With regular House of Commons business on hold until next week, Prime Minister Mark Carney is off to Montreal to “tour a production and manufacturing assembly line” before going before the cameras to announce what his office is billing as “new measures to strengthen security, create prosperity and reinforce strategic autonomy.” (10:30 a.m.)

UPDATE: Canadian Press is now reporting that Carney will is set to formally release a new defence industrial strategy that will outline “sweeping changes to the way it approaches supporting the domestic defence industry, as Canada looks to transition away from overreliance on the United States for military gear,” according to an earlier report.

“The $6.6-billion plan promises to prioritize building military equipment at home, hike the share of defence contracts awarded to Canadian firms and add up to 125,000 new jobs over the next decade,” as per CP.

Senior defence officials will hold a “virtual technical briefing” on the plan this morning. (8:30 a.m.)

Meanwhile, Canada – U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc continues to make the rounds in Mexico, where he’s leading a super-sized Team Canada trade mission that “will bring together a diverse delegation of Canadian businesses, industry associations, and partners from across the country to strengthen commercial ties with Mexico and explore new opportunities in a dynamic and diverse market,” as per his office.

The five-day trip was “organized in co-ordination with a Canadian Chamber of Commerce confab in Mexico City,” CTV News reports.

“Canadian Chamber of Commerce CEO Candace Laing said the mission got underway on Sunday with a briefing and gathering at the embassy, and Monday will see the approximately 370 Canadian delegates connect with a Mexican delegation of comparable size.”

Elsewhere on the ministerial circuit:

• Jobs and Families Minister Patty Hajdu and Secretary of State for Labour John Zerucelli are booked in for a morning visit to the Windsor, Ont., office of two Unifor Locals 444 and 200, which collectively represent thousands of local auto workers, to “launch new workforce measures for key sectors” on the same day that the local Stellantis assembly plant is slated to reinstate the third shift that was eliminated in 2020. (11:30 a.m.)
• Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon teams up with Northern and Arctic Affairs Minister Rebecca Chartrand and local Liberal MP Terry Duguid to outline “federal priorities aimed at strengthening Canada’s transportation system, reinforcing supply chains and supporting the country’s economic growth” during a morning event hosted by the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce. (9 a.m. CT)
• Moving still further west, Emergency Management Minister Eleanor Olszewski joins Mount Royal University provost Chad London, Alberta Food Processors Association executive director Bianca Parsons and Calgary-area Liberal MP Cory Hogan at the Platform Innovation Centre to share the details of new federal support that, as per the advisory, will “help southern Alberta businesses build resiliency and thrive.” (11 a.m. MT)
• Rounding out the roster, Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Rebecca Alty will highlight new federal support to “help address the illegal drug and overdose crisis in Northern and Western Canada” during a midday visit to the Whitehorse headquarters of the Council of Yukon First Nations. (12 p.m. YT)

ON AND AROUND THE HILL

Montreal Institute for Global Security executive director Kyle Matthews hits the West Block press theatre to share the findings of a newly released report that “highlights how foreign states are increasingly targeting diaspora communities in Canada through intimidation, harassment, surveillance, coercion, and threat,” with author and senior fellow Phil Gurski and Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project executive director Mehmet Tohti also on the speaking list for the mid-morning briefing session. (11 a.m.)

IN THE CHAMBER

Regular parliamentary proceedings will resume on Monday, Feb. 23, 2026.

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