta “in abeyance.”
On carbon markets, the governments commit to design “globally competitive” industrial pricing through Alberta’s Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction system that “will ramp up to a minimum effective credit price of $130/tonne,” with the industrial carbon pricing agreement due by April 2026.
Canada, Alberta Ink Deal to Unlock Oil Pipeline, Build Carbon Capture
Takeaways by Bloomberg AI
Prime Minister Mark Carney unveiled a sweeping energy plan with Alberta that includes a new oil pipeline, a massive carbon capture project, and the construction of nuclear power for data centers.
The plan aims to reduce Canada’s economic dependence on the US and unlock Alberta’s energy resources, while creating new high-paying careers for Canadians.
The agreement has sparked opposition from BC Premier David Eby and Indigenous groups, who are concerned about the potential environmental impact of a new oil pipeline, and has also drawn criticism from climate advocacy groups.
Prime Minister Mark Carney unveiled a sweeping energy plan with the province of Alberta that paves the way for a new oil pipeline, a massive carbon capture project and the construction of nuclear power for data centers.
The plan is aimed at reducing Canada’s economic dependence on the US and is meant to “unlock the full potential of Alberta’s energy resources” while creating “hundreds of thousands of new high-paying careers for Canadians,” Carney’s office said in a news release.
The prime minister told a business audience in Calgary that Canada’s tight interdependence with the US — once a strength — is now a weakness. The country shipped more than 95% of its energy exports to the country last year, before President Donald Trump began slapping tariffs on Canadian goods.
“This is a rupture, not a transition, which means our economic strategy needs to change dramatically and rapidly,” Carney said. “Nostalgia is not a strategy. The US has changed. That’s their right. We must respond. That’s our imperative.”
The document pledges the federal government’s support for one or more new oil pipelines with Indigenous ownership that transport at least 1 million barrels a day of Alberta bitumen “with a route that increases export access to Asian markets as a priority.”
If the pipeline project goes through proper consultation, gets federal approval and has Indigenous co-ownership, the Canadian government will enable it to ship from a deep-water port on the west coast and “adjust” a ban on oil tankers on British Columbia’s north coast if necessary, the document says.
But the deal risks fracturing the unity of Carney’s Liberal caucus, which includes BC lawmakers as well as environmental advocates. Hours after the announcement, Steven Guilbeault resigned his cabinet position as Minister of Canadian Identity.
It also promises to suspend or drop some federal environment regulations in exchange for a higher industrial carbon price and a timeline for building the C$16.5 billion ($11.8 billion) Pathways carbon capture project in Alberta’s oil sands. The document confirms Canada will not implement a cap on emissions from the oil and gas sector.
The plan promises both a nuclear power strategy and a data center strategy for Alberta, and to “significantly increase” electricity transmission connections between Canada’s western provinces. It commits to net zero emissions in the energy sector by 2050.
The document, styled as a memorandum of understanding, is meant as a “grand bargain” between Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on energy and climate policy, offsetting increased oil production with stronger commitments to industrial carbon pricing and clean power generation.
… Along with the pipeline, the plan commits Alberta and oil sands companies to building the Pathways carbon capture project — the world’s largest such initiative — and requires a separate memorandum of understanding on how to build it by April. It pledges that the first phase of Pathways will be built “in a staged manner between 2027 and 2040 to achieve committed emissions reductions at date-certain intervals.”
The document also shifts the burden of environmental policy onto the industrial carbon pricing system, which is currently dysfunctional due to an oversupplied market and a collapsing credit price.
The plan says Canada will suspend its clean electricity regulations in Alberta while the two governments negotiate a new carbon pricing agreement — due in April — and upon completion Alberta will be exempt from the electricity rules. The carbon price will rise to a minimum effective credit price of C$130 per metric ton, the document says, but beyond that the details are vague.
“This industrial carbon pricing agreement will include a financial mechanism to ensure both parties maintain their respective commitments over the long term to provide certainty to industry, and to achieve the intended emissions reductions,” the document says.
Carney said his government would unveil a new electricity strategy early in 2026 that would aim to double Canada’s clean grid and increase its reliance on hydro, wind, solar and nuclear power.
‘A serious mistake’: Steven Guilbeault quits Carney’s cabinet over Alberta pipeline deal
Steven Guilbeault resigned from Prime Minister Mark Carney’s cabinet in protest over a new federal–Alberta agreement to advance a major privately funded pipeline and roll back several key climate policies, calling the deal “a serious mistake.” The former environment minister said he could not support the memorandum, which would suspend clean electricity regulations for Alberta, abandon a planned oil and gas emissions cap, consider lifting the West Coast oil tanker ban, and introduce new measures he views as fossil fuel subsidies. Guilbeault cited environmental risks to British Columbia’s coast, the Great Bear Rainforest and Indigenous communities, as well as the dismantling of climate initiatives he helped build, including carbon pricing and clean electricity rules. While remaining a Liberal MP, Guilbeault warned the agreement moves Canada further from its emissions targets, a view echoed by environmental groups that condemned the deal as weakening years of climate progress.
Carney’s expected green light for oil pipeline causes unease in caucus and cabinet: sources
Concerns raised internally that ex-environment minister Steven Guilbeault could resign
(CBC) With Prime Minister Mark Carney expected to lay out a path forward for an oil pipeline to northwest B.C. on Thursday, senior people around him have had to assuage skittish MPs and at least one cabinet minister about the virtues of the forthcoming “grand bargain” with Alberta.
Ottawa faces ‘bad options’ as Carney balances pipeline politics and steel sector turmoil
(CTV) A conservative strategist says the prime minister must revive growth while navigating pipeline tensions, trade fights, and rising pressure from provinces.
Rob Shaw: Carney delivers three-hour crash course on blindsiding Eby over pipeline
Prime minister assures B.C. pipeline deal wasn’t done, only for agreement with Alberta to surface before premier got back to his desk

16 November
Mark Carney’s ‘energy superpower’ vision up against political hurdles
Canada’s prime minister is making a risky bet that fossil fuels can revive the economy
Ilya Gridneff
(Financial Times) … Once a champion of global decarbonisation, the Liberal leader now wants fossil fuels to help him buttress Canada’s economy — turning the country into an “energy superpower” for the Trump era. …
If he pulls it off, Carney will have sheltered Canada from the policies of the mercurial US president while easing frictions between Ottawa and Canada’s resource-rich western provinces, and between oil companies and First Nations.
“This is a bold move by Carney to take advantage of Canada’s abundance in energy . . . to reduce the country’s dependence on the United States,” said Brian Rathbun, at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy.
“Yet what is natural economically is not easy politically since this step will generate opposition from environmental circles and indigenous rights advocates,” he said.
The centrepiece of Carney’s “grand bargain” is his home province of Alberta, where conservative politics and suspicions of Ottawa run deep.
Alberta’s oil sands region produces 3.5mn b/d, the bulk of Canada’s output. Extraction of the bitumen is carbon intensive and almost a third of Canada’s emissions stem from its oil and gas sector.
Carney Searches for Votes to Pass Budget and Avoid Snap Election
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government faces a decisive moment on Monday when Canada’s House of Commons votes on a proposed budget that would increase borrowing to spend on the military and infrastructure.

13 November
Carney unveils major projects he wants fast-tracked, including new mines, LNG and hydro development
PM says projects getting the green light will help Canada become an energy superpower
Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday [13 November] announced seven more initiatives he’s recommending for fast-tracked approval by the government’s Major Projects Office (MPO) — including multibillion-dollar energy and natural resources proposals that Ottawa hopes will deliver a jolt to the tariff-hit economy.
Carney said this latest round of projects will help the country become more economically self-sufficient, in the face of U.S. aggression, and a powerhouse player in high-demand critical minerals.
The seven initiatives, combined with the five Carney recommended for approval in September, are worth a combined $116 billion to the economy, according to government figures.
Here are the six projects and one concept being referred to the MPO:
The Sisson Mine, for critical minerals, in New Brunswick.
The Crawford Nickel project in Ontario.
The Ksi Lisims liquefied natural gas project in British Columbia.
An Iqaluit hydro project.
The Nouveau Monde Graphite Phase 2 project in Quebec.
The Northwest Critical Conservation Corridor in northwest B.C. and Yukon., which could include critical minerals and clean power transmission developments in the area.
The North Coast Transmission Line in northwest B.C.

6 November
Liberal budget clears first confidence vote
Second budget confidence vote happening on Friday
The Liberals, Bloc Québécois and NDP voted down a Conservative sub-amendment on the budget Thursday evening that, if passed, would have forced a new election.
The Conservative sub-amendment was to a Bloc Québécois amendment that calls on the House to reject the budget. A vote on the Bloc amendment will take place on Friday.

5 November
This budget is a Trump survival plan. Here are the highlights
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s budget comes out a month after his second trip to Washington, where he and President Donald Trump spoke about trade but came to no consensus about a deal to lift punitive U.S. tariffs.
More money for defence and trade diversification, less for public servants: Here’s what stands out in Tuesday’s blueprint
(Globe & Mail) From the opening words, “The world is changing,” the Carney government’s first budget is a response to Mr. Trump’s trade war and the threat to Canada’s economy. That means ramped-up defence spending, measures to make Canadian businesses more competitive and billions in new investment around trade diversification.
This all comes at a cost in the form of a $78.3-billion deficit for this fiscal year, and Prime Minister Mark Carney faces intense pressure from investors, and the opposition Conservatives, to prove Canada has a path to fiscal stability. As such, the budget also imposes a new era of austerity on the public service and measures to slash the government’s operating costs. Here are the highlights.
… The federal public service ballooned by 40 per cent under the first nine years of the Trudeau government, far outpacing Canada’s population growth. The 2025 budget sets out a timeline to bring the population of federal workers back to what Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne calls “a sustainable level.”
These aren’t exactly the DOGE-level cuts seen in the U.S. By 2028-29, the budget calls for the public service to shrink to 330,000, a decline of roughly 30,000 from where it was in 2024-25. That would bring it roughly back to where it was in 2021-22.
… In a budget that is heavy on restraint, defence spending stands out for the tens of billions earmarked to rebuild Canada’s military, a sharp reversal from past budgets.
The government plans to spend $84-billion on a cash basis over the next five years, $9-billion of which was already announced by Mr. Carney in June. Of that amount, one-quarter will go to pay raises and recruiting. … where industrial policy under the Trudeau government leaned heavily on electric vehicles and batteries, the 2025 budget puts another $6.6-billion toward the Carney government’s defence industrial strategy to bolster a sector it says employs 81,200 people. …
Andrew Coyne: That’s it?
Carney’s first budget fails to meet the moment his government hyped so much
In the words of the celebrated economist Peggy Lee: Is that all there is?
Has there been a budget that was preceded by more breathless hype than this one? It was to be a budget full of “generational investments” that would “swing for the fences” and “define our next century.” On the other hand, it would also be full of “difficult choices,” even “sacrifices,” which might or might not have added up to “austerity” depending on who was speaking.
It was going to restore order to public finances, jump-start productivity, diversify trade, and get this country building again. Above all, it was going to “meet the moment” imposed on us by Donald Trump, creating a more resilient economy that could prosper and grow even in the face of double-digit American tariffs.
There’s more good than bad in it – allowing more private investment in airports, for example, or scrapping the emissions cap (in exchange for a tightened industrial carbon-pricing regime). But to borrow a line from that noted 18th-century economist, the Reverend Martin Sherlock, too little of what is good is new, and too little of what is new is any good.
Federal budget charts difficult path out of current crisis — with small margin of error
Peter Armstrong
Whether ‘upside’ or ‘downside’ scenario plays out, plan relies on economy keeping its head above water
(CBC analysis) The 2025 federal budget plots a path for the Canadian economy to emerge from the current crisis. But it also highlights just how deep a hole the economy is in right now and how small the margin for error is as Canada navigates the perils of a trade war.
“This budget must be generational in its ambition and serve to shape our economy and our nation’s future,” said Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne. “There is no place for withdrawal, ambiguity or even standing still; only for bold and swift action.”
The budget lays out various scenarios for economic growth over the next five years. The so-called upside scenario envisions a world in which U.S. tariffs are rolled back and global trade works its way back to normal.
Under the “downside scenario,” the Canadian economy would contract through the quarter running from April to June. Unemployment would peak around 7.4 per cent and Canadian growth would be weak for several years.
That scenario would see a further weakening of the Canadian economy — and it’s not far fetched. It is still entirely possible that next month’s GDP numbers will show Canada slipped into a recession this summer and unemployment has been rising for months.
What to Know About Canada’s New Budget
Ian Austen
The government of Prime Minister Mark Carney unveiled a program of big spending to spur Canada’s economy and reduce its dependence on the United States.
(NYT) Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada on Tuesday unveiled a budget that would spend tens billions of dollars on major infrastructure projects to boost the sluggish economy, while also saving billions from slimming down government.
The budget is the second piece of Mr. Carney’s two-pronged response to potential economic chaos from President Trump’s trade war. Last week, he was in Asia promoting the first element, expanded trade with countries other than the United States.
The first federal budget under Mr. Carney’s leadership comes at an uncertain time for Canada’s economy, which is deeply entwined with that of the United States. Mr. Trump’s tariffs and threats have exacerbated slow growth and rising unemployment, particularly among younger Canadians. The cost of food and other essentials is climbing and, despite some easing on house prices, owning a home remains only a dream for many.
Most of the major budget items had already been outlined by Mr. Carney, an economist and the former central banker of Canada and England, and his ministers, since he assumed office in the spring. Their success will test his frequently repeated line that Canadians “can give ourselves more than any foreign government can ever take away.”
Federal budget 2025: Five biggest takeaways for Quebec
Canada’s 2025 federal budget comes at a delicate moment for the Canadian economy. But Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne argues that now is the time to invest and build.
4 November
Nova Scotia MP Chris d’Entremont resigns from Conservative caucus to join the Liberals
Liberals are 2 seats shy of majority with floor-crossing

3 November
Can the federal budget reset Canada’s economy?
Interest rates can only do so much. So, pressure now turns to the federal budget

27 October
Canada’s exports drop as tariffs weigh heavy on economy: Statistics Canada
(Bloomberg) U.S. tariffs on key Canadian goods and weakening global demand triggered a sharp pullback in exports in the second quarter of 2025, according to new data released by Statistics Canada.
Exports dropped 7.5 per cent in Q2 after the U.S. implemented tariffs on key Canadian goods like steel, aluminum, automobiles and other goods not compliant with the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement.
“This was the largest quarterly decline since 2009, excluding the COVID-19 pandemic period,” according to the report released Monday.
The slump extended to manufacturing, wholesaling and employment, all of which posted declines or stalled growth.

11 October
Alberta’s pipeline pursuit could erode Indigenous support for infrastructure projects, B.C. First Nations leader says
(Globe & Mail) A massive tanker ship, the Diamond Gas Crystal, departed Kitimat this week loaded with tonnes of liquefied natural gas bound for customers in Asia. It was the 16th tanker load since production began at LNG Canada in the summer.
Once Phase 1 is in full swing, the facility will be filling 170 tankers annually with a product that is classified, in the event of a marine spill, as noxious and hazardous. The ships’ route to open water winds through a series of channels for almost 300 kilometres, a rugged and remote section of the coast known for fierce winter storms.
All of this is taking place with the blessing of Coastal First Nations, who strongly oppose tankers carrying heavy oil in these waters.
While not universal, there is broad Indigenous support for LNG projects in B.C. The 297-metre-long Diamond Gas Crystal was named in honour of an Indigenous leader who helped secure LNG development in Kitimat, former Haisla chief councillor Crystal Smith.
But these multibillion-dollar investments are at risk, B.C. Premier David Eby says, if Alberta succeeds in persuading Ottawa to lift the current oil tanker ban on the North Coast.

25 September
Federal budget watchdog forecasts sharp rise in deficit to $68.5B this year
Update does not include plans for ramped-up defence spending
The parliamentary budget officer said Thursday he expects the coming fall budget will reveal a sharp increase in Ottawa’s deficit that puts the government’s previous fiscal anchors in jeopardy.
Ottawa’s fiscal watchdog Jason Jacques now projects the federal government will post an annual deficit of $68.5 billion this year, up from $51.7 billion last year.
He said in a new report that he expects the federal debt-to-GDP ratio is no longer on a declining path over the medium term — a metric that previously was a key fiscal anchor for the federal government.
The PBO’s update does not include plans to incrementally ramp up defence spending to meet the updated NATO benchmark of five per cent of GDP by 2035, nor does it factor in Ottawa’s announced plans to reduce public service spending over the next three years.

24 September
Canada’s next era of nation-building depends on AI and quantum innovation
The upcoming budget will be critical in charting this country’s course in technological growth.
By Gabriel Miller, president and CEO of Universities Canada
(Hill Times Opinion) Prime Minister Mark Carney’s decision to fast-track flagship national projects—from LNG in northern British Columbia, to nuclear power in Ontario—signals a bold push to reshape Canada’s economic backbone. But bricks and steel aren’t enough. Our prosperity now hinges on mastering the artificial intelligence and quantum revolutions already reshaping every industry, including these very projects.
This work is already underway at Canadian universities. In labs across the country, students, researchers, and professors are driving breakthroughs in secure quantum communications, advanced materials, and AI applications for health care and infrastructure. They’re building the next generation of cybersecurity researchers because today’s tools won’t stand up to AI and quantum-powered threats. These are innovations with direct relevance to Canada’s priorities: safeguarding critical systems, modernizing the grid, and improving patient care.
Trust universities to lead Canada’s next wave of innovation
The talent, infrastructure, and ideas are here. What’s needed now is federal leadership that matches the scale of our ambitions.
Universities are positioned to lead Canada’s future innovation due to their existing talent, infrastructure, and research, but they require greater federal leadership and investment to realize their full potential in developing new technologies and addressing national challenges like housing and climate change. Strong universities like the University of Toronto, the University of British Columbia, and McGill University provide a foundation for this, but sustained and ambitious governmental support is crucial for translating these ideas into societal and economic impact.

Ottawa launches AI task force, moves up deadline to deliver updated national strategy
At the ALL IN AI conference in Montreal on Wednesday, Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation Evan Solomon promised ‘new tools’ to help entrepreneurs scale their companies, secure investment and keep their headquarters in Canada, but did not outline any new policies or strategies to do so.
The federal government is launching a task force on artificial intelligence and will deliver an updated national strategy to support and develop the sector by the end of year.
The task force will suggest policies to improve research, talent, adoption and commercialization of AI in Canada, among other goals, Mr. Solomon said.
“They’re going to deliver bold, practical ideas that move quickly from paper to practice,” he said. The task force will report back in November, and the ideas are part of a consultation process to help inform the new AI strategy.
The government’s efforts over the past few years have helped spur AI research in Canada, but the country has lagged when it comes to commercializing the technology. The largest and most influential AI developers, such as OpenAI and Anthropic, are based in the United States, while Canadian AI talent is frequently poached by foreign companies.
… As the government also prepares to roll out a strategy for the nascent quantum computing sector in October, many experts fear the country could squander its lead, as with AI. “This is bigger than quantum. Time and again, Canada has been an early leader in developing frontier technologies, only to see others capture the value through commercialization and scale,” said Lisa Lambert, chief executive of Quantum Industry Canada, a consortium for the sector. “We cannot afford to continue repeating that pattern.”
Ms. Lambert said the quantum strategy should focus on scaling companies, building supply chains and supporting Canadian technologies in markets abroad.

21 September
Canada should be ready for ‘generational investment,’ Champagne says ahead of budget
Conservatives waiting to see full document before deciding whether to support Liberals
“This is like 1945,” Champagne said in an interview on Rosemary Barton Live that aired Sunday morning. “This is the moment where Canada needs to reinvent itself…. For me, it’s more like a down payment in the future prosperity of Canada.”
Champagne has spent the last few days laying the groundwork for what is expected to be a costly budget that he argues is necessary for Canada to steer itself away from its reliance on the United States, which still has tariffs on Canadian goods.
“We need to make generational investments in order to be less dependent, more resilient and bring prosperity across our nation,” he told host Rosemary Barton.
“People understand that a lot of the costs we have to incur is in direct relation to the changing world economic order that we’ve seen. Some of these things have not come by choice but because we needed to respond to support our workers.”

17 September
Canada’s new government to release Budget 2025 on November 4, 2025

10-14 September
Carney announces launch of new housing agency, earmarks funding for new projects
Build Canada Homes was part of Liberal promise to double housing construction
Prime Minister Mark Carney announced Sunday afternoon the launch of Build Canada Homes, the federal government’s new agency that will oversee federal housing programs.
The government is touting Build Canada Homes as a centralized agency to oversee new affordable housing programs initiated at the federal level.

Carney announces five major projects to be reviewed for fast-tracking
(Globe & Mail) Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the first projects that will be reviewed for fast-track approval under Ottawa’s Building Canada Act and said he’s working with Alberta on a carbon capture and storage project that could ultimately lead to a new oil pipeline.
The five projects being referred to the new Major Projects Office include LNG Canada Phase 2, which would expand the liquefied natural gas export facility at Kitimat, B.C. Also on the list are modular reactors at Ontario’s existing Darlington Nuclear Generating Station; an expansion by the Port of Montreal in Contrecoeur, Que.; Saskatchewan’s Foran McIlvenna Bay copper mine project; and the Red Chris Copper and Gold Mine expansion in B.C.
The five projects unveiled Thursday are already under way and Mr. Carney said their referral to the Major Projects Office is aimed at getting them across the finish line.
Carney Says Major Projects Coming to Combat Trade War ‘Crisis’
Takeaways by Bloomberg AI
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will announce the first wave of major projects to be fast-tracked under a new law on Thursday.
The law aims to speed up regulatory reviews for projects deemed to be in the national interest, with the goal of permitting them within two years.
Carney’s government plans to unveil several initiatives in the coming months, including a government homebuilding agency and a new climate competitiveness strategy.

8 September
Opportunity blooms in wild rose country: Federal government plants Major Projects Office in Calgary
(Borden Ladner Gervais) In the wake of the Building Canada Act (BCA), the Prime Minister’s office has announced that it intends to launch a Major Projects Office (MPO) to facilitate the advancement of major infrastructure and energy projects that are of national interest. These projects may include, without limitation, ports, railways, energy corridors, critical mineral developments and clean energy initiatives.
The MPO will be headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, with regional offices in other major Canadian cities. The BCA and MPO come largely in response to American tariffs and represent part of Canada’s action plan to promote long-term economic prosperity and independence. Calgary, with its well-known entrepreneurial spirit and long history of resilience in face of shifting global markets, is the perfect base of operations.
The MPO’s mission is to get nation-building projects built faster. It intends to do so by: (1) streamlining and accelerating regulatory approval processes; and (2) helping structure and co-ordinate financing of these projects. In practice, this will include:
identifying projects of national interest and fast-track their development by creating a single set of approval conditions (with the goal of approving those projects in less than 2 years); and,
attracting domestic and global capital to these major projects by structuring and co-ordinating financing from the private sector, provincial and territorial partners, and government initiatives, including the Canada Infrastructure Bank, the Canada Growth Fund, and the Indigenous Loan Guarantee Program.
Dawn Farrell, Board Chair of Trans Mountain Corporation (among other things), will spearhead the initiative as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the MPO. Farrell, with Calgarian roots, brings more than 35 years of experience to the role. She has previously served as President and CEO of both Trans Mountain Corporation (Trans Mountain) and TransAlta Corporation (TransAlta). Her resume is robust, including overseeing Trans Mountain’s multibillion-dollar expansion project and TransAlta’s transition from coal to renewables