The Current - Parliament returns today. What’s Mark Carney’s plan?

Episode Date: May 26, 2025

The House of Commons returns today after nearly six months, Prime Minister Mark Carney with his new Liberal minority government, and Conservatives without their leader Pierre Poilievre in the Parliament. What’s next? Matt Galloway speaks with Karina Gould, the re-elected Liberal MP; Heather McPherson, the re-elected NDP MP; and Andrew Lawton, the first-time Conservative MP about their parties’ priorities, the challenges ahead — and how they can work together for Canada.

Canadians have plenty of reasons to pay attention right now, but not everyone has a daily news habit. So if you're hoping to build one, we're here to make that really easy. I'm Marcia Young. I'm John Northcott and we host World Report. Give us 10 minutes every morning and we'll give you the biggest stories happening in Canada and around the globe. Whether you're tracking Trump's latest tariff threats, election season in Canada, or how the war in Ukraine is changing, we'll help you understand what's going on. You can find and follow World Report wherever you get your podcasts. This is a CBC podcast. Hello, I'm Matt Galloway and this is the

current podcast. The House of Commons returns today, the first session for this new liberal minority government. Tomorrow, King Charles will deliver the speech from the throne, outlining the government's priorities, and the Prime Minister, Mark Carney, addressed the Liberal Caucus yesterday. Our government has been elected to do nothing less than define a new economic and security relationship with the United States and

Build and there's a lot of hands and what I'm about to say and build the strongest economy that works for everyone Canadians also want their life to become more affordable. They want their communities safer We will deliver these mandates with urgency and determination We are going to get going from now on. Well to make sense of those priorities and what's to come we're joined by this morning by three members of parliament. Karina Gould is the re-elected Liberal MP for the riding of Burlington in Ontario. Heather McPherson is the re-elected NDP MP for Edmonton Strathcona in Alberta. And Andrew Lawton is a first-time Conservative MP for the new writing of Elgin St. Thomas, London South in Ontario. Good morning, everyone. Good morning.

Good morning. Karina, just talk about the tone, if you would, of that meeting yesterday. The Prime Minister, by my count, said that you're going to be very, very busy, at least three times, maybe more. How did people respond to that? Look, I think people are really excited. There's a new energy in the liberal caucus. There's a new ambition, I think. The prime minister obviously is laying out a very ambitious agenda and folks are excited to be

back in Ottawa. And also like, there are a lot of new liberal MPs joining the caucus. So there's a real mix of kind of old hats of which I guess I'm one. There are a lot of new Liberal MPs joining the caucus. There's a real mix of old hats, of which I guess I'm one, and a lot of first-time members of parliament who, I guess Andrew can speak a bit to this, but there's a lot of humility but a lot of excitement that comes with being elected for the first time, the fourth time, like me.

There's a lot of energy. How confident are you that your government can achieve the big priorities that we heard the Prime Minister lay out with a minority government? Yeah, I mean, look, it will be challenging. We certainly heard conservative leader Pierre Poliev yesterday say that he is going to work with us

and especially on the big things like the relationship with the United States. I certainly hope that that's true. I think that this last election showed that Canadians care deeply about this relationship. It is a top priority for people across this country because our economy, our jobs, our livelihoods depend on it. And so, you know, I think this minority parliament, even though the Liberals, we have a very strong minority, in some ways that can also be challenging, because we have different parties with whom we can work. But Heather will probably talk about,

different parties with whom we can work. But Heather will probably talk about, you know, the challenge that the NDP are facing as well. So I think that there is goodwill, which there should be at the beginning of a parliament. I hope that that lasts because Canadians have sent all of us here to do a really important job and that's to protect this country. Just last point on that. What about goodwill within the Liberal Party itself? You use the phrase old hat. That's how you wanna refer to yourself, but you are experienced, but you're not in cabinet. You were previously the house leader, you ran against Mark Carney for the Liberal leadership.

We heard other MPs who are not in cabinet, Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, talk about how he felt disrespected by not being included in the cabinet. How is the caucus and cabinet restless at all is your sense? I mean, how united are people behind Mark Carney? I think people are fairly united. I think fairly united. Yeah, I would say that people are, you know, again, like look, Matt, when January, we thought we were dead in the water, we were expecting a massive conservative majority. The fact that we almost run a majority government, I think, gives people the sense again of unity

that Canadians sent us here to do a job and to focus on that. And, you know, as the Liberal Party, we need to be focused on supporting Canadians and not so much on our own internal party politics. on supporting Canadians and not so much on our own internal party politics. And so again, there's goodwill, there's excitement. It's an ambitious agenda. It's going to be a really challenging agenda. There are challenges in managing the house. There are external challenges like Donald Trump amongst other things. But I think we're getting started on the right foot and we're all here to do a job, which is to serve Canadians. Andrew Lawton, first days in the new job, how does the orientation feel? Well, I think this is now the main thrust that we've all been working towards, which

is walking into the House of Commons. It's quite an honour and I think to Karina's point, one that I don't enter into lightly, but I'm very excited for this new chapter. What do you believe your party's priorities are in this session of the House as the official opposition? Well, look, we ran a campaign and are tremendously proud of the votes we got, the share of the votes we got, the new people we brought out, and a lot of that was for a message which is now, even after the election, more important than ever, which is to get affordability under control, to put Canada and Canadian business and Canadian

taxpayers and citizens and residents first. We have to do all of this. The stakes are so high right now for so many people. And even though we're going to be fulfilling our mandate from the opposition, I think we still need to make good to the best of our ability on those commitments we made during the campaign and that's to our role as an opposition where we're looking right now for action from the Liberals to deal with these things. I mean one person who won't be there in the house obviously is the leader of the Conservative Party, Pierre Pauliou, who will be

peering from outside through a window if he can because he lost his seat. He will be running in a by-election whenever that's called. He addressed the Conservative caucus yesterday. In your estimation, after his address, how unified is the party behind him? The party is incredibly unified. I'll go one up from Fairley there. We are very unified behind our leader, Pierre Poliev,

and if you look at where the Conservatives made gains, a lot of these seats were areas where no one would ever have expected, even in the days before the election, the conservatives to do well in among people who had traditionally been NDP voters, people who had traditionally not voted at all, or for whatever reason not voted conservative. And when you look at getting 41% of the vote, under any election other than this one, that would have been a tremendously strong mandate. So we have grown the party, we've grown the base, and I think there are a lot of new people that we've brought into the conservative family, and that's something that we need to make sure we build on next

time. Heather MacPherson, in some ways it feels like every party was kind of humbled during this election. The Liberals didn't get the majority that they wanted. The Conservatives, people thought they were going to win. They did not win. And the NDP lost official party status. Only seven NDP MPs in the House. We spoke with you the morning after the election.

What is your sense now? I mean, what you ask for and what will your party ask for to support Mark Carney's Liberals in this current session? Well, I mean, first of all, like my colleagues, we're going to Ottawa to fight for Canadians. You know, the election was a very odd election. I think an election that we spoke about that was often based on fear for a lot of people. They voted against something they didn't want rather than something they did want. Going into the House of Commons though, I mean, I woke up that day after and I think

we talked about this, Matt, like people's groceries still cost too much. People still couldn't find a home. Regardless of what happened on April 28th, the work of New Democrats is still going to be to make sure that we are protecting the rights of workers across this country, making sure that the impact that Donald Trump has on our economy is not felt disproportionately by workers. That's still got to be the things that we're doing. You know, as a representative for Edmonton, for Alberta, I've got to be walking into that House of Commons, making sure that I'm protecting universally accessible,

publicly delivered healthcare, that I have to be pushing back against a Premier in my province who is firing up separatist sentiment across the country or across the province. There's a lot of work to do and so that's what we're still going to do. There's only seven of us. Of course, we would have preferred to have our incredible colleagues back in the house. We're going to have to do that with seven. Will you ask for official party status to help support the Liberals? You know, honestly, it's not my first priority.

There's some real value in us being in Parliament and being able to play a role on things like committees, but that's not my first priority. My first priority is heading into the House today, getting down to work, figuring out what it looks like to be a a caucus of seven how we work to Continue to raise the voices of Canadian workers. I mean, that's what that's what New Democrats do I mean my job in this Parliament frankly is is to show Canadians that this is a better Parliament This is a stronger democracy when there are more New Democrats at the at the table Have you thought any more about whether you'd want that job full-time leading that party?

I have not thought any more about that. Not one second. Not one second. It has not crossed your mind. You've heard of By Canadian, but what about Listen Canadian, Watch Canadian, Read Canadian? On CUE, our award-winning podcast, you'll hear unfiltered conversations with Canadian artists who are shaping the world, whether they're about to break out or already making a global impact.

Nellie Furtado, Ann Murray, Elliot Page, Dallas Green, Jay Barachel, Cardinal O'Fishal, you'll hear the voices defining our culture right now and for the next generation. Cue with me, Tom Power. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. Karina Gould, your party is not putting forward a spring budget and Pierre Pauliev and the

interim leader of the NDP, Don Davies, both said that this is unacceptable in the middle of a trade war, in the middle of what we're dealing with from the United States to not produce an economic plan, that a budget lays out priorities. It tells us as Canadians what your government wants to do. Why are you not putting out a budget in the spring? Well, look, I think the Prime Minister was clear on that in the sense that we're here for a very short period of time this spring and he has a couple of key objectives. I mean, the one being putting forward a middle class tax cut and the second one eliminating trade barriers and these

are things that we ran on in the election. But that being said, it is important for us to lay out an economic plan and my understanding is that we're going to be doing this in the fall. And so. Are you surprised by the lack of a spring budget? Well, I think that given the short period of time that we're in, I understand why we're not doing it. And I understand that there are a couple of key priorities to get accomplished. And, you know, the House is only returning for four weeks. And I can tell you as a former government house leader, that's not a lot of time to get stuff passed. So I think it makes sense in the sense that

there are a couple of key things to get done. The speech from the throne tomorrow is going to lay out the priorities. I mean, that's the kickoff for parliament. And so if we didn't just come off of an election, and let's say we had prorogued and gone back to it, I don't think it would have been acceptable not to have a budget. But the king will be here tomorrow to read the speech from the throne, which will very clearly outline what this government's priorities are. And then that'll give

the cabinet, it'll give the prime minister, the minister of finance some time over the summer to really lay out what that economic update is going to look like coming back into the fall session. Andrew, Pierre Poliev says that he is willing to work with the liberals if they, in his words, deliver gains for Canadians. Where do you think there is room or an opportunity for the conservatives to support the Liberals? Well, I think that if we see policies that are keeping with things that are in the best interests of Canada, we can and will support those policies. And I have to say, though, that even though we have a four-week session coming up, any policies that the Liberal government

wants to pass in that four weeks could have been part of a budget. The decision to not put a budget forward is in fact a decision. It's a choice they made and one that I will say undermines the whole message the Liberals gave during the campaign, which was that Mark Carney was the man with the plan and then he comes in and says, wow, the plan will come later. It's interesting because this speaks to a little bit of what people are looking for in some ways. They're wondering whether there's going to be a change in tone. Pierre Poliev, in addition to saying that he would work with the liberals, is also, you know, he called the Justice Minister, Sean Fraser,

the master of failing upward. He said that the Prime Minister has been involved in doublespeak when it comes to how he's going to work with the United States. How much does tone matter in getting things done in parliament do you think? I think it's interesting that you're more interested in the tone than in Mark Carney's double speak on that. I think tone matters to Canadians but continue go ahead. I think pointing out when Mr. Carney said one thing during the campaign that we learned later on was not the case, this is regarding counter tariffs, is entirely germane and pointing out the fact that he said he was going to be this fiscal manager with a strong plan and then decides to defer the budget to the fall, which was not something that we were ever told

about before the election. I think these are very relevant things. So as an opposition, I think it's incumbent on us to criticize the government when it's warranted, but more importantly, to push them to deliver policies that deliver for Canadians. And that's certainly what I'm going to do. There's a very constructive way to do that, but we're going to need the government to actually show us some of these policies. Pete In this moment, what do you think Canadians are looking for? Do you think that Canadians broadly have a tolerance for partisan politics when we are facing the threat that we are from the United States? When I was knocking on doors through the campaign

Canadians care about the fact that they can't afford to feed their families. They care about the fact that they can't afford to buy a house themselves, that their children can't afford to move out, that they're living in a very precarious way because of all of the things that are going on. And Canadians want solutions and I was proud of the things that are going on. And Canadians want solutions, and I was proud of the solutions that we put forward in the campaign, and now I'm going to continue to advocate for those as a member of parliament. Pete How much room do you think there is for the various parties here to work together?

Heather Bollingham Well, I certainly hope there's a lot of room for the various parties to work together. I mean, the message from Canadians is that they want us to get to work. I mean, I also heard on the doorsteps while I was campaigning during the election, you know, it's terrible when you see what happened in our parliament in the fall, when nothing was able to move, when nothing was able to get done. Canadians see that as us, you know, not acting in their best interest, not trying to make sure that their cost of living goes down, that their affordability for their family is increased. Like, nobody wants to see a bunch of children bickering in the House of Commons. It is, again, why I think it's so important that

we do actually have a strong, democratic party because there needs to be more adults in the room. You know, we didn't see that in the last parliament. And certainly, I hope going in today that we are all ready to roll up our sleeves and get to work. That's what Canadians sent us here to do. That's what we have to do. And I, like Karina, I certainly hope that Mr. Poliev is open to being a little more interested in working with other parties, a little bit more interested in helping Canadians and not getting the sound clip. I hope we have a few less slogans this parliament. Can I just ask you, we're just about out of time, but let me ask you all quickly, and Heather raised this issue about Alberta where we're seeing the sentiment of separatism rising. The prime minister's meeting with

the premiers next week talking about inter-provincial trade barriers. What do the Liberals need to do? Heather, I'll ask you first briefly, what do the Liberals need to do to tamp this down in your home province? I think we need to be listening to Canadians. We need to be out there talking to do, Heather, I'll ask you first briefly, what do the Liberals need to do to tap this down in your home province? Well, I think we need to be listening to Canadians. We need to be out there talking to Canadians, listening to Canadians. You know, Albertans have some valid concerns. I mean, the vast majority of Albertans are not interested in separating from Canada. I am an incredibly proud Canadian and an incredibly proud Albertan. But I think Albertans do want to know that the federal government is listening to them, that is listening to their concerns.

I mean, there are workers across this country who are deeply concerned about what the tariffs already have meant and will continue to mean for their livelihoods, for their jobs. And I think that needs to be something that the federal government, that the Liberals address. There is no sort of passing over this. There is no, listen, Alberta voted mostly conservative, so we're going to ignore them. That's not helping. That's not the conversation we need to be having right now.

We need to be looking at ways to protect workers in Alberta and across the country. And Andrew Lawton, Pierre Poliev says he is against Alberta separating, but he has sympathized with, in his words, the legitimate grievances of those who would like to separate from Canada. Do you agree with him? I do, and I am fully committed to this country. I love this country, and I believe we are stronger united. But uniting this country, keeping it together means listening to the various regions of the country that have very legitimate frustrations.

In the case of Alberta, this is a province that has felt a complete assault on its way of life from the Liberal government over the last decade. And you see this most notably on energy policy. And this is another area where I would like to see some movement on this. And I would like to see a government that's going to strip away legislation

that's made it impossible to build pipelines, which is not only economically good for Canada, but would send a very strong signal to Alberta that they have a place in Confederation and that we support them. – Karina, last minute to you. We heard those complaints and those concerns when we were in central Alberta in the lead up to the vote. What will show those people who are, to Andrew and to Heather's point, disgruntled, they're unhappy and they are concerned about the future direction of this country? What will show them that your party is listening to them? Well, I think continued engagement is going to be really important and listening. I mean, my understanding is Tim Hodgson, the new Minister of Natural Resources, has already been out west and

is having those conversations at the government level. But I think it's also about, you know, really being there. You know, we've got newly elected members from Calgary and Edmonton. We have a new member from Saskatchewan as well. And so, you know, really demonstrating that, you know, the Liberals are a party for all of Canada and that we are there to hear their concerns is going to be really important. But I have to push back, you know, a bit on Andrew because, like, it's just not objectively true what the Conservatives say when it comes to energy policy. I mean, we twinned the TMX pipeline that is sending energy resources to Tidewater to market. And when you hear Mark Carney speak, he's talking about energy across this country, both conventional and new.

So I think that this liberal government is going to be there for people in every region of the country. And we're looking forward to uniting this country and doing what we can to support Canadians in every single corner of Canada. Andrew, you're the newbie. Just finally, are you ready to walk through the doors of the House of Commons? Absolutely. It's the honour of a life and I'm looking forward to it. I'm glad to have you all here. It's a big morning and I hope that you'll come back as the work gets underway.

In the meantime, thank you and good luck to you all. Thank you so much, Matt. Thank you. You've been listening to The Current Podcast. My name is Matt Galloway. Thanks for listening. I'll talk to you soon.