Front Burner - Politics! Parliament’s 'consequential' agenda

Episode Date: September 21, 2026

Parliament returns today from summer recess, amid ongoing economic uncertainty and an unresolved trade war with the U.S. Prime Minister Mark Carney told MPs on Friday that this will be "a crucial session of the House of Commons" and vowed to introduce "some of the most consequential legislation not just of this government, but in decades." CBC's Chief Political Correspondent Rosie Barton joins us to talk about what we can expect in this session of Parliament, and Carney's balancing act for his ambitious agenda. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts 

You know a great story when you feel it. Your heart pounds, your mouth waters. And you can't help but grin. Discover the stories you'll feel long after they're over. Watch on APTN or stream on APTN Plus. This is a CBC podcast. Hi, I'm Jamie Poisson.

Parliament returns today from summer recess, and there is lots to talk about. Carney, who just wrapped this really busy week that included an investment summit in Toronto in a speech to the European Parliament in France, told MPs on Friday that all of this was just the warm-up. This is a crucial session of the House of Commons. We are going to introduce some of the most consequential legislation, not just of this government, but in decades. Let's do it. Exactly. So today, my colleague Rosie Barton is with me, and we're going to talk about what people can expect here and the balancing act of this Prime Minister's ambitious agenda. Rosie, hey, great to have you.

Hey, Jamie. So I'm sure in Ottawa there's a bit of start of school vibes in the air as Parliament comes back from summer break. And just before we get rolling with what we can expect, which is quite a lot, in what notable ways would you say that the start of this sitting, is different from last year. Yeah, I'm sure everyone will be rolling up to Parliament Hill with their new outfits on, their first day back outfits. Actually, there's quite a bit that's different, and I think that's what's going to make this sitting

even more important than even the Prime Minister is suggesting. When we left, there were still trade talks happening. There aren't anymore. They, as we all know, have blown up in a fairly dramatic fashion. There are counter tariffs, there are more tariffs coming, and there's threats for other things later in the year. The liberals left with a majority, a technical majority. They've come back, having swept three by-elections and looking ahead to six more. And we are now in a place where I actually think the prime minister is right that there is some renewed momentum around Canada

and some of the things that he's putting forward there, whether it be this EU partnership or others. The last seven days, we've stood shoulder to shoulder with an ally. We've catalyzed record investment into our country. We've deepened our ties with Europe. It's a lot, but that was just the warm-up. We are going to carry this momentum into the House. So it's different.

The stakes are perhaps even higher, and the government's position as a majority government, I think is a little more stable too. There is some new legislation that Carney spoke about on Friday, the Building Canada Strong Act, which as I understand it, is a kind of follow-up to the Building Canada Act, which set up the major projects office and helps fast-track projects deemed in the national interest. And so what do we know about this new act that he was talking about at this moment? Yeah, I mean, he calls it one project, one review.

We've been out consulting all summer on this. listened, we've made some adjustments. The bottom line, though, is this. For projects, federal projects and supply chains, our standard will be simple. One project, one review, one year. And it is kind of the second step of the Building Canada Act, which was a temporary measure, which would allow the government to suspend all sorts of different things in order to get a big project through. this piece of legislation, once it is tabled, will make some of that stuff far more permanent, whether it be, you know, you do one environmental assessment, whether you decide you're going to exempt certain environmental standards or you're going to leave out an invasive species or species at risk character.

So it's going to make all of those things more permanent. I think what it most importantly does, because the government already has the ability to do some of these things. things. What it most importantly does is send a signal to the markets and send a signal to foreign investors. This isn't just a temporary move. This is a permanent move that the government is putting in place so that if you want to come and have a safe place to invest money in infrastructure, this is it. Predictability is a competitive advantage. If we're going to say no, say no quickly. If we're going to say yes, say yes on time. When Canada decides a project should go ahead that project will go ahead.

It may lead to more controversy. There were certainly problems and criticisms around the Building Canada Act, and there may be the same sort of concerns around this, particularly from environmentalists and those concerned that this gives the government the ability to run roughshod over some of those regulations. And am I right to say that this Act is supposed to introduce changes to Canada's labor code? What are we talking about here? The labor code looks like it's going to be a separate piece.

at least according to the order paper. And there is a press conference on Monday with some senior ministers, including the Minister of Labor, Patty High do. That has been going through consultations through the summer. And the government says, in their speak, that this is an attempt to modernize

the Canadian Labor Code. What is it actually? It looks like it's going to be a way to allow the minister to intervene in a more formal way in some particular areas where the government believes that the damage of work stoppage, a strike or a walkout, I guess, could have real serious economic impact on the country. We will never interfere with the workers' right to bargain or to strike,

but that we do at all agree that there are circumstances where better tools are needed to both foster relationships and employer-in-union relationships that are struggling and to also help resolve resolutions in a way that is, leads to longer term at industrial peace. So think about the energy sector. Think about rail. That would be a really classic example. So the idea is that they are trying to avoid economic impact from work stoppages.

Does that mean that they are going to limit people's right to strike, which is a constitutional right? I don't know. I don't know at this stage. Certainly the minister says that's not the case. But it sure sounds like that too is going to be a tough one for the government. and unions are already expressing concern about it. What else might we expect in the legislature this fall? I know there's AI and social media legislation from last sitting.

You know, anything else that you think is notable and worth us kind of going through. Yeah, I mean, whereas last sitting had a lot of actually crime and justice legislation that got past and then the beginning of some others like the AI strategy and the Safe Social Media Act, which would ban social media for kids under 16. This one, I think, is going to be much more, the sitting will be much more focused on the economy. So you've seen it already in those two examples we spoke about. Obviously, the big piece is the budget, which now because we're on the budget fall cycle, we will start to see what is happening to the Canadian economy there. I also would wonder whether that is potentially a place where the government will, I'm going to be kind here and

not say hide things, but generously put other things that might be difficult. And there I'm talking about the privatization of some parts of airport operations, which the prime minister has also put on the table. That will require some sort of change might be easiest for them to stick it inside a big piece of legislation like the Budget Implementation Act. So I do think a lot of the fall is going to be geared towards what the government is doing to help the Canadian economy through the trade war and then the kinds of moves it's making to diversify outside of the country. Say a little bit more about the airports for me.

So Carney announced last week that his government will open Canada's four largest airports to private investment raising, quote, tens of billions of. dollars of proceeds through long-term agreements, but keeping underlying ownership. Following best practice in other countries, the government of Canada will retain ownership of the underlying land and assets, but we will unlock their true value by bringing in new capital and expertise to their operations and their growth. Were you surprised to hear that announcement? This is a pretty controversial proposal. I was surprised that it came last week. I guess it makes sense, given that the Prime Minister was looking for investment from foreign investors at his investment summit. And this was a place where people want to hear that kind of thing. And it's something that's been done in many, many, many other countries. It's also something that has been discussed by previous liberal governments and they moved away from it because of some of the concerns that were raised. In this case, what's interesting to me, a couple things. First of all, that liberal caucus didn't see.

entirely very well briefed on what this was about. So they did have to have this call to try and explain it to caucus. There were real concerns coming from caucus. The second is that the way the government is framing it, not as a way to get foreign capital into the country, but as a way to use that money to then help beef up regional airports, which are so critical to this country and often suffer because they just don't have enough money. So there's a way. So there, They're framing it as a way for Canadians to get something out of this. The concern is an obvious one. If you are selling off operating responsibilities to a private investment company or a foreign company,

they're going to want something out of it. And presumably what they're going to want out of it is a profit, a large profit margin. When I asked the transport minister how he would make sure that cost didn't go up for Canadians in this scenario, he seemed to suggest that there would be some sort of way to contain or cap those costs. We will be looking to implement this program that will make air travel better, regional connectivity better, and give Canadian pension funds and others the opportunity to operate these assets as they do successfully all over the world and affordably, because we will write right into those contracts measures that will ensure that fair

and other increases are not possible. where they're not justified. What does that mean? I don't really know. But this is another example, like the other pieces of legislation we were talking about, where we really do need to see the fine print

to see how it will impact Canadians. And you can see, rightly, that the conservatives are jumping on this because that speaks to the very core issue that they want to focus on, which is the issue of affordability. We want to see how it's going to save money for Canadians. Because if it doesn't save money,

then why do it? We want to make sure that it doesn't end up being sweetheart deals for corporate, corporate power brokers and liberal insiders at the expense of hardworking Canadians who are already struggling to put food on their table. I take your point that there's still a lot of questions here and fine print that needs to be poured over. But Carney said on Friday that this session of parliament is crucial, that his party is putting forward some of the most consequential legislation in decades. Would you agree with

that framing? Does it seem like that's what's happening? I mean, he knows more than I know, right? He knows what legislation's coming. And I just have a hint at a couple of the things. I would say that we are again, and not to use one of his words, but we are at another hinge moment for the country. But I think what's different is it's not just for the country. It's kind of for him and his government too. We are at the moment now, you know, more than 18 months. in where the trade talks with the U.S. have collapsed. No one knows how we're going to get back to the table. They're trying all these different things and trying to attract new markets.

But I think we're at the point where it's got to start appearing as though it's working, right? And Canadians have to start having some things to point to. So it's consequential, yes, because the government's agenda is ambitious and important for the country. But I would also say it's consequential because if they don't start to land some of these things, I'm not sure what happens next. I think as this trade war continues, there will be more layoffs. People are going to start feeling that. And if the government can't bring in enough supports and do enough things to show that this vision that the prime minister seems to have in his head is moving in the right direction, I think it's going to be a problem for them. You know a great story when you feel it.

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The AU Online MBA is designed to fit individual schedules so you can successfully complete the program from home, work, or even while traveling. You don't need to leave work for a month, a year, or even every second Friday. Choose up more flexible MBA and get more out of your education. Learn how at Athabascau.cau.cau.ca.ca.ca.ca.com slash flexible MBA. Part of that vision is obviously attracting enormous amounts of investment into the country. And, I mean, we're just coming off, you know, what has been framed at least, you know, amongst political watchers as like quite a seismic week for Carney. And I would just love to get some of your reflections on it.

So first, maybe let's start with his investment summit, which he had last week. it attracted some 250 leading financial CEOs, executives, Canadian political leaders. And is there a sense in Ottawa that the summit achieved what the Prime Minister wanted it to? Again, might be too soon to say. I mean, the goal of this exercise was to match investors with projects. Not everyone was allowed to attend the summit. Not every company or project got into the meeting. they had to be things that were doable and fairly far down the road that would attract investment.

And the goal, as you know, for the government is a trillion dollars in investment over five years. That's a huge number. And we certainly didn't see any clear picture of those kinds of numbers coming out of the week. We did see a couple things, though. We saw this productivity, the mega deduction for companies, which allows them to write off new capital investments. Put simply, your investment dollars will go a lot further in Canada than anywhere else in the advanced world. It also saw large banks and pension funds from this country decide that they would really work to increase investment inside Canada as a goal. And it got a lot of really important people in a room, largely because of the prime minister and his connections to those people and those businesses, given the things he's done before. So it got people talking about Canada in a way that I don't think we've seen in a very long time.

I don't know that we can say that it's done what it's supposed to do because I don't think we've seen really enough results. So after the Investment Summit, Kearney headed to Europe where the EU really opened the door to associate membership. So I would like to work with you on opening the door for Canada to being the door. to being the first associate member of the European Union. Lots of question marks still on what that even means. And Carney gave a speech that Pish an alliance as a way of building up the bloc's capabilities and independence so essentially great powers can't exploit it.

We do not seek power to dominate others. On the contrary, we are pursuing resilience so no one, no one can control. our open markets, impair our sovereignty, threaten our territorial integrity, or undermine our freedoms, our democracies, our rule of law. With a bit of distance, too, from these events, how are you thinking about the significance of what we witnessed last week vis-a-vis Europe? Yeah, again, I mean, the speech by the Prime Minister, the speech by Ursula von der Leyen, the moment when, you know, he comes into the room in Strasbourg,

and is greeted sort of like a rock star. Dear colleagues allow me to welcome Canada's Prime Minister, Mark Carney. Thank you for being with us. These are all sort of interesting things to see and watch, right? Like what is going on that the world is so excited to welcome Canada to join further alliances and turn towards Canada? There is work happening behind the scenes on whatever this deal, is going to mean it'll have something to do with AI.

It may have something to do with Arctic security. Critical minerals will be a big part of it. There are opportunities for Europe to invest further in Canada. Those things all sound like, you know, reasonable things that we should want if we're in this trade war with the U.S. But beyond Canada's students being allowed to go over there and study and work on this student exchange program, I'm not sure what we're getting out of it yet. Beyond us saying, you can come and buy our critical minerals, if that's what ends up happening, what are we getting

in return? So I don't know, again, that this is something that we can really clearly evaluate yet. I think there's a lot of missing parts before we can say, oh yeah, this is a great idea, let's do it. But in spite of all that, Canadians are very honest. board with this idea, right? Like public opinion polls show that they're into it. And that's, I think, what it comes down to with all these things that we're talking about. The prime minister specifically has an enormous amount of political capital, given some of the polling that we're seeing, given the way Canadians feel about the world and the United States right now, he's got a lot of political capital. And this is the time to spend it early on. This is when he needs to make these big

moves if he thinks they're the right ones. I want to pick up on something you said a little bit earlier when you were talking about this hinge moment for the government and you talked about supports, you know, as people are going to lose their jobs in the future as this trade war with the U.S. continues. I mean, it's not going anywhere right now. Do you have a sense that that is something that the government is seized with? Yes. They've already put billions and billions of dollars on the table, particularly.

for the hardest hit sector, steel, aluminum, softwood. There are ways for small and median side businesses to tap into loans. I had a guy on my show on Sunday who's trying to sell electric motorcycles, was depending on the U.S. for its market, managed to convince the Canadian government that he needed $600,000 to get started in the EU, and he's doing it. So there are anecdotal examples and programs that they've, put in place. Is that enough to get us through? I don't know. It also depends on how long this lasts

and how much worse it gets. You know, is the president going to move forward on essentially shutting down the auto sector in the new year? I don't know. In that case, I don't know how the government could possibly prop everything up. But I think there is a serious attempt to try to keep people afloat while we figure out what the next move is. This government is moving very fast here. They are spending a lot of political capital. We could add to all of this, that we're talking about, these other deals. The PM is signing abroad.

The Saudis, India, China, the UAE. Also, as we've talked about, walking away with the deal, walking away from the deal with the U.S. What is it that you think Carney is ultimately balancing here? He very clearly has a direction for the country in his head, right? He seems to have a very clear picture on how to get there, whether it be creating economic growth, as you said, diversifying trade, building systems inside the country to build up the Canadian economy from within and not need people to rely on outside forces.

What I think that they are maybe not ready for is managing expectations. In these moments, when you have a lot of people on your side and you're promising a lot of things, it is easy to use that political capital, to keep that support, to feel like you've got people behind you. But that's not going to be the case forever. And as a government, you then have to start managing people's expectations in terms of what is actually going to. to unfold. Listen, I think the EU is a really good example of that. There was a lot of back and forth over the language, right? Associate member, future alliance, what is this? What is it not? And then the government tried to downplay it all by saying this isn't about language. This isn't about terms.

This is about a different relationship and you'll see the details. But ultimately, that came back to an issue of how they managed expectations around something they weren't willing to yet define. And to me, is sort of a bit of a red flag for them because I can see that happening in many other circumstances. You need to manage the expectations early because if not, Canadians are going to be disappointed. And the way that kind of stuff can turn on you, I think might be surprising to someone who really hasn't been a politician for very long. Do you get the sense that maybe the prime minister is moving so fast and the public service is like trying to catch up here? Do you think that that's part of it? A little bit. I mean, remember, he's also created a bunch of agencies to try and find a way to do things faster.

You know, when people say he's the CEO of the country, there's a reason why they say that. And that is because he is moving in a way that you would see someone in a private sector move. The problem is, does the public sector, are they able to keep up? And the shareholders, or in this case, the voters, they also need to see the results maybe fast. than the machinery of government will allow. So, yeah, I think that's a real challenge. And, you know, we've certainly heard enough stories, or I have heard enough stories,

of the Prime Minister expressly inpatients at times with the pace in which things are being done. On the CEO stuff, I mean, Post-Media had this editorial last week where they wrote that the Prime Minister has little regard for Parliament. What do you make of the argument that Carney doesn't have the mandate from people to be doing at least some of the stuff that he's doing. Governments can make choices and push ahead with policies, whether they campaigned on them or not.

That's not the only way you get a mandate. And if you didn't campaign on it and it doesn't work out, you're going to get punished for it anyway. So frankly, I'm not sure I buy that part of it. Governments make choices to deal with circumstances all the time. That's what they've been elected to do. And then they have to defend those decisions and explain those decisions to Canadians so that they keep them on side. As for the prime minister's feelings about parliament, I don't know. I mean, he needs parliament and he needs the tools of parliament to do a lot of the things that he wants.

Is it great that he's not in parliament very often? Probably not from an accountability perspective, right, for Canadians. and for journalists to see him there. But at this stage, I don't see any sign that Canadians are unhappy with the way he's doing this job. I feel like I would be remiss to not bring up the fact that there is a referendum coming up in Alberta, well, a referendum on a referendum,

that will require attention from the prime minister. How concerned is the government with this upcoming vote at the moment? I think that they are concerned about, it, I don't think that they are looking at the data and information and seeing that this is going to happen. I think the concern is the one that many people have, and that is that even if the stay with Canada side wins, that the other side, the leave side, is so strong in terms of its percentage that it becomes a more formalized separatist movement in the province. And then you've got to

contend with now two provinces with formal or political parties attached to that and then how they use that for leverage. You know, the government does seem to think that the attention that it's given to some of the very specific demands from the Premier and the promise of a potential new pipeline should be signs that Albertans are feeling more comfortable in the country. I don't know if that's true or not, but they will watch closely what happens, obviously. They will watch closely what happens. and see what is the best way to respond. I should point out, you know, two weeks before that will be the Quebec election,

where we will see whether the Parts Quebecois, who's leading in on the polls, manages to pull off a majority government. And while they've promised no referendum, while Donald Trump is president, it certainly remains their raison d'etre. And so there are provinces out there that are going to make the government's life

more challenging, I would say, in the weeks ahead. let's end with the opposition parties. You know, we've talked throughout this conversation about how much political capital the prime minister has right now, how popular he is. How would you say the current really quite weak state of the conservative party, the main opposition party, is playing in all of this? Listen, conservatives that I talk to are feeling really low, like really low. you know, and then they think they can't get lower and it does. Whether it's the floor crossings, whether it's the by-elections, whether it's the numbers, it's very hard for them to get a handle on what they should be doing here. And so you're seeing some, particularly on social media,

you know, not everyone communicating in caucus communicating the same kind of message around the same kind of thing. And they're not sure what we'll solve it. They're not sure what the right answer is. I think they're probably right that part of the answer is around affordability. Part of the answer will be being in the House where it's easier for them to, you know, get into part of the story and the narrative on a day-to-day basis. I think part of it, and this is something conservatives will tell you also, is time, you know, over time, governments make mistakes. But that's not a great strategy for an opposition party. Many of them are looking at this Brantford, Grant South by-election that has yet to be called where Larry Brock is leaving as the conservative

MP. And a lot of them are wondering whether that's not the equivalent to the liberal St. Paul's by-election that they lost that sort of started the giant snowball that led to Justin Trudeau leaving. I don't know if that will be what forces a change in leadership. And I'm not sure that a change in leadership would actually change a lot materially given the circumstances. I actually think the conservatives are in the worst place as the official opposition party in terms of trying to carve out space in many ways because the prime minister is not as far left as previous liberal prime ministers have been. So that actually opens up a lot more space for the NDP and the Block Quebecoa. And you can see the ways that they might use some of the legislation we've been

talking about in the months ahead to carve out more space for themselves. So in many ways, those parties might have an easier time of it in the months ahead than Pierre Puehliav and the conservatives. Yeah, hard to land your punches when the former conservative prime minister, Stephen Harper, is closing the Liberals Investment Summit. And when the current prime minister is doing a bunch of things that you actually support. Well, that feels like a great place for us to wrap up. Rosie, this is such a great catch-up. Thank you so much. Thanks to you, Jamie. It was fun. All right. That's all for today.

me Poisson, thanks so much for listening. Talk to you tomorrow. For more CBC podcasts, go to cBC.ca slash podcasts.