After touching down just outside London yesterday afternoon, Prime Minister Mark Carney was scheduled to make his way to 10 Downing Street this morning for an in-person tête-à-tête with his United Kingdom counterpart, Keir Starmer, after the two leaders spoke by phone last night.

The pre-meeting chat focused on “the conflict in the Middle East, including the growing humanitarian crisis in Lebanon,” according to the readout provided by Carney’s office, as well as “the impact of the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz on international shipping,” as per the recap released by Starmer’s team.

As Canadian Press notes, Carney is also expected to meet with King Charles III before he will drop off the radar for a brief vacation that, as Global News reported last week, will also include a short stint in Italy.

“Carney has said that despite beginning his vacation after this trip, he will remain in close contact with his staff as volatility in the Middle East continues,” the wire service reports.

Meanwhile, as flagged in What We’re Watching, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is now midway through his second international trek in less than a month.

After crossing the border to Detroit last week to promote his pitch for a new “tariff-free auto pact” that, as CBC News notes, would “remove the GST on all Canadian-made vehicles,” and “align Canada with the U.S. on Chinese tariffs, it’s wheels up for Houston, where he’ll “meet with energy executives and visit an energy facility,” according to the party-issued advisory.

Back in Canada, Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree stops by Sûreté du Québec Headquarters in Montreal, where he’ll team up with Quebec Liberal MPs Jacques Ramsay and Patricia Lattanzio, as well as “local law enforcement officials,” to highlight his government’s latest bid to overhaul lawful access protocols, which made its debut appearance in the House of Commons last week, and would provide law enforcement agencies with “new tools to investigate serious threats, disrupt organized crime, and protect our communities,” as per his office. (3 p.m.)

Elsewhere on the ministerial circuit:

• Women and Gender Equality Minister Rechie Valdez announces new federal support for “organizations supporting initiatives that engage men and boys to end gender-based violence” during a morning event at the offices of IBEW Local 105 in Hamilton, Ont.  (9 a.m.)
• Defence Minister David McGuinty starts his day with a visit to the Canadian Space Agency’s David Florida Laboratory, which bills itself as “Canada’s world-class spacecraft assembly, integration and testing centre,” to share more details on the “sovereign space program” that his government intends to set up as part of the newly unveiled defence industrial strategy. (11 a.m.)
• Newly minted Liberal MP Lori Idlout joins Housing and Infrastructure Minister Gregor Robertson, as well as his Nunavut counterpart, Cecile Nelvana Lyall, for a mid-morning housing announcement and “brief site tour” in Iqaluit. (11:10 a.m.)

Also on the radar: As part of their ongoing investigation into the “unique nature” of Newfoundland and Labrador’s offshore petroleum industry, members of the SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENERGY, THE ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES arrive in St. John’s to kick off a “fact-finding mission” that, according to the advisory, will include meetings with “industry leaders, environmental organizations, academics and government officials,” as well as “site visits to key industrial facilities, research centres and ports.”

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Regular parliamentary business will resume on Mar. 23, 2026.

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Committee highlights courtesy of our friends at iPoliticsINTEL.