Hello, welcome to Politics Insider. Let’s look at what happened today.
Prime Minister Mark Carney says intense negotiations continue at the highest levels of the Trump administration for tariff relief on key Canadian sectors, adding that those talks include reviving the Keystone XL pipeline.
Robert Fife reports that at a news conference in Ottawa today, Carney acknowledged that the talks with the U.S. are at a critical stage.
“Intensive negotiations are in train right now for the sectors of steel and aluminum and in parallel conversations on forest products and automobiles,” Carney told reporters.
The goal of the talks is to reach an agreement so those industries are not punished again when the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement comes up for renewal next year.
That deal allows about 85 per cent of Canadian goods and products to flow duty-free into the U.S. economy.
“We are negotiating specific sectoral deals with them, which would likely persist with a revised USMCA,” the Prime Minister said. “It means that this is not one simple trade deal which will resolve all the issues, which is why we are focused on retaining the huge advantage that we have relative to the rest of the world.”
He added that both sides are also “bearing down on a few projects within the energy sector,” including reviving the Keystone oil pipeline to Texas from Alberta, which was cancelled by former president Joe Biden.
Also at today’s news conference, Carney said Ottawa will automatically file returns for low-income Canadians starting with the 2026 tax year to ensure they receive federal payments such as GST/HST credits.
He said the measure will be included in the Nov. 4 federal budget, along with two other items he chose to reveal ahead of time.
They include making the National School Food Program permanent and renewing the Canada Strong Pass for the holidays and for next summer. The pass allows Canadians to visit national parks and historic sites for free and offers 25-per-cent off Via Rail tickets for adults aged 18 to 24.
In other news, Canada Post workers will end their full-time nationwide strike and shift to rotating strikes starting Oct. 11, a move that will resume the delivery of mail and parcels.
Vanmala Subramaniam reports that the Canadian Union of Postal Workers made the announcement late Thursday evening, a day after meeting with the federal government over its recent decision to restructure Canada Post by closing rural post offices and ending door-to-door mail delivery.
“Postal workers would much rather have new collective agreements and be delivering mail instead of taking strike action,” CUPW national president Jan Simpson said in a statement. She accused Canada Post of chipping away at “the postal service, workers’ rights and good jobs” in its latest offer to the union.
More than 55,000 postal workers went on strike on Sept. 25, hours after federal Public Works and Procurement Minister Joël Lightbound announced a massive overhaul of Canada Post, which is expected to result in widespread job losses.
Please note: The Politics Insider newsletter is taking Thanksgiving Monday off and will return next Tuesday.
Open this photo in gallery:
Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks at an announcement at a community centre in Ottawa, on Friday.Justin Tang/The Canadian Press
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What else is going on
Audit finds federal Indigenous procurement program lacks robust fraud prevention measures: The review found weaknesses related to a provision that allows non-Indigenous companies to win federal contracts provided they partner with an Indigenous company.
Young Canadians face anxiety and burnout in a tough job market: More than one-half of young Canadians are rethinking their career plans, and a third wish they’d studied something different, according to a new survey that finds them struggling to secure jobs and feeling less confident about their futures.
NORAD needs central Golden Dome role, MPs told: Canada and the North American military command it shares with the United States risk being marginalized if Ottawa fails to ensure a commanding role for NORAD in the proposed missile-defence project, a Commons committee has been told.
Supreme Court Justices don new robes: As part of the Supreme Court’s 150th anniversary this year, Chief Justice Richard Wagner and his colleagues on the country’s top court this week debuted a new formal fashion for special occasions.
Obituary – Nigel Wright: As a young man, Nigel Wright thought of becoming an academic or a priest. In the end, he chose business and politics, reaching the pinnacle in both fields.
On our radar
Commons and Senate break: The House of Commons will not be sitting next week. MPs return Oct. 20. The Senate is also on a break, with senators returning Oct. 21.
Prime Minister’s day: In the Ottawa region, Mark Carney made an affordability announcement with Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne. Later, he met with Gianni Infantino, president of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association or FIFA. In the evening, Carney was scheduled to be in Montreal for a match between the Canadian men’s national soccer team and the Australian men’s team, the Socceroos.
Party leaders: No public events today for Green Party Leader Elizabeth May. At the House of Commons, NDP Interim-Leader Don Davies attended Question Period. No schedules released for Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet or Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, though the party website says Poilievre will be at a fundraising breakfast in Winnipeg on Monday.
Health ministers meet: Provincial, territorial and federal health ministers will meet in Calgary next Thursday and Friday. Marjorie Michel, the federal ministe,r and Alberta Health Services Minister Adriana LaGrange will co-chair the gathering.
Ministers on the road: Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald will be in Mexico from Tuesday to Friday, with a stop in Mexico City to meet with provincial counterparts attending the 34th annual Tri-National Accord. He will then be making a stop in Guadalajara, the capital of the western Mexican state of Jalisco. Also, Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon is visiting the United Arab Emirates on Monday and Tuesday and Qatar on Wednesday as part of an outreach to the Gulf region in AI and emerging technologies.
Question period
During his visit to Washington this week, Prime Minister Mark Carney stayed at Blair House, the guest house complex of the U.S. President, across the street from the White House. But there was time when the guest house served as the main house for the presidency. Which president stayed for several years at Blair House while the White House was being renovated?
Scroll to the bottom of this newsletter for the answer.
Perspectives
Doug Ford is not the mayor of Ontario
Although he is reported to be tempted by federal politics, the former Toronto city councillor can’t seem to resist getting back into the weeds on local concerns. He distracts himself micro-managing community issues even as the province confronts weighty challenges such as plunging housing starts and tariff-induced job losses.
— The Globe and Mail Editorial Board
The Conservatives are right: Canada should end birthright citizenship
Of course, changing Canada’s nationality rules wouldn’t be about choosing which Canadians get full benefits, but rather, about clearly identifying who is entitled to citizenship in the first place. Our peer nations already figured this out; it appears to be working for them just fine.
— Robyn Urback, Columnist
What does David Eby have to be thankful for? An amateur Opposition in utter turmoil
The Conservatives are supposed to be the latest iteration of the centre-right coalition that has governed B.C. for large chunks of the last several decades, starting with the Social Credit party in 1952. They gave way to the BC Liberals in the 90s, which morphed into BC United, which disintegrated last year, making way for the Conservatives. But while there are certainly centrists in caucus, there is also a group of raging populists – culture warriors who see wokeism around every corner.
— Gary Mason, National Affairs Columnist
Go deeper
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The answer to today’s question: Harry Truman and his family lived at Blair House between 1948 and 1952 while the White House was undergoing a major renovation. During that time, Truman was the target of an assassination attempt by Puerto Rican secessionists.
