As MPs get ready to return to their assigned seats in the House of Commons, the federal Liberals have filed the necessary parliamentary paperwork to start the fall sitting by launching a new legislative bid to “build Canada strong,” as outlined in a soon-to-be-tabled bill on track to be introduced by Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon tomorrow afternoon.

As per an advisory released by MacKinnon’s office on Sunday, the bill — which, it’s worth noting, was a last-minute addition to the notice paper after it was initially went out on Friday afternoon — aims to “create certainty for a more competitive, resilient, and independent Canadian economy,” and is expected to include measures to “overhaul federal labour laws,” as flagged by iPolitics last week.

Citing “multiple government, industry and union sources,” iPolitics reported that the legislation was expected to hit the chamber “early in the fall sitting,” and noted that Jobs and Families Minister Patty Hajdu had been scheduled to “hold calls with union leaders and industry” last Friday.

“One of the big question marks looming over the bill is the future of a controversial section of the Canada Labour Code that gives the government broad powers to make orders impacting federally regulated sectors,” iPolitics notes.

“The government has used s. 107 to squash strikes and lockouts in the past few years, including most recently with WestJet and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC). A Liberal source said the bill could lower the threshold for when the government could intervene in disputes.”

In an on-camera opening speech to his fellow Liberals at the start of their pre-sitting caucus retreat last week, Prime Minister Mark Carney confirmed that his government would “apply the lessons, the same urgency and the efficiency of the Major Projects Office … more broadly” this fall.

Speaking with reporters outside the closed-door meeting, MacKinnon cautioned that he didn’t want to “get into too many specifics,” given the need to respect parliamentary privilege, but suggested that the bill would include “improvements to the Canada Labour Code, improvements to project reviews, and more generally, making supply chains more certain and better planned across the country.”

During a separate back-and-forth with reporters staking out the caucus retreat, Hajdu — who, along with Canada – U.S. Relations Minister Dominic LeBlanc, is slated to join MacKinnon at his media availability on Monday afternoon — told reporters that her government “will never interfere with a worker’s right to strike or bargain,” but added that we “do all agree that there are circumstances where better tools are needed,” as per Canadian Press.

A quick check of the notice paper reveals that Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne is also aiming to get the House of Commons to sign off on his government’s decision to extend the temporary pause in collecting the federal fuel excise tax until early next year.

Also on the House to-do list: The final round of debate on a proposal to appoint a new federal commissioner for modern treaty implementation, which, according to the preamble, would provide “an independent, credible, effective and sustainable oversight mechanism to hold the Government of Canada accountable to Parliament for its actions,” and is set to begin third reading on Monday afternoon.

As for the prime minister, after going public with his government’s pitch to forge an “alliance for the future” with the European Union during a whirlwind overseas tour last week, he’s heading to New York City to hit the high-level diplomatic circuit that traditionally accompanies the start of the fall session at the United Nations General Assembly. (Monday through Wednesday)

Carney “will participate in various forums and hold bilateral meetings with counterparts from around the world,” and “work to deepen Canada’s economic and security partnerships, broaden our network of partners, and advance peace and security,  including Canada’s steadfast support for Ukraine and its commitment to advancing a two-state solution for lasting peace in the Middle East,” according to the advisory released by his office last week.

“As co-chair of the OceanEye International Alliance and in the lead up to the Our Ocean Conference that Canada will host in 2027, Prime Minister Carney will mobilize international support to advance a sustainable ocean economy and address the interconnected challenges facing our oceans and climate,” it adds.

He will not, however, address the assembled world leaders directly, but will cede Canada’s spot in the lineup to Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand, who served notice via X that she will “take the floor to deliver Canada’s national statement” on Saturday, which she described as “a defining opportunity to speak on behalf of our country” and outline “Canada’s principled and pragmatic role in today’s world.” (Saturday)

As of Sunday morning, there was no official word from Carney’s office on whether he was planning to make a quick appearance in his front-and-centre seat in the House of Commons during the opening round of question period on Monday afternoon. He is, however, expected to be back in Ottawa in time to face his opposition rivals later this week.

At committee

As is standard operating procedure for the opening week of a new sitting, most committees are set to assemble behind closed doors to go over current, pending and future business, but as of Monday morning, there were four that are currently on track to meet in public over the next few days.

• GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS AND ESTIMATES members are set to kick off a new study into the potential use of “underused and surplus federal lands and buildings (to) provide services for veterans,” as outlined in a backbench motion put forward by Liberal MP Alana Hirtle earlier this year, with senior departmental officials expected to appear alongside representatives of the Home for Heroes Foundation, Veterans Emergency Transition Services and the Veterans Association Food Bank, among others. (Tuesday a.m/Thursday p.m.)
• Over at SCIENCE AND RESEARCH, MPs will explore the “findings and recommendations” outlined in the final report from the External Advisory Panel on the Creation and Dissemination of Scientific Information, which was released in June and offers new suggestions on how the government can “advance substantive equality by protecting, promoting and raising the profile of the French language in science” during panel discussions with representatives of the Association des collèges et universités de la francophonie canadienne, Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada and Université du Québec (Tuesday a.m.), as well as the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. (Thursday a.m.).
• Later this week, STATUS OF WOMEN members will circle back to their ongoing investigation into the “role and capacity of women’s shelters and transitional housing” with back-to-back presentations from the Observatoire québécois des inégalités, Kanesatake Health Centre, Canadian Women’s Foundation, YWCA NWT and Courage for Freedom. (Wednesday p.m.)

Rounding out the roster, ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT members are set to resume clause-by-clause review of Liberal MP Patrick Weiler’s backbench pitch to boost coastal marine protections by increasing the liability related to wrecked, abandoned or otherwise hazardous vessels. (Tuesday p.m.)

On the Senate side, three committees — BANKING, COMMERCE AND THE ECONOMY, TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS and SOCIAL AFFAIRS, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY — are set to go back on the clock a week before the Upper House is due to reopen for business in a bid to wrap up their respective reviews into the “contents” of specific sections of Champagne’s latest omnibus budget bill, which was adopted before the summer recess.

Elsewhere in the precinct: Canadian Voice of Women for Peace senior researcher Tamara Lorincz and co-chair Lyn Adamson team up with members of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom-Canada and other advocacy groups to mark International Peace Day by highlighting their ongoing opposition to what the advisory describes as the “federal government’s militarization of the Canadian economy,” which “risks serious harm to women, the climate, and the environment,” and urge the federal Liberals to “prioritize care, not warfare.” (Monday a.m.)

Later this week, National Association of Women and the Law legal affairs director Suzanne Zaccour and Université de Sherbrooke professor Évelyne Jean-Bouchard will join lawyer Philip Viater, as well as Liberal MP Lisa Hepfner to promote a new report on the “institutional histories of eight children who were killed in five families in Ontario and Quebec,” which, as per the notice, examines “interactions of family-law, child-protection and related institutions with the children and their families before the deaths” — and, as the advisory notes, is being released as the House JUSTICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS committee is due to begin reviewing Hepfner’s backbench proposal to “strengthen protections for children experiencing family violence, including by ending the use of ‘parental alienation’ as a consideration in family court.” (Thursday a.m.)