The next edition of the Ottawa Report is scheduled to be sent Monday, September 23.
Latest News
Parliament is Out for the Summer
The five-week stretch of sittings from May to June is known as “silly season” on Parliament Hill due to the increase workload and tensions that arise. By the end, Members of Parliament are always eager to get out of Ottawa and return home to their ridings to engage with constituents in the usual summer round of picnics, BBQs, and county fairs. Accordingly, the House of Commons rose for its summer break two days early, on June 19, but not before MPs passed Bill C-69 (Budget Implementation Act), the Liberal government’s top priority piece of legislation.
Senators wasted little time in completing their review of the budget bill and passed it at Third Reading the following day. Bill C-69 has now received Royal Assent, the final stage of passage of bills in Parliament. This also allowed Senators to rise for the summer a week ahead of schedule.
With Ottawa relatively silent these days, political junkies are now focusing their attention on the by-election in the federal riding of Toronto-St. Paul’s, scheduled for Monday, June 24. By-elections can often be meaningless in the political scheme of things: voter turnout tends to be low, little interest or energy is generated, and the outcome usually does not affect the balance of power. The June 24 by-election, however, has the potential to become a major inflection point in federal politics.
The Liberal Party of Canada has held the Toronto-St. Paul’s seat in the House of Commons since 1993, most recently by the Hon. Carolyn Bennett, who has moved on to her political reward as Canada’s Ambassador to Denmark. Although the Liberal candidate in the by-election, Leslie Church, is a respected former Chief of Staff to Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, Liberals are justifiably nervous about the outcome of Monday’s vote.
The brutal polling numbers for Prime Minister Trudeau, both personally and for his party, over the past year have raised the stakes considerably for the Liberals. Both the Conservatives and Liberals have been pouring considerable resources into this by-election race, with Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives smelling blood in the water.
Will voters in Toronto-St. Paul’s be motivated to send a message of their displeasure with the government? Will Liberals who are unhappy with the government decide to stay home and not vote, or perhaps vote for another party? Will the majority of Jewish voters (who represent about 15% of the population in the riding) use the power of the polling booth to express their displeasure with the Liberal government’s handling of the war in Gaza?
These questions will be answered on Monday evening. The outcome could be pivotal. If the Conservatives were to win this by-election, pressure on PM Trudeau to retire and launch a leadership race for the Liberals prior to the next election will become near impossible to ignore or resist. This could change everything.
Parliamentary Business
House Finance Committee Launches Pre-Budget Consultation
The House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance has launched its annual pre-budget consultation, in this case for the 2025 federal budget. As usual, CPWA will be participating in the process, with submissions due in early August. This budget will be the last one that the Trudeau Liberals table before the next election, and therefore will be framed as a campaign document.
Key Bills Receive Royal Assent
Before both the House of Commons and the Senate rose for the summer, they held final votes to allow for Royal Assent on the government’s Fall Economic Statement Implementation, 2023 Bill C-59; Budget Implementation Act, 2024 Bill C-69.
Federal Funding Awarded
$22.4 million from Canada Infrastructure Bank to Langs Bus Lines
The Canada Infrastructure Bank has reached financial close on a $22.4 million investment with Langs Bus Lines Limited to help finance the purchase of up to 200 ZEBs by 2026. The electric school buses will replace aging diesel vehicles in Langs’ bus fleet, providing a much quieter and more sustainable transportation option for students.
Emergency and Transitional Housing in Montreal
Rachel Bendayan, MP for Outremont, and the Quebec Minister responsible for Social Services, Lionel Carmant announced joint funding of $57.5 million per year, for the years 2024-2025 and 2025-2026, to support and develop 51 emergency and transitional housing projects for people experiencing homelessness. Thanks to this funding, the Montreal region will see a significant increase in the number of emergency and transitional housing places by 2026. The call for projects not only allowed to renew and enhance all existing spaces, but also to add 521 new spaces. This represents a 30% increase in the number of places, given that by December 2023 there were 1,526 places in Montreal.
Canada Community-Building Fund in the East Coast
The federal government signed renewed agreements with the governments of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island for the Canada Community-Building Fund (CCBF).
For the first phase of the 10-year deal, municipalities in the two provinces will receive more than $349.3 million over the next five years. This means that over the first five years of the agreement, the government announced that New Brunswick will receive $254.8 million, and Prince Edward Island will receive $94.5 million. This deal will help the communities address their infrastructure needs, plan ahead, and back projects that support new homes in the growing provinces.
Revegetation and Revitalizing Investments
The federal government announced an investment of $190,000 through the Natural Infrastructure Fund at the Lower Nicola Indian Band for revitalizing natural green spaces and completing bank stabilization. The funding supports planting various types of trees, shrubs, flowers, and grass at several locations on different reserves that were disturbed by the flooding event in Merritt in 2021. The revegetation efforts aim to increase biodiversity on the reserves and manage invasive species encroaching in certain areas, specifically blue weed. Additionally, completing bank stabilization will safeguard the ecosystem and support the breeding habitat of the salmon population in the creek, while also mitigating future flood risks.
