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Prime Minister Mark Carney and his cabinet are using their second day of meetings in Quebec City to discuss safeguarding Canada’s sovereignty, says a minister at the retreat.
Speaking to reporters Friday morning, Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation Evan Solomon said ministers are focused on creating good jobs for Canadians and investing in key sectors to build “a safe, sovereign and secure, strong economy.”
“We are very excited that we’re working together to build our plan on a safe, sovereign country,” Solomon said.
The ministers are in the province’s capital for a second day of meetings ahead of Parliament’s return on Monday.
Carney is expected to answer media questions later Friday.
During the two-day retreat, Carney and his cabinet are hearing from experts in government, finance, community services, advanced technology and global affairs.
The Canadian Press reports.
Meanwhile, Carney’s recent trade deal with China has drawn criticism from Ontario Premier Doug Ford and automakers, worried that lowering tariffs on tens of thousands of Chinese electric vehicles would hamstring the reeling domestic industry.
In the immediate aftermath, media leaks indicated the Liberals were crafting a new auto policy that would offer preferential treatment for producers investing in Canada. The government also suggested the deal was the first step towards getting Chinese companies to build EVs in Canada.
But does any of this make sense from a financial perspective?
According to the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association, 92 per cent of vehicles exported from this country were destined for the U.S. in 2024.
However, U.S. President Donald Trump last year imposed a 25 per cent tariff on the non-U.S. content in imported vehicles, walking back an earlier pledge to impose the levy on all imports of autos and parts.
The Centre for Economic Policy Research, a European think-tank, says estimates of the average non-U.S. content for Canadian vehicles land around 50 per cent, putting the effective tariff rate at 12.5 per cent.
Trump has only fanned the flames in advance of the start of renegotiations of the continental free trade agreement later this year.
Visiting an auto plant in Michigan earlier this month, he dismissed the importance of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (CUSMA), saying Americans “don’t need cars” made in Canada or Mexico.
Without access to the U.S., does Canada makes sense as a destination for new auto plants?
David Adams, president and CEO of the Global Automakers of Canada, said that it would be challenging to entice vehicle producers to set up shop in Canada without guaranteeing access to the U.S. because the domestic market here isn’t large enough to make it viable.
“The Canadian market is too small, so you would need some other market to give scale and whatnot to find a home for the production of that facility,” he said.
Marco Vigliotti reports.
Lobby Wrap: Quebec natural gas distributor wants to discuss labour issues
In Other Headlines
Internationally
Ryan James Wedding, a Canadian former Olympic snowboarder allegedly behind one of the most violent drug trafficking organizations, was arrested Thursday night in Mexico, FBI Director Kash Patel said.
Authorities believe Wedding, 44, is a member of the Sinaloa Cartel and had been hiding in Mexico for more than a decade while “running and participating in a transnational drug trafficking operation,” Patel said Friday in a post on X.
Patel said Wedding shipped hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia, through Mexico and Southern California to the United States and Canada.
NBC reports.
Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has signalled that U.S. President Donald Trump should apologize for his false assertion that troops from non-U.S. NATO countries avoided the front line during the Afghanistan war, describing Trump’s remarks as “insulting” and “appalling.”
Trump said that he wasn’t sure NATO would be there to support the United States if and when requested, provoking outrage and distress across the United Kingdom on Friday, regardless of individuals’ political persuasion.
“We’ve never needed them, we have never really asked anything of them,” Trump said of non-US troops in an interview with Fox Business Network in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday. “You know, they’ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan, or this or that, and they did, they stayed a little back, a little off the front lines.”
AP reports.
Finally, Trump took to social media to rant against Canada.
“Canada is against The Golden Dome being built over Greenland, even though The Golden Dome would protect Canada. Instead, they voted in favor of doing business with China, who will ‘eat them up’ within the first year!” the U.S. president wrote on Truth Social.
Carney travelled to Beijing last week to reignite economic ties with China – Canada’s second largest trading partner after the U.S. He left with a deal reducing tariffs on some Canadian agricultural goods and a quota allowing Chinese EVs to enter the domestic market.
CTV News has more.
In Other International Headlines
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The Kicker
The House is back kicking on Monday.
Need a refresher on what’s on deck? Check out our long-read preview of the coming sitting.
As for the weekend ahead, let’s all stay warm. It seems like most of Canada is bracing for bone-chilling temperatures, with temperatures in Ottawa expected to feel like -35 and -40 because of wind chill.
Stay safe and have a great weekend!
