All about affordability – iPolitics

No frolicking around Parliament today, because reporters were locked up on 111 Sussex Road in anticipation of the Spring Economic Updates.

The Spring Economic Update (SEU) provides key details for the major projects file, including the new sovereign wealth fund and different fiscal measures for the oil and gas sector.

Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the broad outlines of the new public investment vehicle, called the Canada Strong Fund, on Monday.

The midyear fiscal update provides more information about the fund, stating its mandate will be to deliver market-rate returns on investment.

The update document didn’t provide a model on the rate of return, but provided numbers suggesting the borrowing rate for the seed capital will range from 2.5 to 3.5 per cent. The government plans on providing $25 billion over the next three years.

The priorities and investment criteria of the new fund have yet to be determined, but the federal government says it will review the mandates of other public funds to avoid duplication.

Aya Dufour has more.

*The Canada Strong Fund is one of the pillars of the Carney government’s midyear fiscal update. Credit: Sydney Ko/iPolitics*

Rising tax revenue and lower interest rates helped cut the projected federal deficit by $11 billion last year, according to new numbers released Tuesday as part of the Spring Economic Update.

The revised figures show that Ottawa is now projected to post a $66.9 billion deficit in the fiscal year that wrapped up in March, down from the $78.9 figure originally estimated in the fall budget.

The document credits the improved numbers to a resilient Canadian economy, noting that despite the trade war with the U.S., incomes and jobs continue to rise, while wages are growing at a faster clip than inflation.

The update said that Canada has added nearly three times as many as jobs per capita as the U.S., and unemployment has fallen from a peak of 7.1 per cent in Sept. 2025 to 6.7 per cent in March, defying private sector expectations in this past fall’s budget.

Read more from Marco Vigliotti.

New housing construction hasn’t surged but slowing demand is starting to lower prices, the Liberal government suggests in Tuesday’s Spring Economic Updates.

The 178-page update says housing affordability is improving, with average home prices down roughly 20 per cent and national rents falling nearly nine per cent.

Higher inventory levels are giving buyers more room to negotiate, the report says, as more properties come onto the market.

Ottawa is planning to spend about $140 billion in the next five years across the housing continuum, including both non-market and market-rate housing.

Sydney Ko has more.

*Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne speaks during a press conference about the Spring Economic Update in Ottawa (Daniel Arnold/iPolitics)*

The update also included the creation of the ‘Team Canada Strong” program, which the government says will provide opportunities for young people, aged 15-30, to gain experience in the trades.

The Liberals are setting aside almost $6 billion in funding for the program, with the aim of increasing the number of young people entering into the skilled trades. This is part of a larger effort to increase the trades’ workforce as the government focused on major infrastructure projects.

“Team Canada Strong will empower workers… to help build the local infrastructure that the government is investing in,” Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said during a press conference about the economic update.

A strengthened workforce in the skilled trades will turn the Liberal’s “plans into projects,” Champagne told reporters.

Daniel Arnold’s got this one.

In Other Headlines

Internationally

Meanwhile, former FBI Director James Comey has been indicted for a second time and will face charges brought by the US Department of Justice, multiple sources told the BBC’s US partner CBS News.

The specific charges are not known, but the sources said they relate to an image Comey briefly shared on Instagram last year that showed seashells forming the numbers “86 47”.

Comey has insisted he did not know what the numbers meant, but Trump and other administration officials have said the post was a threat against the 47th president. “Eighty-six” is a slang term used to mean “eject” or “remove.”

The department first brought charges against Comey in September, accusing him of lying to Congress over press leaks.

Elsewhere, the United Arab Emirates ditching the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is a significant blow to the Middle East’s ability to keep oil prices artificially high. But it also could be disruptive to US oil producers and could complicate the region’s ability to respond to future emergencies.

The United States is energy independent … kinda. It produces more than it consumes, but it still imports about a third of its oil from overseas. That’s because the light, sweet crude that America drills is great for making gasoline but lousy for making heavier fuels and other petroleum-based products. So the United States still relies on the Middle East for some of its crude.

Diminishing OPEC’s power could be a good thing for consumers in the long run. The UAE is the second-largest producer in the region, so it will serve as a major new competitor on the market that can produce oil free of restrictions set by OPEC member nations.